Unbroken

Reunion

I spent about two hours just on the Xbox playing GTA and cod. Then I heard a knock on the front door. I opened it. There before me stood my mum. Her hair was sleek and tied up in a high bun, her makeup was perfect but she still had alcoholic eyes. She was wearing a tight blue dress that cut off at her knees. There stood next to her stood my brother. Phil. His black hair was cut shorter but he still had his side fringe and his eyes were a sky blue.

"How did you find me?" I backed away slightly. I noticed bruises on Phil's porcelain arms.

"We want you to come home." She said in a toneless voice.

"I think I made it pretty clear that I don't want to live with you Mum." I replied bitterly.

"What about Phil? Are you going to leave him too?"

"I'm 20 Mum." Phil snapped coldly. I noticed him pulling his sweater sleeves over his wrists.

"Mum I want you to leave." I said. "Phil, you can stay here but I don't want Mum anywhere near either of us!" I cried.

"I'm your mother!" She shouted.

"Mothers don't beat their children." I snapped. She was speechless, I took Phil's hand and slammed the door in her face.

"I haven't seen you in a while." I sighed as I walked up the stairs into my bedroom.

"I know. Mum's been a mess." Phil mumbled.

"Still drinking then."

"Yeah, and hitting." Phil had a mournful frown printed on his face. His eyes were baggy and his porcelain complexion was bruised and patchy. Phil rolled up his sleeve to reveal his bruised arms. He turned his wrists over to reveal burn scars and cuts.

"Oh Phil." I sighed, my eyes watered. I slowly lifted up my sleeves to reveal my cut and burned arms.

"Jade!" Phil gasped as he hugged me tight. Hugging a brother is not like hugging anyone else. Most siblings hate each others guts. Not me and Phil. Phil is three years older than me so he always protected me when our mum got angry. He always looked after me and tucked me into bed when I was little. He used to tell me stories about how me and him would live in a big house together with nobody to make us feel trapped or scared. Phil was all I ever had until Mum started to lash out even more. One day I got so sick of it I grabbed all my savings and ran off to buy an apartment.

"Phil do you want to stay here?" I asked.

"If that's okay, I'll find a job and then I can get my own place." He smiled.

"Yeah, there's a spare room with no bed but you can get a cheap one somewhere." I replied.

"Okay I'll nip out and find one." He smiled.

"My boyfriend will be back soon."

"Okay." Phil replied.

****

Dan walked into the apartment. Phil was in the spare room building a bed.

"Hey Dan, we have a guest." I called.

"Oh right! Who?" He said as he walked into the spare room.

"Dan, this is my brother. Phil." I smiled.

"Nice to meet you Phil." Dan held out his hand and shook Phil's.

"You too. I hope you don't mind me bunking here until I find a place to stay." Phil sighed.

"It's fine with me!" Dan smiled.

"Thank you." Phil smirked.