The Final Push

Chapter 24: The High's and Low's

~Sera~

Memphis showed me to a small, one story, dark red brick house. It was towards the edge of the red sector so, if you looked out the window, you could see purple houses. I stood at that window and gazed outside at the people walking to and fro. The house was nice and cozy with two bedrooms and one bathroom. I guessed it was good to have two bedrooms seeing as I wouldn't be caught dead near Breccan right now. Right now... When did that happen? I'd never be interested in being near him, ever. I was just especially mad at him right now.

Every time I thought of Caiden, any good memory that I had left was ruined by Breccan. What happens to a droplet of water placed on a piece of paper? It slowly starts to leak out and spread to unaffected areas. That was what was happening with my memories. My beautiful little brother, my dead beautiful little brother was slowly being leeched into a darkness and I couldn't retrieve him from it. The real question was, if I couldn't save him in real life, how could I save him in my memories?

I realized that I was staring at a young girl dressed in purple outside and she was staring back. I stepped away from the window and leaned against the kitchen counter. "Caiden, I need you now more than ever," I fisted my hands in my hair.

The front door swung open, "Sera, you've never needed anyone."

"Breccan, no offense, but you are the last person on this planet that I want to speak to right now," I didn't look up.

"Then I won't be Breccan, I'll be someone else," he said.

I glanced up at him through my eyelashes, "Who would you be?" Someone smart and not a jerk?"

He smirked slightly, "Ooh.. Name calling, very fierce." That did it, I turned my back on him and walked away. "Sera!" he called after me. "I was just trying to joke around."

"Shut the fuck up!" I yelled back before I walked into my room and slammed the door.

"Sera, come on," he knocked on the door.

"Leave me the hell alone," I yelled at him. Unfortunately, the boy didn't know when to quit and just kept on knocking. I silently laid down on the bed in my room and waited for him to tire himself out and stop the knocking, only it didn't stop. He kept at it until a headache had formed in my mind and I threw myself off the bed and wrenched the door open. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?" I yelled.

He just looked at me calmly, "I want you to stop being mad at me."

"No," I lowered my voice but it was still wobbly with anger.

"Yes, you need to forgive me or else we will never get anything done," he reasoned.

"I don't need to forgive you. You know why?" I asked sarcastically. "Because forgiveness is something that has to be earned and you have done nothing to earn my forgiveness. You're pushing my buttons again and I thought we had this discussion last time when we were in the woods but here you are, going right back at it again. So get it through your thick skull that I don't want to see you and just leave me the hell alone!" I slammed the door in his face and bolted it shut.

I turned on my heel and collapsed back against the bed once more. I waited to see if he would resume his knocking but, instead, I heard nothing. I didn't even hear his feet pad away softly. I curled up on the bed and hugged one of the pillows to my chest, suddenly feeling very alone. This is what I wanted though, right? I wanted him to leave me alone and to stop being there as a constant reminder of my little brother's death, right?

I wasn't quite sure anymore but, before long, I felt my eyes start to droop and I dozed off into, for one of the first times in a long while, a dreamless sleep.