A Unique Kind of Love (PUBLISHED)

23. Wherever You Are

“In fact, my mom can’t even tell me what to do, because she’s dead!” He chuckled dryly. I tensed and stared at him.

“Neither can my dad say anything, because his body is underground! He’s dead!” His tone rose.

I put my hand on his arm. “Liam, pl—” He abruptly took his arm away from me.

“And they say that siblings will always be here for you, eh? Mine, where is she, huh? She’s DEAD, too! How old was she, Lena? FIVE YEARS OLD!” He was shouting by now.

I stayed frozen.

“And Grandma, she used to tell me what to do.” He paused, taking ragged breaths. “But now she can’t, you know why, Lena?”

I didn’t answer.

“You know why? Do you?”

I shook my head, feeling that it was the right thing to do.

He put his hands on my shoulder and looked at me in the eye.

“She’s DEAD TOO!”

I wasn’t used to Liam talking just yet, much less to him yelling. I decided to stay calm and silent, just to let him get everything out.

“And why?” He whispered, walking around the living room. His steps made stains on the carpet.

He turned to me and pointed at himself. “Me. It’s all my fucking fault!”

“I’m letting them die, Lena! For god’s sake, I’m losing everyone around me! I’m an orphan!” He shouted, every fiber of me was shaking.

“It’s not your fault,” I said. “It never was.”

He scoffed. “My family died because of my god damned birthday present! I was a selfish brat who couldn’t wait for an airplane for his tenth birthday! They got killed in that car crash! It was my fault! And then, Grandma came to live with me! And maybe she wouldn’t have gotten sick, and maybe she wouldn’t have fucking died, Lena!”

He swung his fist into the closest thing to him, which was the old lamp Mom had always refused to get rid of. He grimaced at the blood on his knuckles and looked up at me.

The anger was gone, and it was replaced by a look of heartbreak.

“They’re all gone,” he mumbled, falling to his knees. In a flash, I was by his side.

“None of this was your fault, I promise. It wasn’t your fault that a drunk driver crashed into their car. It wasn’t yours. It wasn’t your fault that your grandma got sick.” I kept on repeating.

He let out a sob and covered his face with his hands. “They’re all gone,” he kept on saying. My heart broke at the sight of him. I put my arms around him, feeling our bodies vibrate as he cried. We remained like that for a long time. I held a broken soul and watched as he got out of the shell he hid behind.

A small trashcan was placed in front of me and I realized that Tori and Mom were awake. Mom leaned against the wall and looked at us with a broken expression.

Tori gave me the trashcan and nodded. As if by telepathy, Liam grabbed the trashcan and started retching. I breathed through my mouth, and Tori turned away.

I rubbed his back as he got every drop of alcohol out of his system. He coughed repeatedly, and I grabbed a tissue box. I handed him about five of them and watched as he wiped his mouth.

Mom handed me a bottle of water and he cleaned the puke in his mouth out with it.

I helped him get up and I put him on the red couch I loved to read on. He blinked at me several times. I took his hand.

“It isn’t your fault, Liam.” I said.

“It is,” he replied, his voice barely audible. His cheeks were wet from the tears that still fell.

I shook my head fervently. “It isn’t. Your mom, your dad, Serena and Grandma Darla are looking down on you right now, guarding you. They will always be in your heart. They wouldn’t want to see you like this.”

“But they’re not here.”

“They are,” I pressed my palm on the place where his heart should be. “They’re right here.”

He closed his eyes and opened them with difficulty. “…will you leave me?”

“Never.”

He took a deep breath and fell to sleep. I turned to my mom and sibling. They looked at me with sadness and pity.

Mom scrunched her nose. “I never really liked that lamp, anyway.”