Criminal Love

A Stranger Called My Brother

Flaky wished she couldn't feel anything.

Feeling absolutely nothing would be a welcome escape to the torture of her emotions. Four days had passed since the party and Lifty leaving. She wished she hadn't spent those four days locked in her room, crying and sleeping. Sometimes she would cry so much that she grew so weary that she ended up passing out. She wished she hadn't spent those long hours thinking about the green-haired man who changed her life, only for him to destroy it right in front of her. All in a few short weeks.

How could one person make her feel so utterly heartbroken? How could they have such an impact on the shy redhead's emotions? Because she cared about him. Because even after everything, she missed the green-haired troublemaker. She missed him so much that it seemed like her self-induced depression was hurting her physically as well as emotionally. She could almost feel her heart being stabbed every time she pictured his grinning face flashing across her mind.

Flaky heard a knock at her door, rousing the girl out of her trance-like depression. She rose wearily from her bed, still wrapped in a blanket as she waddled slowly down the hallway towards the front door. She made it to the door, pulling it open and saw Flippy on her front porch. He gave a small smile at his friend as he stepped inside, closing the door behind him before turning to face the redhead.

"Hey, Flakes."

"Hi Flips," Flaky murmured, as she stared at the man's boots, "What a-are you doin' here?"

"I came by to see how you've been holding up since. . ." Flippy stopped, knowing it probably wouldn't be the best idea to mention Lifty right now, ". . .Since the party. . ."

"Y-You mean besides feeling like someones tore my heart out and s-stomped on it?" Flaky's red eyes darted up to meet Flippy's green ones, "Besides that I'm f-fantastic. . ."

Flippy frowned and tried to put a comforting arm around her, only for the girl to move away and shake her head. Sighing, he leaned against the door as he looked at his friend.

"Flaky, you shouldn't let him get to you so much. Lifty's not worth all this."

"I'm s-sorry, but you're wrong. . ." Flaky muttered, a small frown forming on her lips, "He's w-worth everything to me. . .and I-I hate that."

"Then let him go, Flakes."

"I-I can't," Flaky's voice quivered and she blinked as tears started to blur her vision, "I just can't. . ."

Flaky couldn't let Lifty go. No matter how hard she tried or how much she knew she needed to, she just couldn't. She needed Lifty.

Even if he didn't need her.

X X X

But he did need her.

Lifty had sunk deep into the old worn-out couch as he stared at the static on the television screen, trying hard to forget the first person who treated him like a human being, rather than a common crook.

Her happy smile, her redhead curly hair, her shining eyes. All those fleeting images bounced around in his skull and no matter what he couldn't shake them away.

Flaky gave him shelter when no one else would, she gave him friendship without hesitation. She even threw him a damn party cause she thought he wasn't the utter human trash he eventually turned out to be regardless. She hadn't deserved any of the pain he, or to be more exact Shifty, put her through. Shifty ruined his life, just because he wasn't happy. What kind of brother does that?

Suddenly the life-ruiner in question tapped his brother between the eyes, getting an annoyed glare at the younger twin as he was torn from his thoughts.

"What?"

Sorry, did I interrupt the riveting show you're watching?" Shifty grinned, satisfied in annoying Lifty, "Time to get going."

"Where we going?"

"It's a secret. A little fun for us."

Lifty really didn't want to move from his spot on the couch, but he knew his brother wasn't gonna take no for an answer. So he stood up and followed his brother out of the house. They got in the twin's van and Shifty started the vehicle, driving away from the run-down shack of a house and down the road into the town.

While they continued their journey into town, Lifty rested his hand under his chin as he spaced off. He soon found his thoughts returning to what his brother told him just before he ruined his life.

". . .Aren't really your friends."

"You got me and only me."

Was what Shifty told him actually true? Did he really have no one else but his brother to depend on? No, he was wrong. Lifty did have friends. Well, had friends. He had Flaky, the sweet and shy girl who saw the good buried deep in his cold heart. Flippy started to like him, even teasing him during the part in a friendly way. Both Giggles and Flippy didn't like him at first, but then they saw he changed and soon they accepted him. Lifty even considers the sugar addict Nutty to be a friend. Though their only conversation was brief and laced with antagonistic vibes on Lifty's end, the thief saw the sugar-loving boy was one of the few people besides Flaky who didn't outright hate him when everyone else had.

But now he had no one but Shifty. Just like his brother said.

While Lifty was deep in thought, Shifty was busy with keeping his eyes on the road as they drove around town, only to catch the twin day-dreaming once more out of the corner of his eye, glancing over at his brother with a small frown.

Since his return just four days ago, Lifty barely spoke to him. He just went straight into the living room, flopped down on the couch and didn't move. Shifty was surprised to find Lifty still sitting there when he woke up the next morning and went out to the living room. Finding his brother with the same pained sadness clouding the younger twin's eyes as he stared straight ahead, unblinking and unmoving.

Shifty's frown deepened as he realized this was all Flaky's fault. She changed his brother into a person he didn't recognize, morphed him into a stranger. What gave the redhead the right to change his family? She wasn't his family, she couldn't just mess with the one person who understood him. It wasn't right.

Flaky fixed Lifty. Now it was time for Shifty to break him.

For good this time.