D A N I E L
This was so fucking stupid.
I grabbed my phone and walked out of my room. It was so quiet. As I was about to walk outside, Alex stopped me.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"To celebrate my birthday," I muttered.
"Ethan and Brandon will be coming back soon," He said. "Why don't you wait for them? We were going to celebrate—"
"Yeah, we were," I snapped. "Until our fucking family decided to create this stupid shit. I told you guys not to fucking do it. None of you listened to me!"
Alex sighed. "Daniel, we're sorry. You were right. You warned us about him and how he was probably lying, but we're sorry."
I was pissed, but who wasn't at this point? When my 4 older brothers told me about convincing Mike to leave his "side chick", they said our mom was his actual girlfriend.
I knew something was up and I told them not to do it and just to let Mike go. But no, they didn't listen to me. They did it and now look at everyone.
"No," I said sharply. "It was already a red flag that he had a "side chick" already, but he literally created this whole story. He said he didn't have a family, so you guys listened. Are you kidding me?"
"Daniel—"
"You guys didn't listen to me and I'm tired of getting dragged in this shit," I said.
Alex went quiet, and after a while, he spoke up. "Happy birthday..."
"Thanks," I mumbled, walking out.
The warm breeze hit me and I felt so much better just being outside. I texted my friends.
me: hey, is anyone down to hang out?
carter: sorry, man. i can't...
lander: yeah, me neither. i have to help my parents with something.
elijah: i can't sorry
lander: it's your birthday, right?
me: yeah
carter: happy birthday
elijah: hbd daniel
me: thanks
I shut off my phone and sighed, putting my hands in my pockets. I walked towards the park nearby. I sat on the swings and watched as little kids ran around, their parents at the bench.
Happy birthday to me, I guess.
Then a soccer ball rolled towards me and it hit my leg, making me look up. A small kid, maybe 10 ran up to me, his blonde hair messed up and his extremely bright blue eyes standing out.
"Sorry," he said, grabbing the the soccer ball and running away.
I went back on my phone and then after a while, the soccer ball came back, but this time, it hit my arm, the chains on the swing rattling.
"Sorry," he said, breathing heavily as he ran up to me. "I'm sorry."
I gave him a small smile. "It's okay."
And I went back on my phone. Eventually when I looked around, I saw the kid playing against himself. He was kicking the soccer ball onto one of the walls and it kept rolling away.
Then a group of older kids, around 12 and 13, no older than 8th graders came to the playground, laughing and looking around.
I decided it was nothing and continued scrolling through Instagram until I heard one of them say something.
"Hey loser!" They called out.
When I looked up, they were near the kid who was playing soccer by himself.
"You're a fucking loser, that's why you're here by yourself," They said.
"You don't have any friends, do you?" Another one added.
"You're a freak, that's what you are."
Jesus Christ.
"You're not going to cry, are you? What a baby."
I rolled my eyes, sighing. They're pathetic.
"Are you going to bring your big sister to protect you? Because you don't have a mom? And because your dad's in jail? What a psychopath!"
I stood and walked towards them, fed up with their bullshit. I stood in front of the soccer kid, towering over the little bullies.
I put on my death stare, the one I learned from my brothers that terrified people, and I guess it worked because the kids took a step back, eyeing me wearily.
"Don't say that," I said, annoyed. "Go pick on someone your own size. Or just don't pick on anyone at all."
The one that looked the most confident tried to stand up to me. As I said, tried.
"Who the fuck are you?" He spat.
"Let's not do this now," I said. "I'm already annoyed, don't need to piss me off."
"Fuck off," he said.
"Look, it's my birthday and I really don't want to cause any trouble, just leave the kid alone."
"Who the fuck are you?" He repeated his question.
For fucks sake.
"I'm the fucking guy that'll beat your ass if you don't leave him alone," I snapped, stepping towards him, making him back up.
I'm not going to hit a kid, I'm not going to hit a kid, I'm not going to hit a kid.
"Are you dumb? Piss off," Another kid said.
I almost laughed because of how pathetic this was. To think that I used to be one of them. "Are you guys really testing me right now?"
I might hit a kid, I might hit a kid, I might hit a kid.
Instead of punching them in the face, I grabbed the middle one by his shirt and yanked him closer to me. "You can fuck off and leave him alone. If I see your ass again, I won't let you off so easily, got it?"
And I shoved him away, knocking him down on his back. His friends helped him up and they glared at me as they walked away.
"This isn't over!" A kid yelled. "We'll come back!"
I was going to piss my pants from laughing too hard. These kids are really something.
"Thanks," the little boy muttered, kicking his soccer ball at the wall. There was a black spot he was trying to aim at, but he kept missing.
"Lock your ankle," I told him. "And keep your body straight. But angle it a little."
He tried what I told him and he hit the side of the black spot. He turned to me and I noticed the slightest bit of amazement and the smallest, barely noticeable smile.
"You play soccer?" He asked.
"Used to," I said, smiling. "Then I started hockey."
"Max!" A girl yelled, running up to him. She bent down and hugged the boy. "Oh my gosh, are you okay? Did those kids come back again? I saw them running away. Did they do something? Are you hurt?"
Max pushed her hands away, emotionless. "I'm fine. He was there."
The girl turned towards me and stood up, staring right at me.
Oh... wow.
I've never seen a girl this beautiful in my life.
Her long, wavy ombré blonde and brown hair looked soft and the way it flowed was so pretty. Her eyes were emerald green and she had light freckles running across her cheek and nose. She was a little shorter than me but she was stunning.
