Trigger Warning: SA
Third Person POV
It was 2:30 am and the Verlice siblings were all in their respected rooms.
Well. Except the youngest.
Little Brynn was walking. Walking down the bedroom corridor and around the corner, barefoot and matching baby pink pyjamas. Her hands were gripping onto either sleeves, which were resting on the palms of her hands and she was doing her best not to trip over her pants, which were caught under her heels.
Well. Sleep-state Brynn was, anyway. Conscious-state Brynn wasn't here right now.
Suddenly, she stopped. Something told her too. Funnily enough, this something didn't seem like a friend. Not at all.
Now she was in the middle of the hallway. The hallway with only the upstairs bathroom and the supply closet.
Brynn was, shall we say, interested in the little closet that stood. She was staring intently at the dark oak door, face full of curiosity with a small frown, furrowed eyebrows and concentrated eyes.
She could've sworn she saw the handle move. Painstakingly slow, it turned, until the familiar click sounded. After a few seconds of it remaining slightly ajar, it opened further. It inched wider at an incredibly dragging pace.
Brynn couldn't even find it in her to allow her anxiety to spike. The door was now fully open, the handle gently knocked against the wall; it was just darkness. The outline of a few shelves could be seen.
Well, that was until Brynn brought her eyes down. She took a step back on her right foot and the floor creaked under her.
---
The Verlice brothers all looked up from what they were doing.
Zayne was sat doing paperwork on his bed, his blazer actually off for a change but still in the rest of his suit with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Callan, Brayden and Silas were watching Netflix in their plaid pyjama bottoms and t-shirts. Ezra was looking in his drawers for pyjamas, just coming out of the shower. Zaiden was catching up on homework in his sweats and hoodie and Zach was scrolling through his phone, pretending to pay attention the movie playing in the background.
Now, they had all paused their activities, hearing a creak. Usually, it would be assumed that someone was just getting a drink, but if that was the case, they'd hear a lot more footsteps after it.
So they waited, waited to hear it again.
Creak.
They all stood and made their way to their doors, simultaneously opening them together and all coming face to face with one another. Zach grimaced at Ezra.
"Must we see everything?"
"I've got a towel on," Ezra spread his arms to show said towel, only to find it missing. He looked back in his room and saw he'd dropped it making his way over.
Zayne did not look amused, Callan had his elbow resting on his arm, face in his hand and the rest of them were scoffing and showing their disgust.
Ezra came back to his door way, tightening the towel around his waist.
Creak.
They all froze and looked at each other, seriously, then down the hallway, where they'd heard the sound come from. It was dimly lit and not a shadow could be seen.
Their first instinct was to check on their little sister. Zayne's instincts were the first to kick in as he crossed from his room to hers in two steps. Careful to not make a sound, he turned the door knob, creaking the door open enough to poke his head in and scan the area.
His eyes zoned to the bathroom; the door was closed, but no light shone underneath it and Zayne was wise enough to know that his little sister would never use the bathroom without some light, unless she got over her fear from when she was a toddler.
Next, he scanned the remaining area around the room, before he focused on the bed. The bed that had crumpled, pulled back sheets and pillows that had been tossed and turned. No Brynn.
Zayne reached to his waistband to retrieve his handgun, his brothers all seeing the action and growing unsettled.
Zayne turned back towards where they'd heard the creak, narrowing his eyes at the seemingly empty space. He walked forwards, handgun held tightly to his right side and left hand lifted, signalling to his brothers to remain quiet.
His brothers went back in their rooms in search of their own guns, as the oldest turned the corner, gun slightly hidden behind his right thigh, ready to pull out.
He sighed a deep breath of relief seeing his sister stood there, looking half-asleep, swaying a little and facing the storage closet. "Brynn," he breathed out, sneaking the gun back into its pocket.
She didn't move, nor did she even face his way still focused on the open closet. Zayne's stone face remained so, although inside he grew curious and made his way over to her. Crouching next to her.
"What are you doing up?" he expected an answer straight away. He didn't receive an answer at all.
Brynn couldn't answer. Brynn wasn't even fully here right now.
Milo was here.
Milo was in the closet. Milo was here.
But he wasn't doing anything. Why wasn't he doing anything? He was just sat in the back of the closet, back against the wall, legs spread out in front of me him. In between his legs, he was twirling a knife with his left hand. A knife that looked sharp.
The weird thing was though, he wasn't even looking at her. He was just staring at the knife as it spun, occasionally catching the light. Brynn didn't like this. Why's he not looking at her? What was he planning?
Zayne furrowed his eyebrows slightly. What was she looking at?
