THE BOY WHO COULD FLY

12 | the accident

"Au revoir, Loui!" [Goodbye, Loui!] Willo and Olivier wished their sister goodbye as she hopped out of their car and into the airport. Willo was driving and they had to keep it moving, so they were already on their way.

"Do you know why she seemed so off?" Olivier asked and Willo sighed. The fifteen year old could tell her sister didn't have much energy. He had absolutely no clue why though. Olivier could tell that he had something to say about it.

"What? Do you know why?" Olivier was annoyed that his older brother was withholding information.

"No!" Willo yelled. Olivier didn't believe him and kept annoying him about it.

"Fine! I know why, we both knew. We just didn't want to ruin your Christmas." Willo shook his head and it scared Olivier.

"Willo, what happened?" Olivier asked and Willo sighed.

"Please don't get mad at us, Ollie. We wanted to tell you in good time." Willo looked like he was about to shed a tear, and Willo never cried.

They kept driving though, through London, and back to Olivier's house. Olivier needed an answer, as Willo was only scaring him more with each thing he did.

"Willo. Please tell me." Olivier begged for the last time. He hated that Willo was treating him like a baby.

"C'est sœur-" [It's sis-] Willo began and choked up a bit. They were nearly at Olivier's townhome by now but Olivier needed more.

"She's got cancer. Stage four, it's almost inevitable." Willo said and Olivier stared at his brother's eyes before he turned away.

After a moment of silence, Willo looked over to see Olivier's reaction only to find that Olivier had no reaction. He sat motionless in the car and Willo was scared for him.

"Ollie?" He asked and Olivier didn't respond. He sat still, until a few minutes later, he left without a word. They had a match tomorrow, but for the first time since he joined, Willo was unsure if he would be playing alongside his brother.

Olivier was eerily normal the next day, and Willo was scared for him. They were already on the coach to Emirates though, and he knew his brother was starting. It might not be good for him, but he seemed to be taking the news fine.

"Ollie, are you okay? I'm really sorry. We shouldn't have kept it from you." Willo said after he had isolated the fifteen year old from his friends in warmups.

"Just tell me one thing." Olivier reasoned and it scared Willo.

"How long has she got?" He asked, while trying to avoid eye contact.

"I'll tell you after, yeah?" Willo didn't want to upset him more. Olivier stamped his foot, causing a dent in the pitch and stormed back to Declan and B. Willo sighed and they all walked into the tunnel together.

Olivier was very provoked and thought he could channel it towards the game. It was nice to be at home after so long on the road, but he didn't really think of that.

The ball was kicked to West Ham on kickoff and Olivier sure used his anger. He made an aggressive hit to a player with the ball that the referee was forced to warn him about. It was only the third minute though, so it wouldn't be right to book him. After the first goal though, he was even more enraged.

"Ay, I'm open!" He shouted at Martin. Martin didn't like his tone but let it slide and passed to him. Olivier took the ball and ran with it. Someone tried to take it from him, but he shoved him out of the way. He heard the referee blow his whistle and spun around to complain.