My Brother's Brother

Chapter Three: Dead

"I'm sorry, okay? I had no idea you lost your mom. " I blurted.
He froze in place.
"Look, I know I said things I shouldn't have, and I really regret being this naive. But you can't punish your father for a mistake he didn't commit." I continued.
Surprisingly, Colin started again and made his way to his room. I was paralyzed. That man didn't give a fudge!
Am I making too much of this?
I finally reached a conclusion that I was, in fact, over thinking the situation. What a waste of time and effort!

Going back to my room, I laid on the bed and opened the unread messages I left for a week. I had 50 messages from Fred that I'd been trying to avoid the most. Fred is a guy I met online. Being the freak I am, I usually get involved in conversations and debates on the internet that are none of my business. Fred was one of the strangers that I actually opened up to. I found comfort in talking to him, knowing that he wouldn't judge or hurt me. After a while of long night chats, I figured we could be a little more than strangers. He seemed like a respectable young man with good humor and a cool aura. I guess I was wrong. After a couple of weeks, he asked me for nudes. And though it might be okay for some girls to send their nudes, I had very strict rules in my relationships, especially with people I barely consider real friends. That's when Fred got mad and started harassing me. I thought I knew him. I thought his anger would pass. I neglected his messages and never considered reading them. In fact, I was too busy with the whole Colin situation that I forgot to check up on Fred.

When I did, though, I felt a million knives scraping my heart.
Faces of nude bodies were overlayed by mine. If I hadn't been so sure I didn't take those photos, I SWEAR I would have believed they were me. Along the lines, the bustard threatened to spread the edits across my high school. As I read the texts, tears broke through what's left of my dignity. I couldn't believe that was happening to me. I always heard about the victims of that fictional world, but I never expected to be one of them. I was always cautious. My accounts were private. I only allowed specific people to enter my DMs. Hell, I even never posted a picture of me on Facebook.

I was beyond lost. I was confused, scared, and lonely for the first time in forever. I had no choice but send him real pictures. As I took everything in, I felt my hands shivering insanely. The track of tears never left my cheeks. With a trembling heart, I wiped my tears away and reached for the door to get a glass of water. I had to stay strong. As I passed through the empty dark corridors, waves of horrifying thoughts were shooted at me.
Are you, Cassie, going to send pictures of your body, to a creepy stranger?
Hell, do you even know how to take such pictures?
How do you know that he won't send these to everyone too?
The last thought startled my weak soul, and my eyes failed to hold in the tears longer. A new stream of salty waters crossed my face. I wanted to scream so bad, I wanted to shout my lungs out, but I couldn't. All I could do was obey Fred's orders, and expose my body, for the first time, to the disgusting creature he is.
With quivering hands, I filled a glass of water and headed back to my room. Suddenly, Colin appeared in the corridor. I tried to hide my face with my messy hair, but I failed miserably. My face was so red. My skin was so sweaty. My sniffles were too loud. Colin said nothing. He stared at me, as if looking at a zombie, until I was finally inside and out of his sight. I locked myslef in.
Where do you start?
Are you sure you wanna do this?
No! I don't want to! I want to die and get over everything!
You can't do that to your family! You can't do that to yourself! Now take a few pictures and give that bustard what he wants.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I only saw a little girl with a broken heart.
Why did you trust him, Cassie, why?
"17 years is enough for you to be smarter than this, you idiot!" I screamed, crashing my knuckles into the thin pointy metal. I briskly started to take my shirt off, as if I was on fire. In a flash, my door was kicked down and Colin ran straight towards me. The combination of shock and stress crashed over me. I was too overwhelmed, that my brain decided to shut down and enjoy the silence...

My eyes fluttered open to be welcomed by the bright artificial lighting of my own room. Colin sat on a chair beside the bed with a book in his hand. My face was still wet, and soreness rushed to my knuckles as I tried to get up. A little scream escaped my lips, and every torturing feeling came back to me as I realized what brought me to this situation.

"Are you feeling better?" Colin asked.
I ignored him and searched for my phone. Fred sent me more threats, and I was running out of time.
"Get Out." I said.
Colin didn't look hurt. He was rather baffled. Peering at my hand, I followed his gaze to the bandage he firmly placed on my bloody fingers. I felt bad. I didn't know what to do or say.
"I'm sorry. Please leave." I continued.

"What if you hurt yourself again?" He asked with no specific feeling in his tone.

I won't!

I took a deep breath and explained to him that I was angry and I broke the mirror with my hand; which was totally normal and didn't mean that I had suicidal thoughts or anything. Colin didn't seem to buy it, though.
"If you don't want to tell your mother about this, perhaps I can help. Just tell me if there's anything I can do." He insisted.
That was the second time Colin surprised me on that day.
Help me? Is the sad jackass offering me help? Then it hit me. I was overwhelmed by a very warm feeling.
This is your older brother, Cassie! Well, not your real brother, but he's the closest to it. He's standing by your side.
A lonely tear slipped down my cheek, and I thanked him. After a few minutes, I told him my story, and how I ended up like a toy in Fred's grasp. I was definitely embarrassed, so I didn't show him the edited pictures. I just explained the content thoroughly. When Colin asked for Fred's number, I sent it to him without any question. But as my words came to an end, Colin stood up and headed to the door.

That's a disappointment. You shouldn't have trusted him Cassie! How stupid can you be? He'll probably tell mom!

Before closing the door, actually before placing the door up, he said: "Don't worry. Wash your face and treat your cut, we'll think of something tomorrow. Trust me."
His words struck me as concerned and genuine. And though I wanted to fix everything on that night, I didn't have any energy left and decided to go with what Colin said.
My eyes forcefully shut close. I didn't even try to think of what tomorrow might bring.

Ding!
I woke up to the sound of my notifications. And being the lousy person I am, I didn't really give a frick about Fred and his threats when it was 5 AM. My brain didn't process fear when I was awakened by someone; it was automatically on anger mode. Yet, when I unlocked my phone and noticed that the message was from Fred himself, I started praying that the edits weren't spread across the town by now.

*I'm really sorry Cassie. I didn't mean to bother you. I promise I won't send any of these pictures, and I won't ask you for any. I was completely out of my mind. Please accept my apology and I won't talk to you ever again.*

For a moment, I thought I was hallucinating. I released the phone from my tight shaky grasp and closed by eyes.
Stop it! This isn't real. Don't give yourself false hope. You're just dreaming. When you wake up, you'll find a way out of this. For now, forget it! You need the sleep.

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