DISSOLVE

preach

It was my winter break and I wasn't due to go back to school until January 2nd. Christmas was only a few days away. Like any teen girl, I was antsy for Christmas morning. I had my heart set on the newest iPhone but as I stared at Danny unmoving in the hospital bed with wires and bandages attached to him everywhere I realized how truly vain it was to wish for something like that in the first place. I would give anything for Danny to simply wake up and tease me like old times sake.

The longer we stayed at the hospital the longer more and more we found out about what exactly had happened last night. Danny was hanging out with Brenden, his high school best friend and they had been drinking because they just left a party. Rather than making a safe decision and decide not to drive or get someone who wasn't so inebriated Brenden decided to drive under the influence of alcohol. He hit black ice and lost control of the car before smashing the car into a tree. The mixture of alcohol and black ice is what put my brother in this hospital bed. This was all Brenden Maeson's fault. I shivered to my core as the realization overcome me.

Brenden had always been close to our family. I, like many other girls who attended Lincoln Memorial High School with him, followed him like a lost puppy. However, the other girls didn't have the advantage I did because when school was over he always came over to our house to spend time with Danny to play video games on the 65 inch tv in the living room.

Brenden was a very cute boy and I had imagined that because he was my older brothers best friend, we would eventually fall in love. That is when he realized I existed as anything other than Danny's little sister. Brenden had black curls that cascaded past his shoulders when it was sopping wet. After his curls dried, he usually wore them tied back to keep them out of his light blue eyes. During football season after most practices Brenden would come over to our house to go over plays with Danny as they devoured the entire kitchen. As time grew on Brenden became an integral part of our family dynamic. My father rooted on both boys in sports and my mother would cook up large meals on practice days and home games whenever she was home.

After Danny went to college and he left Brenden here, Brenden stopped coming around to visit us. I understood why but it still bugged me that we were basically family and as soon as Danny left he had abandoned us. I couldn't help but to think if maybe he stopped by I'd see more of my parents faces. Brenden had begun working for his Uncle to help him with roofing the fall after graduation and as time passed we only saw Brenden when we saw Danny. I missed Brenden just like I missed Danny. How could Brenden make such a selfish decision? Where was he now? Did he survive or was he in the same position Danny was in?

My father standing gathered my attention enough to stop thinking of Brenden. He pushed his hand through his dark brown, bur graying hair as a sighed dragged itself across his lips. I examined his face noting the dark bags under his eyes. I was lucky enough to steal some sleep last night but it looked like my dad hadn't gotten the same chance yet. His normal wrinkles appeared more deeper and all the color was out of his face. My father had aged a decade overnight. His movements were so slow and quiet it was as if he was worried any sudden movement would cause harm to our current reality.

"Ol, I'm going to get some coffee, do you want to come?" He quietly asked, offering me a hand to pull me out of the chair. I glanced momentarily at his hand before my vision fell on Danny. My father followed my eyes and broke the silence, "He will be here when we get back." His voice held a promise even I knew he couldn't fulfill. I licked my dry lips and took his hand, hoisting myself off the still hospital chair. We walked out and shut the door quietly being us. After the door was shut I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in my lungs.

"Any... word from your Mom?" He asked slowly. I scratched at my forehead before meeting his dark brown eyes. He looked so disheveled. He had pulled me out of bed in the early hour morning and neither of us got a chance to change. He still wore his sweatpants and only a graphic tee of a show he used to watch. I pulled out my phone to confirm there was no missed calls or texts from my mother but a whole slew of notifications from social media accounts I had. As my eyebrows pulled together I scrolled quickly through my notification bar seeing my profile or account being tagged in updates and posts. I saw a few missed texts from my best friend Krystle. I didn't have it in me yet to open up anything and communicate with anyone. As we entered the hospital cafeteria, my father went to go make us both coffees while I sat at a table.