My Brother's Keeper (a Superman story)

Chapter 28: Brother's at Odds (Part II)

I had a long day at school and walking back into the house, I was surprised my mom was not home as normally, she was usually making dinner right around this time. I then ran into Lois, who was in the living room.

            "Where's Clark?" I asked.

            "He's in Metropolis. He went to turn in a story for me about the tainted vaccines, and now Lex is under fire for it."

            "Okay" I said.

            "But look, I was hoping we could talk."

            "About?"

            "About Clark."

            "What's there to talk about? My brother hates me. He refuses to understand that I had no choice and had I not acted, we would have lost another parent. Not that killing Nour was what I wanted to...you know what, it doesn't matter. Our relationship is messed up and I seriously doubt anything will fix it now."

            "He doesn't hate you. He's just disappointed at the decision you made in taking a life. His aim has always been to save and not end lives."

            "Well, the enemy was too powerful for me to handle and she was about to kill my mom. So to answer your question, assuming this is what you want to even know, I will always make the decision I made. I was not about to let her murder my mom!"

            "He just needs some time to absorb this a little."

            "Absorb it a little?" I stifled a laugh. "He runs away when things get bad, or refuses to understand certain matters. He was gone for over two years and didn't keep contact even when I tried to. I suppose the distance caused by COVID, really screwed our once close relationship."

            "Don't talk like that. He's still your brother."

            "He might still be my brother but even such relationships aren't immune to drifting apart."

            "You guys haven't drifted apart. All he ever talked about was you when we lived in Metropolis. Telling me how proud he was to have you as his brother."

            "He may have talked a lot about me but he never once returned a single one of my calls. I eventually decided to leave him behind."

            "Again, Clark does not hate you and you need to stop believing that. He loves and cares about you and believe me, he will come around."

            "I don't know why I find that hard to believe, but if you say so."

            "It's not because I say so. It's because he does love you and regardless of what happened, he's not going to stop caring about you. So you shouldn't worry so much."

            Except, I could not help but worry. COVID had separated us for so long and in the process, we became different people during that time. Two people who no longer had anything real in common, other than sharing a common background, being of Kryptonian descent. It was as if we became strangers who knew but at the same time, did not know one another.

            Clark walked in and the moment he looked at me, he gave me a quick glare and went to Lois, completely ignoring my existence.

            "Why don't we go have dinner?" he asked Lois. "Mom's gonna be at her friend's house for the day so she might not cook."

            "Sure. But maybe you should invite Omar to come along with us."

            "I'm okay, I'm not even hungry" I quickly said, because while I was hungry I was not about to third wheel it with my brother and his fiancée while we were at odds, yet again.