Being Brad's Sister

19. Coping and planning

Brad's pov

It has been two days. Two long days and I am so worried, we all are. The school have been notified that Emma is missing and we are looking for her as much as we can. There is always one person at our house and at least one person at James' house just in case they do come home. When we go out the fans have been asking where James is because they have noticed that he isn't with us but we just say he is having some family time or something because we don't want to worry them. However there have been some rumours starting to spread like James being kicked out the band or running away with Em because no one accepted them which is a lot of rubbish.

I go downstairs to see Tris and Con already awake and sitting on the sofa in the living room with Sophie fast asleep with her head on Tris' lap. The lads have big black bags under their eyes and I am pretty sure I do as well because none of us have slept much. We have been getting an hour sleep at the most because we are so worried about Em and James. Mum and Dad are exactly the same as us.

"Hey."

"Hey Brad." The lads greet me but I just ignore them and sit on the sofa staring off into space. I have really distanced myself over the past few days because I am hurting so much. I don't know what I would do if anything happens to the two of them because they mean so much to me. I pull my phone out and look at my pictures of James, Emzy and I which we have taken over the past year or so. I have been flicking through my pictures a lot almost as though looking at the pictures will tell me where to look to find them or something. I know it won't physically help but I just miss them so much.

"Brad we will find them. I promise." There is no point making promises you can't keep for definite I think as Connor finishes his sentence. If we do find them then how long will it be and will we find them dead or alive? I shouldn't be thinking like this I know but when things like this happen all these sorts of questions go through my head and I can't help it. It is my sister and best friend for god sake how do you want me to react to them going missing?

"Brad please, speak to us." Tris pleads, I know he is hurting just as much as I am because we have both known James for the same amount of time but everyone has their own ways of dealing with things and this is my way of dealing with it. Distancing myself. So that is what I am going to do.

"Look Brad. You don't have to talk to us now but please. We will make it through this together. We all want them back. Em is like a sister to us as well. James is our friend and like our brother too. It is affecting all of us and we can help each other through this. Even if you don't want to talk to me and you just want to talk to Tris because you have known him longer say now and I will leave the room. There is no use in distancing yourself from us, it won't help anything. It won't make us find them any quicker." I look at the pair sitting on the sofa and get up; I walk out of the living room and head back up to my room where I can be on my own. I don't need lectures, I just want them back. I can feel a tear in my eye about to fall, so I take deep breathes. I am not going to cry, I need to stay strong for them both.

Tristan's pov

Brad really isn't handling this very well. I don't know what is going through his head because he won't let us in to help him but his eyes are filled with pain and worry. Unlike everyone else Brad is refusing to show his emotions and he is refusing to cry and release the emotions so he is bottling them all up and distancing himself away from us as though that is going to bring his sister and best friend back. We need each other right now so we don't need to be distancing ourselves from each other because it isn't working. We need to work together to help find them not sit around ignoring each other and hoping because nothing is getting done while we are doing that.

"I'm really worried about him. He isn't coping at all." Connor states the obvious. We can all see he isn't coping but it is just trying to get him to let us help him. He won't let anyone in.