He didn't have any more time to ponder on the thought, Callan and Brayden were coming round the corner, guns tucked in their shirts behind them, if need be. They froze when they saw their little sister with their brother.
Shooting their oldest brother odd looks, they, too, crowded around Brynn. Callan was now blocking her view of Milo and Brayden was stood to her right. He shot Zayne a questioning look, to which Zayne shook his head. He didn't know what she was doing either.
"You sleep walking, sweetheart?" Callan cupped the side of her face, trying to get a better look at her sleepy expression. Nothing could deter her gaze away from the closet though.
The rest of them came around the corner now, Ezra leading, but he stopped just like Brayden and Callan did. This caused Silas to bump into his back, creating a domino effect. Once they saw what he saw, they slipped their guns back, relieved.
"What's she doing?" Zaiden asked.
Callan shrugged, "sleep walking, I guess." He waved his hand slowly in front of her. The small movement caused more terror to course through Brynn's body than she thought possible.
One second, Milo was staring at the knife, then Callan's hand swiped across her vision and his eyes had moved to look at her instead. It looked something out of a horror movie.
She inhaled a shaky breath; Milo stopped the knife's spinning and simultaneously slanted his head to the left.
"'S Milo."
This made the tension in the hallway increase tenfold. Everybody tensed and looked at each other, apart from the two eldest. Zayne stared harder at his sister and Callan whipped around to the dark closet.
He stood and aimed his gun into the darkness as he rapidly moved to turn the light on.
Nothing.
The closet was empty. She was having a night terror about that bastard. Callan clenched his fists and jaw. God, how he wanted to torture that son of a bitch.
Taking a deep breath and composing himself when Ezra came to check for himself, he turned back around to Brynn, who was still looking at the space in pure fear.
In Brynn's eyes, he had gone. Where had he gone? He had disappeared the second the light switched on.
"Brynn, you're sleep walking. Come on let's go back to bed," Brayden said, holding her face to get her attention, not even fully sure if she could understand him.
Brynn turned to her brother, only it wasn't her brother. It was Milo. Milo was touching her. No no no, Milo was touching her.
The brothers were highly alarmed by the shrill, ear-piercing and skin crawling scream from their little sister. Her eyes were filled to the brim with tears and her hands had begun to shake. It was a heart breaking sight for all of them.
Not even thinking clearly, Silas walked up in front of her, "hey hey hey, it's okay, you're-"
She screamed again, backing up. Milo's touching her.
"Brynn," Zayne came further forward to grab her before she banged into the wall behind her.
Milo came forward, jabbing the knife in her direction. She screamed once again, flinging herself backwards straight into the bathroom door frame, successfully hitting her head and scraping her back.
Her brothers winced. They were feeling something they hadn't ever felt before. They were frightened.
Zayne raised his hands, "Brynn, look at me." She looked at him, bottom lip trembling, eyes cautious and his heart just about broke.
"Milo's dead, okay? It's us, your brothers. Nothing's going to hurt you. I promise," he spoke, carefully, speaking nothing but the truth.
Brynn tried to even out her breathing when suddenly someone gripped her shoulder and Milo's repulsive voice whispered in her ear, "are you being a good girl for me, Brynn?"
Whipping her head around to the dark, empty bathroom, she gasped. Her feet tumbled over one another and she fell backwards. All her brothers leapt forward and Ezra, being the closest, caught her. He fell down with her to prevent any part of her body hitting the floor.
Brynn almost started crying again. Milo was touching her.
Scrambling away from Ezra, she tried to run down the hallway, only to be stopped by Zach and Zaiden. "Brynn stop," Zach tried, reaching our for her. She flinched back into Zaiden, who tried to hold her by her arms to refrain her movements. A stupid idea, but the only one Zaiden could think of at this time. He was so frustrated. Frustrated at himself and most of all, Milo. God, he hated him. They all did.
The second his hands came in contact with her, she screamed and kicked him in the shin. Zaiden groaned, letting go of her and cursing. Brynn scurried away to the other side of them, in hopes to escape that way.
Her hopes were crushed when she crashed into Brayden who stood in front of her. Instead of letting her go, he wrapped his arms firmly around her torso and shoulders. She flailed around in his arms.
Milo was touching her.
"N-no! Don't touch me!"
Brayden bit his lip, tears building in his own eyes. He brought them down so he was against the wall with his knees up and Brynn curled up into a ball on his lap. He had his left hand forcing her head to his chest and his right arm wrapped around her torso to keep her from moving too much.
"Shh shhh shhh shhhh," he stroked her hair, in attempt to comfort her. That was all they could do. Comfort her.
"He's- he's t-touching me." They all clenched their fists, rage boiling in their veins.
"He's dead, remember sweetheart? You're safe with us, I promise. Nowhere is safer for you than with us."
