Brother | Julie and the Phantoms [ENGLISH VERSION]

02 : back from the dead... sort of?

      I DREAMT OF A MILLION WAYS ON HOW I WOULD MEET MY BROTHER, EACH ONE WITH DIFFERENT SCENARIOS AND UNDER DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES, and on each dream, Luke was never dead. He was just away from home. I would just guide him back, always. There's this certain dream I like the most, where I find Luke sitting in front of small lake in Central Park, New York, and Luke would be writing songs using a newspaper and his guitar, all the ducks gathered near the shore because they felt drawn by the melody and his voice.

In all my dreams, Luke knew who I was, knew I was his sister. Always.

But now...

Luke frowns at me. "Do I know you?" he asks, confused.

Oh God.

This can't be true, right? I must be dreaming, because this is no good dream, but a bad one. A nightmare.

Yes, this is a nightmare.

"You're Alex, right?" I say, voice shaking, and the blonde boy nods at me. "And you're Reggie," I point at the black-haired one, and he smiles big at me, waving his hand.

I stumble back, dizzy and foggy-minded. Luke rushes forward as if to keep me from falling, but I'm already out of his reach. I stumble again, this time with a coffee table and I round it to let myself fall numb on the couch, unable to stop my tremors. I hide my head between my arms, gasping for air.

I could hear them whispering.

"Is she okay? What should we do?"

"Don't look at me. I never understood girls."

"That's why you prefer boys, Alex."

"Exactly. Thanks, Luke!"

"Hey, I have just the same t-shirt."

I choke with my own breath.

Slowly, ever so slowly, I lift my glance to stare at Luke's eyes.

Mom's eyes.

God, I think I'm going to be sick...

"I... well, I..."

Alex smiles at me. "It's okay," he assures me. "I too find words a little difficult to put together sometimes. Take your time, okay?"

The thing is, that I already know what I want to say. What I had to say. And yet, I couldn't. Still, I wanted to tell him... tell Luke that I was his sister, that the t-shirt I was wearing was his and that I finally listened to his music, and even though it was just a glimpse of it, he sang amazingly and his guitar was spectacular and...

Julie returned.

Holding a freaking cross in her hands.

"I knew I saw something," she murmurs to herself, then turns to look at me. "Tell me I am not crazy, Amber. I swear I'm not, okay?"

Luke smirks. "We're all a little bit crazy."

Julie screams, but Alex shuts her up. "God! Please, stop screaming!"

Julie's mouth closes. "Who are you guys and what are you doing in my mom's studio?" she asks them, holding her cross in front of her against the boys.

As if that thing would do something.

"Wait, your mom's studio? This is our studio!" Luke claims, stepping away from Julie's cross as she approached to him. "I mean, the grand piano is new and my couch—Oh my God, my couch!" Luke jumps to it.

I jump away from it.

From him.

I glance over my shoulder and stumble forward, almost hitting Reggie. He gives me a small, apology smile for scaring me, but all I do is stand very still in my place. I am shaking and my heart feels like it's going to fly out of my chest, and this is just too much and its all...