"Because I have a brother, I will always have a friend."
-Unknown
It was getting late and Shannon hadn't returned yet. I began to worry. Since he was brought to the palace there was nothing but anger and hatred hidden behind his eyes. He hated all of them. Even though a lot of them are really good people just following their queen.
***
I was serving a small party of the queen's guests and suddenly there was a ton of commotion. I rushed to the throne room along with everyone else and there he was.
He looked as if he had been living in the forest for quite some time. His face was dirty and clothes were torn. He also had lost a considerable amount of weight. He bore his teeth at the queen in anger.
I stood in silent horror waiting for the queen to give her verdict. I needed him to look at me. If he would just look.
"Kill them all," the queen said with no guilt or interest whatsoever.
"No! Wait!" I shouted pushing my way through the crowd of people.
"Jared?" Shannon said looking at me. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost.
My heart instantly broke and began to run to him but the guards stopped me. "Please! Let me go! He's my brother!" I fought against the guards, but they threw me to the ground.
"Jared!" Shannon struggled against them trying to get to me.
"Silence!" The queen demanded, and everything fell quiet. "Your brother?" The queen was amused now.
I nodded. "Please don't kill him. He's the only family I have left. He'll do whatever you want I promise! Just please don't kill him!" I collapsed to my knees and wept. I thought he was dead this whole time and to see him standing before me with guns aimed at his head was enough to kill me.
"Fine, but he needs to know that his life has a price." She looked at him sweetly but her words were venom coming off of her tongue. "Change him. No anesthetics."
The guards carried him off into a side room were they changed humans into immortals. I didn't know how bad it would hurt because I was unconscious, but if it was going to save his life then it was worth it.
Everything was quiet for a long time. I began to think that it wasn't painful at all, but I was wrong.
Shannon screamed. It wasn't like anything I had ever heard before. It was a scream that worse than death. I ran for the door only to be pulled back by a guard. Shannon's screams continued. I fought harder and managed to break free only for a moment.
"If you keep fighting, I'll kill him. You asked me to spare his life. I did. Don't make me regret it," the queen said harshly.
As my brother cried out, I felt helpless. I wanted to run to him. I couldn't imagine the pain he was feeling. His shrieks filled the air my heart shattered into pieces, and I began to wonder if I had made the right decision in saving him. Now he was doomed to my fate. To live forever, seeing people die, and to be a slave forever.
Suddenly the screams stopped. He didn't make it. He's gone. I fell to the ground hating myself. If I had know his body couldn't handle it, I wouldn't have put him through so much torture. I would have let the queen execute him as she had planned, and he wouldn't have felt a thing. It would have been quick and painless, but pain was the last thing he felt before his untimely death.
I hadn't realized I was all alone and shaking violently until another human servant placed his hand on my shoulder. He said something but I didn't understand it.
The door to the room opened and doctors walked out, and the guards followed. I rushed inside the room and saw Shannon lying on a table, his chest rising and falling with struggle, but he was alive. I rested my head onto his chest and cried.
***
"Jared. Jared!"
I looked up and saw worried hazel eyes gazing at me. I stood and pulled Shannon into my embrace.
"I'm sorry I was so hard on you, okay? You don't have to squeeze me to death," he said jokingly.
"I'm sorry." I rested my head on his shoulder and he patted my hair calming me. I felt like a child, but I didn't mind it. He was my big brother and right now all I wanted was his warm embrace.