Eli Borrelli

48: The Borrelli brothers (1)

When Matteo showed interest in programming, I signed him up for the top courses in the country, that just happened to be in my company.

When Gabriele started getting into painting, I kept my mouth shut, knowing better, than to crush his soul too.

Antonio was a lost cause for me. I could never get him back to how he was as a kid, no matter what I'd do. I knew it better than anyone, so I just gave him what he wanted. I let him skip grades, take extra credit, graduate early, and go to business school as the youngest one in the school's history. I owed it to him after stepping on his soul when he was just a kid.

I tried my best to get him off drugs and eventually it worked. He hated me for a long time because of it, but I think in the end he was grateful. Maybe that's why he wasn't so cold towards me anymore.

I would never say it out loud, but I loved my brothers more than anything. I always did, and I always will. I messed up with a lot of them, and I will never forgive myself for it, but I love them very much.

When we found Eli, everything got turned upside down. Suddenly we had our sibling back, but we had no idea, what would happen. We had searched for a long time but eventually gave up, thinking, that they were long gone. I still had a private investigator on it, but I stopped corresponding with her after so many years.

When I first met Eli, they were broken into pieces and holding themself together with shaky hands. I had no idea how bad it was until they started opening up to us. I had my suspicions after a while, but I could have never dared to imagine horrors like the ones they went through.

I knew Eli was sixteen and very mature for their age, mainly because they had to grow up too early, but I still saw them as my baby sibling, and on some level, I always will. 

They forced us back together as a family and fixed us by just being there. They had a lot of gifts, but that was the most impressive one. They took a broken family, and glued it back together, by simply existing.

Lorenzo POV.

I was never like my parents or my older brother. I knew we were all expected to join the company, but I never wanted to. I wanted to help people, to make a difference, so I chose to study medicine. I was the black sheep of the family, for the longest time, just trying to fit in. I sensed, that our family was broken from a very young age, and did whatever I could to try to fix it. 

Studying medicine was a hard decision knowing, that my father would hate it. I saw how much pressure he put on Alessandro, and even tho it wasn't directed at me, it rubbed off. I couldn't fix our family, but maybe I could fix some broken people, that were rolled into the hospital.

When our mom left, I was eight. I didn't completely understand what was happening, but I realized, that our family would never be the same again. I saw that we were then broken beyond repair, and I took it really hard, since, in my mind, it was my responsibility to fix our family. I fell into depression for a while, before I started helping everyone around me and found joy in that.

Our little sister was the best thing in my world. I loved her so much, that I thought I would burst. I read to her every night and cuddled up with her on the couch when I got back from school. When our mother took that away from me, I grew to hate her. Every memory I had of her got coated with hatred and vengeful thoughts, that I ended up shutting away, as I got too scared of them. I was scared, that I'd end up like my parents, like Alessandro.

When dad died, I took it hard. Even tho, we didn't have a good relationship, he was still my father and I was just a fourteen-year-old kid, who needed his parents. Alessandro turned into dad quickly after the funeral. I guess we all lost ourselves during those years. I tried to help Antonio and tried to talk to Alessandro, but he was too damaged by our father's words.

After Alessandro got a bit better, and let go of the expectations, put on him by our parents, we became really close. We didn't talk about deeper stuff, since I knew Alessandro would never be able to do that, but he became my best friend. I helped with the youngest brothers while he worked long hours into the night, and came home exhausted and angry.

I couldn't help Antonio, but I could help Gabriele. I got him his first paint set and encouraged him to follow his passion. I tried to do the same with Antonio, but his dreams had already been crushed. Matteo was always the middle child. He idolized Alessandro and wanted to be just like him. I tried to get him to drop that idea, but it didn't work, and he ended up losing some of his ability to feel those strong emotions, that he used to.

When I asked Alessandro about medical school, I could see him fighting against the stuff planted in him by our father, but in the end, he was supportive and got me to the Grossman school of medicine.

After a while in med school, I got interested in psychology and started studying that on the side. I always wanted to help people. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to fix our family and the people in it. I wanted to help Alessandro with the scars dad left on him, I wanted to help Antonio with the scars Alessandro left on him, and in the end, I wanted nothing more than to help Eli.

I was so excited to have Eli back with us. I couldn't believe it was finally happening after fifteen years, but all my expectations were shattered, when I saw them, a broken child, trying to go on. I don't know why I thought, that Eli would be okay, but maybe I just hoped for the best. Watching them fall down was the hardest thing I ever had to do, but seeing, how they always got back up was the best feeling in the world. 

They truly were the strongest, most incredible person on this planet. They suffered so much and still smiled through it all. Seeing how they treated Diego like their own kid was confusing. It was cute, and I was happy, that they found a family, but it just showed me, how they had to grow up way too early. Also, it reminded me of all the time, we missed with them, and all the things we could've had.

I felt guilty. That's the only way to truly explain it. I felt guilty, that I couldn't help them, that I couldn't save them from everything and shield them from the horrible world around us. I felt guilty, that we got to live in a mansion, with everything we could ever ask for, and they had to live on their own and provide for a kid from less, than minimum wage. 

Because of that, it was all so much better to see Eli start to enjoy life. They made a lot of good friends and started dating, which was clearly hard for them after their last relationship. They got together a band and gave all of those underground aspiring musicians a chance, like the angel that they were. They turned out to be one of the best artist of our time, which was a bit of a shock, but I don't know where we would be without that. Music was clearly their way of communicating feelings and maybe the only way we would have ever found out about their past.