The End

Chapter 6

Tanner stood in horror, the room swayed around him and gravity pulled him down to the ground.

"You're so excited to see me you collapse, huh?" Tucker offered Tanner his hand, but Tanner stood up on his own.

"You're-" His eyes filled with tears again, and everything became blurry. Tanner wasn't ready to face his problems with his father, let alone his brother. He had a heavy weight in his chest as he tried to speak, but couldn't utter a word.

"Yeah, it's me," Tucker began with a smile, approaching Tanner with a hug. With a sharp step backwards Tanner dodged it and looked Tucker directly in the eyes with a piercing glare.

"No it's not." Tucker twitched at this, what did he mean, of course he was himself. He raised his arms in a helpless shrug.

"I know you're blind without those huge glasses, but can you really not tell it's me? Come on Tannaboo," Tanner winced, "it's not like I'm some impersonator that looks exactly like your brother, that's impossible." Tucker rambled, in a soft, slightly snarky tone.

"I'm not saying that you're not Tucker. I- I'm saying that you're not acting like yourself, so it's- It's not actually you." It was hard for him to get the words out, and as he did his eyes let out another stream of tears.

"I guess that can't be helped then," Tucker gruffed. He thought for a minute, his arms crossed while his eyes slowly scanned the room aimlessly. Suddenly he jumped up with one finger in the air, grinning like a kid who won a carnival toy. "I've figured it out! It's because I've changed!"

Tanner couldn't tell if Tucker was trying to cheer him up by playing dumb, or if he was actually just stupid. "Is that supposed to be consoling? I don't want you to have changed." His voice was more serious now, and he stopped crying. The heavy weight in his chest was gone. His brother was exactly the same as he remembered him, but why was he back?

"Look to be completely honest I have no idea why I decided to come back here," Tucker fixed his eyes on the ground in front of him, furrowing his eyebrows, "but now that I'm here, I know why. Because a long time ago I left something really important here. So maybe I have changed, but it's for the better because it brought me back to you."

"No. No. You always stick to your word. Always. Even when it's dumb, even when it makes absolutely no sense. You're too stubborn for your own good. You said you would never come back. You shouldn't have come back." Tanner's voice was cracking as tears fell down his face. His yellow shirt was muddied brown from how wet it was. He sat down on the floor of his room, and Tucker did the same.

"Oh come on. I can't believe that I came back all this way to come see you and you're not even happy I'm here." Tucker waved his head around trying to catch Tanner's eye, but he wouldn't look at him. "But I guess I can't blame you either."

Tucker stood up and brushed off his legs, which Tanner noticed must've been out of habit since his floor was clean carpet. His older brother looked down and he finally looked him in the eye. His eyes were kind, and he knew that they were like that only for him. Tanner said that he'd changed, that he wasn't the same, but he was lying to himself.

Tucker sighed and turned around to go out the door, "if you need me I'll be in my room."

"Wait, father's letting you stay?"

"No, I'm letting myself stay."

—

Danny was known for being dumb. Not in the sense that she couldn't do basic math, she had enough aptitude for that. It was the bigger decisions that she could never get right. Even so, she had a history of always smiling, even when she stapled her own face because she couldn't find a hard surface to staple on. Even when she failed her driver's test because she pulled into a restricted area and set the car on fire. The test proctor wasn't thrilled, but Danny was simply enthralled that she survived the experience. Because of her list of mishaps her whole body was covered in scars, not one without a bizarre story behind it. The most prominent one, however, was a large gash indent under her left eye. It easily took up half her cheek. Nobody knew the story behind that one, only that she wouldn't talk about it.

Being dumb wasn't her defining characteristic, though. She was very kind and always looked out for others before herself. But she wasn't always like that. Danny stole a cat when she was thirteen, which may not seem like the most horrible thing to do, but it was something that shaped her entire life.

Her neighbor, Smith Newport, was a year older than her, but they were in the same grade. She always looked up to him, literally and figuratively. Danny would run into certain danger, but Smith would be the one to analyze the situation beforehand, something she could never do.

Everyday Smith and Danny walked home together, not because Smith particularly wanted to, but because they lived right next door to each other. Danny on the other hand loved Smith's company.

But one day Smith wasn't at school. Danny had to walk back alone and she was devastated, not only that but worried that the person she looked up to wasn't around. The walk from school was quiet, but she finally made it home, but she couldn't go in yet. She decided to peek in Smith's front window to see if anyone was home. They were one of the few families in De Leon that had a car, but it wasn't in the driveway.

The house was empty, except for a cat. Suddenly Danny got worried again. This time not for her idol, but for his cat. She went to the front door to find it unlocked. As soon as she opened it the cat was at her feet.

"I wonder if you've been fed, huh?" She cooed as she picked up the cat. Studying the tag she found that her name was Garbanzo. "Garbanzo? Like the bean? That's an awful name." She tried to put Garbanzo down but she clawed onto her, desperate to keep cuddling. "Okay, I'll take you home to cat sit for now, I'm sure the Newport's would like that, whatever they're up to." So she left with the cat.

Days went by and the Newport's still didn't come home. It had almost been a full week when Danny finally saw Smith outside in his driveway. She rushed out to go see him, but once she got out the door she noticed that his eyes were red from holding back tears. She'd never seen Smith happy before, let alone upset. She didn't know what to do, so she went back inside, pretending she hadn't seen him at all.

She slid down the back of her door with her back and covered her face with her hands. Suddenly she felt a soft nuzzle on the backs of her hands, it was Garbanzo reminding her that she is okay. It was reassuring, and one of the most touching moments of Danny's life, but it was followed by one of her least favorite memories.

She picked up Garbanzo and went outside again, and there sat Smith, still staring at the same pebble on the ground. He was so still, so quiet, but Danny could feel his hurt from all the way across her yard. She walked over to him softly.

"Smith?" She whispered, it came out so quietly that she wasn't sure he'd hear her.

He shifted slightly to avoid eye contact but didn't bother to recognize that Danny was trying to help.

"I have Garbanzo, I thought maybe you'd like to see her," Danny put Garbanzo on the ground next to Smith, but she didn't move towards him at all.

"That cat hates me," Smith said from under his arms. He buried his face deeper into his knees, clenching up tighter.

"I'm sure she doesn't, she knows when people are sad, she came to comfort me earlier. I know-"

"I SAID SHE HATES ME WHAT DON'T YOU GET ABOUT THAT?!" He screamed into his legs. Garbanzo was startled and went to sit on Danny's lap. "Keep her, she likes you. My brother died and she couldn't care less about comforting me." With that Smith stood up and walked back into his house. Danny saw tears fall from his eyes, but before he opened the front door he stopped to wipe them off and went back to his usual slack face.

It was just Danny and Garbanzo left sitting in Newport's driveway. Now Danny knew why Smith was so upset; Caleb died.