Darkness Within

Uncertainty

After Stephen and Khalil settled down in their shared room to themselves, Stephen sat down on one of the chairs in the room. It had been too long since the brothers had slept in a proper bedroom. Although Stephen considered himself quite lucky as he still had his twin, both of them were alive, and many other things, he wished that they would discover their powers sooner, or at least that their aunt Mary could take them in after being homeless. He looked around the room, which is specialized for them and the powers they have. From what he knew, every dorm room is different as this one is fire-proof and every piece of furniture particularly has a blue shield to them, probably just in case of the fires Khalil makes lose control so anyone in the room could at least be safe. Anyways, the studio room was large enough to house 4 people. Two twin beds with dark oak frames sit on each side of the room with their own desk and bookshelf at the end of the bed. Near the entrance was the kitchen which had an island in the middle enough for a miniature party. The restroom, although was relatively too big of a restroom for two people, was plain compared to the sleeping place.

Khalil threw himself onto one of the beds and rolled around, only earning a smack on the head from Stephen. Shot an angry eye at him, Khalil grunted knowing that Stephen was thinking. Taking his jacket and other dirty clothes off, Khalil headed into the showers, having the clothes that the school provided in hand, as Stephen stuffed every single coin he could himself into his pocket.

Although Stephen was only 5 minutes older, Stephen acted like he was 5 years older than Khalil. The stress of the different environments, and the stress of having a brother who was easily angered and quite literally hot-headed were getting to him. Stephen walked to the kitchen, checking out of the fridge and the foods within. All the foods inside are the foods that he couldn't afford to eat with the money on him no matter how he worked; from beef to lamb, from potatoes to apples. It was a lonely world for him as Stephen was the calm and seemingly collected one out of the two brothers. From the carefree boy that he was to a man who had already gone through hell and back mentally, Stephen didn't tell Khalil what was happening in his mind or how he felt. It is not that he didn't trust Khalil, it was the fact that he knew the damage if he was like his brother. Khalil would be as hurt, if not more hurt, than how he feels.

Khalil came out of the shower, saw Stephen looking in the fridge, and asked, "Hey Stephen! What foods are there?" Stephen just shook his head, looked down and murmured, "There are sausages and patties for burgers, but brother dear, these are the foods that we can't afford to pay back." Khalil was disappointed but understood why his brother didn't want to eat these foods. After all, the money that they have on them couldn't even let them have a meal every day, only once every few days. Stephen closed the fridge and started walking to the window on the other side of the room silently and Khalil went up Stephen's side of the room, got the clothes, went towards him, put a hand on the shoulder of Stephen saying, "You need to take a shower brother. You smell." Smiling, Stephen turned around and took the clothes. "Yeah, I know. I should."

After a good five minute in the hot water shower, Stephen got dressed and got himself into bed. "Khalil, you should sleep now. You probably don't want to have to be half asleep tomorrow when this Aunt Marry sees us." Stephen whispered yelled after seeing Khalil just playing around the coins in the pockets. Khalil didn't protest and did what he was told but he asked before falling to sleep, "Brother, what if we never got kicked out of the house? What if Mom was alive when we got kicked out?" And to be honest, they would be here much sooner if their mom were still alive.

Khalil was the first one who woke up, startled, waking up from a nightmare. He looked at the clock on the wall by the door, and it was merely 3 in the morning. It was that day, the day when their mother died, again. The slam from the car door from her, the sound of the hit of the car on the car, the sound of wheels screaming all coming to him. Khalil immediately sat up, put on a jacket and got eggs out of the fridge, trying to distract himself with cooking. "Let's see if I still remember how to do this." He murmured to himself, looking at Stephen before he cracks the eggs into the pan, making sure that he didn't wake him up.

In the end, he didn't burn the kitchen or the egg. Khalil quickly ate up, cleaned the dish in hand and lay back down again, staring out into the starless night sky. Darkness had always scared him but feeling and being alone scares him more. Khalil turned and faced his sleeping brother who happened to have his back towards him right at the moment, and reached his hand to him.

Khalil always had been doing this since the toddler years; whenever he or Stephen had a nightmare, they would climb into each other's beds and cuddle with each other. As they grew up, they just changed to reaching out to each other first, and cuddling would always be an option for later.

Khalil got more and more needed comfort, so he just decided to climb into Stephen's bed. Stephen startled awake as Khalil climbed into his warm blankets and let out a groan. "Is it that nightmare again?" Stephen said sleepily and Khalil just nodded. Stephen just turned around, slapped his arm onto Khalil as he already knew what it was, and fell back to sleep. Now knowing that Stephen both physically and mentally there for him, Khalil fell back to sleep.

The next few days had been hard for both of them. Khalil was surprisingly willing to learn to control his magic, by Stephen's surprise as he knows that Khalil usually doesn't like to learn or being exposed to new things like magic. This also lets him worry less as he knows that he no longer has to worry too much but at the same time, he knows his brother temper the best.

As Khalil's power gets more and more in control and more powerful, so does his temper. When they practiced with the Professor, Stephen took notes of how the Aunt used the temper of the advantage. Although Stephen warned Khalil day and night that he "should be cautious with her. I don't really trust her.... Yes, she is our aunt but even family hurts you..." Every time, in one ear, out the other, Khalil had believed in the lies that she fed him and Stephen became worried because he had a bad feeling about this, a very bad one.

"Khalil, do you know that your brother is ditching his class and practicing some forbidden black magic for evil?" Aunt Mary told Khalil in front of Stephen one night, stressing the word "evil". Stephen was extremely bafulded, thinking to himself, "What in the world now?" Khalil turned to him angrily, believing every one of her words, "Why?! You know you should not do that right?! Brother?!" Just before he lost control, he stormed out into the hallway, into the darkness. Stephen looked at Mary, frowned deeply, "Why are you telling lies about me? What did I do to you?" before turning around to chase after Khalil with their aunt smiling sweetly looking at the place they once stood while thinking to herself, 'Oh this will be so much fun for me.'