Blood stained teeth glint in the too bright moonlight. Screams echo through the dense forest, bouncing off the trunks of maples and oaks before fading out into the quiet of the night. Bodies fall in tangled heaps as the unfair fight rages on. And th...
Blood stained teeth glint in the too bright moonlight. Screams echo through the dense forest, bouncing off the trunks of maples and oaks before fading out into the quiet of the night. Bodies fall in tangled heaps as the unfair fight rages on. And there, in the midst of it all, stands two boys locked into one another's piercing hazel gaze. Unmoving, but for the heavy breaths that pass their parted lips, they hold one another in an ancient trance. Then the smaller of the two falls to the brush covered ground, shattering the universe that had begun to unfurl between them.
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Eight years. It had been eight years since Mikey had heard his older brother's voice. Of course, Gerard could physically speak, he had simply chosen not to. Despite him being an elective mute, Gerard was quite talented at making his displeasure known. The sighs and annoyed side glares made it clear that he wasn't at all happy about being forced from his room. Forced being a quite literal term, as Mikey had physically picked him up and carried him up the stairs and out to his car. These were the times Gerard hated how much weight he had lost. His stick figure of a brother shouldn't be able to overpower him like this, yet he had. Not wanting to expend the energy necessary to walk back into the house, he simply crossed his arms and went along with whatever Mikey was dragging him into.
Mikey meant well, he always did. He hadn't given up on Gerard as everyone else had. He still tried to include him in social activities, and he made sure he got out of the house at least once a month. Most of these outings were just down the road to Ray's comic shop. Ray had known Gerard before, and while he wasn't nearly as close to him as he had once been he still tried to be a good friend. Ray was one of the few people who still took the time to interact with the mute boy, and he extended both of the Way brothers his employee discount on all of their purchases.
This trip; however, was not one of those short trips. Gerard found this out when his brother sped past the comic shop without so much as looking towards the poster covered doors. This could only mean one thing, Gerard would be stuck awkwardly third wheeling with Mikey and his other friends. His brother wasn't conventionally popular, but he did have a relatively large circle of friends. Most of which annoyed Gerard immensely, not that he would ever make that fact known to his little brother. He just couldn't stand the way they all looked at him, the assumptions that his silence let them make. It made his skin crawl. Mostly because most of them were true.
Tonight Gerard would be subjected to the presence of four of Mikey's friends from school. He hadn't bothered to listen to who when his brother had rattled their names off, it didn't matter to him, it wasn't as if he was going to be talking to any of them anyway. The plan was to partake in some urban archeology at an abandoned victorian mansion one of the others had found. Though it was technically illegal, Gerard was glad that his brother wasn't following a worse path. He could be addicted to far worse things than historical architecture.
The brothers Way drove for about an hour, the car full of Mikey's excited chatter and the soft sounds of the radio, before pulling off of the road behind two other familiar cars. There five other teenagers stood in a huddle, eager to begin the night's activities. Mikey was already out of the car and being embraced by his gaggle of friends before Gerard had even undone his seat belt. He heard a few of the lanky teens question his younger brother about bringing him along, but didn't pay the comments any mind. Gerard was already busy trying to hold himself together under the intense stare of one of the nameless teens with side swept fringe. He drew his arms protectively around his body and stood awkwardly behind his younger brother, choosing to keep his gaze fixed on the ground in an attempt to ignore the silent scrutiny being sent his way.
The group walked into the foreboding treeline, Gerard bringing up the rear. He watched as his brother and his friends laughed and shoved one another as they walked, the way that they comfortably joked with one another. He longed for that kind of relationship, for someone who truly understood him and enjoyed his company. He had had that before, but now every connection he had was tainted by his past. Even his mother couldn't look at him the way she once had. It was maddening.
"Hey, you alright?"
Mikey's voice cut through Gerard's mental fog. The group had stopped and were all now turning to look at him. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and gave Mikey a short nod.
"You sure? We can leave if this is too much"
Gerard shook his head and pushed past his younger brother. It was too much. Everything was too much. Living was too much, but he wasn't going to spoil the evening for Mikey, not when he had given up so much to take care of his older brother for so many years.
Gerard felt endlessly guilty for robbing his brother of his childhood. From the time Mikey was ten he had either been in Gerard's shadow or been charged as his caregiver. It wasn't fair. Mikey had assured him that he didn't mind, that brothers were supposed to take care of one another, but it never eased the feeling that he was a burden on the younger boy. Gerard would suffer silently through this outing just to make up for it in some small way.
After walking about 200 yards from the roadside the trees opened up into a large clearing, the middle of which was occupied by an imposing Victorian mansion. The once grand building sat, slowly crumbling into the ground, like a ghost of its era. Mikey practically squealed with excitement, barreling towards the front door with his pocket knife in his hand. Gerard stood back while his brother worked on dismantling the long forgotten lock, letting his eyes wander over the clouded panes of glass. His heart shuddered in his chest when they landed on a pale figure obscured by a tattered curtain on the second floor staring back.
