Brother.

Chapter XVI

        Stopping out the front of Michael’s house, his Dad was sitting on the steps; almost as if he was waiting for us. The shed was lit up to the side and I barely gave Mr. Blake a hello before storming over there. I didn’t hear what Michael said to him, and I didn’t really care because as I got closer to where I knew the others were, I heard them instead.

 

“Shit! Sarah’s here!” Danny cursed.

 

“She wouldn’t be, why-” Someone snapped at him..

 

“What’s going on?” I interrupted, stopping in the doorway.

 

Joe dropped the dagger in his hand, the clang of it hitting the concrete making the others all jump. Then again, maybe that was just from my sudden appearance, and they all looked guilty now. Except for Jake. He barely managed to look up from where he was slumped over the lounge chair.

 

His skin was pale, and his body was covered in sweat. He looked like he’d just been running around by the way he was breathing so hard and unevenly. When his eyes did meet mine, they were glazed over and bloodshot. Just like that my anger turned to panic. What was wrong with him?

 

“Jake?” His name came out as barely a whisper, and I pushed past Justin who had been the first to move towards me. “Are you okay?”

 

It was a stupid question. In other circumstances, I’d think he and Danny had been idiotic enough to try something a bit harder than the pot they usually smoked, and getting to his side, I held his hand which was freezing in mine, yet heat was radiating from the rest of him.  All I got was a groan in response, and looking at Danny who stood over him, my brothers  face was nearly as pale as his friends.

 

“Sarah, I can explain.” There it was again; guilt.

 

“Please tell me, this isn’t, Danny, what have you done?” I tried not to yell and seeing a box tissues on the table, grabbed them.

 

Jake rolled onto his back, mumbling something I couldn’t understand while I wiped his face. It took me a second to realise what I thought was dirt on his cheek wasn’t. The tissues were soon pink and wet from the mixture of blood and sweat as I tried to clean him up a little.

 

“I didn’t do anything! I’ve been trying to talk him out of it!” Danny dropped to his knees beside me. “Last week, we were just hanging out here and he said he wanted it too. They-”

 

They.

 

Turning, Michael was with his brothers and while his face was expressionless, you’d have to be blind not to see what was going on inside. This was one of those times he looked intimidating, when you knew you there was something weird about him, about them. His arms were tightly folded across his chest, and twitched slightly from where his muscles flexed due to his hands being curled into fists.

 

The pair of them huddled together, not looking directly at their older sibling while their mouths moved with words spoken so softly I couldn’t hear anything other than a faint whisper. Michael could hear every word, and looking at Danny, so could he. No one needed to actually tell me what had been going on, it was too obvious unlike the reason why Jake would suddenly want to be one of them was beyond me. He still seemed scared and jumpy around this bunch, and even the other night he hadn’t looked impressed with the Blakes being at dinner.