Brynn started to choke on her words, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks, "I-I- told him no. But he kept touching m-me."
Brayden's grip unconsciously tightened on her. It was silent apart from the occasional sob from the youngest Verlice.
"H-he made m-me trust him and did that."
The brothers' eyes were filled with fury and tears. Some were tears of sympathy and others were of anger. Zayne was just staring, his hand covering half of his face, at his little sister. Who was still a baby in his eyes, in all their eyes. Not even a teenager yet. How dare someone hurt their baby sister enough to be reduced to this.
Brynn, poor Brynn, gripped Brayden's pyjama shirt and sniffled some more. "Why did he do that?" she whispered to no one.
Brayden sweetly kissed the top of her head. "I don't know, sweetheart," he whispered at the same level of volume she was speaking at. He looked to his brothers who were all looking at the youngest of them. "I don't know," he repeated.
It went silent. Brayden subconsciously started to rock the two of them on the floor, trying to get Brynn fully asleep. The rest of the Verlice brothers were absolutely mute.
Zayne, Ezra and Silas were all crouched on the floor, looking dumbfounded and helpless. Callan leaned against the closet door frame, arms crossed and looking down at his brother and sister with tears in his eyes and murder on his mind. Zaiden was staring hopelessly at the scene, trying to not cry and Zach was involuntarily crying. Tears rolled down his face similarly to his sisters.
Unconditional anger was flowing through each and everyone of them. They all breathed heavily, their entire bodies tense and rigid. Oh what they wouldn't give to have Milo Kingslee's blood on their hands right now.
Brayden tipped his head back onto the wall behind him, clueless about what he should do. He looked towards his brothers, impassively.
Once he was sure Brynn was sleeping, he sniffed and spoke. "I need to take a look at her back." His brothers snapped their gazes to him and nodded.
Callan stepped forwards to take her from him, but Brayden held her closer. "I've got her," he stood up, holding her under her knees and around her waist.
"Zach, get the first aid box out of the medic. Zaiden, get me a cold cloth," he ordered his brothers, who both reluctantly left to do said tasks. Next, Brayden turned to Silas and Ezra, "can you get the living room set up please." Silas nodded and left while Ezra spent a few more seconds staring at Brynn.
"Now, Ezra," Zayne's dominating, stern voice commanded. Ezra grumbled about going and left after Silas.
The three oldest stood in silence in the middle of the hallway. They didn't know what to say. What could you say after that?
Brayden took a deep breath and turned away from the two. He walked down the stairs and into the living room, where Ezra and Silas had set up the couch. It was filled with so many blankets that you couldn't even see the actual couch.
Brayden set Brynn down on the soft blankets with the help of Zach.
"Shhhhh," Zach soothed when she started stirring.
"Place her on her stomach," Brayden whispered to Zach. Zach nodded and did as told.
Brayden placed her head gently on its side, on top of one of the pillows from one of the guest rooms. Zach handed him the first aid kit just as Zaiden came in with a damp cloth.
Brayden went to take it from him, but he retracted it saying a bit too harshly, "I can do it."
Zaiden was feeling overwhelmingly protective of his sister right now. They all were.
Ezra had now dressed into sweats and was stood behind the couch with Silas and Zach, staring intently at his sister. Callan had entered and taken his place sat in front of Brynn, moving her hair out of her face and Zayne had also entered. Although, he just stood in the doorway, looking on at the scene before him.
Zaiden placed the damp cloth on her flushed forehead and stepped back, trying to compose himself. Trying to prevent himself from dragging Milo from hell himself and beating the shit out of him.
No words were spoken as Brayden lifted the back of her shirt up to take a look at the damage. She hit the wall really hard and when she moved away, she had managed to scrape it further.
They all winced seeing the angry, long cut running along her back. A little blood was seeping out so Brayden had to be quicker to disinfect it. He pulled out the antiseptic wipes and began to clean.
Everybody, apart from Zayne, cringed at the sight of the burning acid on the open cut.
"Why isn't she waking up to the sting?" Silas mindlessly asked no one in particular.
"High pain tolerance," Zayne muttered from his place, causing all eyes to go on him. He wasn't even watching the scene before him, just staring blankly at the ground.
He looked up at all of them, then at Brynn. They remained on Brynn for a while.
No more words were exchanged between any of them. Nobody wanted to speak. Nobody wanted to feel the inordinate amount of guilt that they do right now. But they do.
And if one of them spoke right now, I don't think the brothers would remain calm.
Someone's majorly harmed the person that they care about the most and that is something that they do not take lightly.
And that person wasn't even alive. So god help the next person who is alive that does piss them off.
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:)
<3