Creative Writing Collection

On the Concrete

He looked like a small, crumpled star if you viewed him from above, splayed out on the contaminated floor — father would have never approved. It took me moments to register what had happened, my heart hammering away. There were so many emotions in me at the moment; love, rage, sadness, hurt. And I couldn’t move for a moment, because shock had dominated over all emotions.

       By the time I had run down from my place on the roof, I had been far, far too late. He had been lying on his stomach, and I could remember that even at the top of the five story building, that the initials J.O.R was stitched onto the back collar of his coat. Or perhaps I’ve seen it so much that my brain made me think I saw it… Eyes half lidded, he seemed to gaze off into the distance ever so peacefully. Small rivers of blood poured out form his chapped, parted lips, his neck having turned to the right far too much. I would like to introduce you to my twin brother — Jason Otto Reeves. Unfortunately, he can’t see nor call you back later, for he is dead.

       I had been there. Up on the roof with him. He told me… he told me he hated me, that he hated our parents for keeping me and sending him off to an orphanage, that he hated the life that was tossed halfheartedly at him. Unlike me, he had a well maintained scruffy beard and a bit longer, darker hair than I. Not to mention, a criminal record and a life spend in a broken home. I pleaded for him to come live with me, but it, I… I made it worse! Because then, right after I asked, his body had become limp as he let himself fall off.

       And now, here I was, staring into a reflection of myself. A dead, spiteful, dark reflection of myself. It was 2:17 in the morning. No one other than myself had witnessed what happened. His glasses were shattered, glasses sticking into his forehead and cheeks — some in his eyes. I had rolled him over onto his side, holding him close as I sobbed uncontrollably, so racked with pain that my shrill wails echoed through the night abruptly when I would scream out distorted sobs.

       I think someone might have heard me, because we were there on the cold, hard concrete floor for only a few minutes before an ambulance blared its way to rip by twin brother away from me.