After a few seconds of her looking at me, she cleared her throat. "Thanks."
I gave her a smile. "No problem. If those kids come again, you should probably report it."
"Happy birthday," Max told me, a little emotionless.
I didn't know what it was, but someone or something's hurt him really bad. I could physically see the pain in his eyes.
The girl grabbed Max's arm. "I told you not to go by yourself! Especially places like this. Those kids could've hurt you really badly if it wasn't for him."
"I'm fine," Max replied.
"Thanks to him!" She protested. "Max, you can't do that. You can't defend yourself. Tell me if the kids come back, okay?"
Max shrugged slightly, grabbing his soccer ball. "Okay."
She sighed and turned to me. "Are you... busy today?"
That caught me off guard. "What?"
"It's your birthday..." She trialed off. "Right? And you saved my brother so... I have to repay you back somehow."
I shook my head. "I-I... n-no, it's okay."
She tucked her hair behind her ear. "No, seriously. Are you hungry? We can get some food. Celebrate your birthday.... if you're not busy, that is."
I smiled. "Yeah... okay."
So we walked to the nearest restaurant and the whole time, nobody talked.
But we got seated and I decided to start the conversation.
"So, how old are you?" I asked.
"15," she replied. "What about you?"
"I just turned 16 today," I said, smiling.
She smiled a tiny bit. "Happy birthday. And... are you from this neighborhood? I've never.... seen you before."
"Yeah," I said. "I haven't seen you either."
I was honestly surprised there were people who didn't know me. Well, based on my family's reputation, it wasn't my fault we were well-known.
"I go to the... the school," she said, thinking. "What is it called? Angel something. Angelwood, right."
I smiled. "I go there too."
"You do?" She asked, surprised. "Oh, well, at least I'll know someone."
It went silent again.
"Sorry... it's so awkward," she mumbled. "I mean... we just met..."
"Don't worry about it," I told her, smiling. "I guess we should get some food, yeah?"
"When are we going?" Max asked, but it didn't sound like a question.
"Max," she said. "Come on, he helped you."
Max looked at me and turned back to staring at his water cup.
"I'm... Irene," she said. "We... haven't introduced ourselves..."
"I'm Daniel," I replied.
Yeah, this was awkward. I was having lunch with someone I didn't even know.
We ordered our food, I got barbecue, Irene got steak and Max got a pizza slice and Mac-and-Cheese. We got our drinks and Irene and I started a conversation.
"So, did you recently move?" I asked.
Irene pushed her hair off her shoulder. "I've lived here my whole life."
I stopped.
How did I never see her before?
"Oh," I said awkwardly. "So..."
I remembered what one of the bullies said to him. Max doesn't have a mom, and his dad's in jail.
"I'll be back," Irene said, getting up. She walked to somewhere, leaving Max and I alone.
"So, Max," I started. "How old are you?"
"10," he said, monotone.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
He shrugged.
I was curious to why he was like this, but I wasn't dumb enough to ask him out of nowhere.
As soon as Irene came back, the tension lifted. She was actually really nice and funny. And each second, I was falling for her.
"Irene, do you play any sports?" I asked.
"Yeah," she replied. "Well, I used to. Now I only ice-skate."
"So we're both on ice," I said, and realized that didn't make any sense, but Irene laughed.
"I guess so," she replied.
Soon, we finished up our food. Then all of a sudden employees started walking towards our table with a cake and they were singing happy birthday.
To me.
I turned to Irene who had a smile on her face. "Happy birthday, Daniel."
my brothers
- i r e n e -
"No, no, no," I said, grabbing Daniel's arm. "I said I was going to pay. I invited you to dinner—"
"I'll pay," Daniel insisted.
"But... that was the only thing I could do for you as a present," I said. "I'll just pay—"
"You gave me one of the best presents I could've gotten," he said, smiling. "I had a lot of fun."
Was he flirting with me?
But yeah, he was cute, I'll admit.
Daniel paid while I argued with him. But it was too late.
"Thanks," he said. "We should talk a lot more, yeah?"
I nodded, smiling. "Yeah, of course."
"Irene," Max mumbled, tugging on my shirt.
I turned to him. "Yeah, Max?"
"I wanna leave," He said, turning away from all the people.
I sighed, putting my arm around him. "We're going right now, okay?"
"Happy birthday," I told Daniel one more time. "I'll see you around."
We walked out as Daniel said bye to us.
Max let out a subtle sigh of relief. "Irene."
"Yeah?"
"I'm tired."
I held his hand. "I'll call an Uber, okay?"
"I don't want to go," Max muttered, leaning against me. "I don't wanna go home."
"I know you don't," I said. "I don't want to go either. But come on."
We have a complicated past.
I was 6 when my brother was born. But before that, my parents would fight and fight. What I didn't know was that he was abusing our mother. Max was still a baby when the abuse was still going on.
The thing was, our dad didn't hit any of us. He didn't do anything to me. He would constantly verbally abuse my mom and my brother, even when Max was barely a year old.
Our dad never yelled at me. He never said anything about me. All he did was hold me in his arm and call me his special girl. He said I reminded him of my mother, but he hated her. He didn't hate me.
I wish he did, though.
As Max grew up he made Max feel like a worthless kid. Max stopped crying eventually.
He stopped feeling.
Because of the verbal abuse, Max slowly got detached from himself. Max wouldn't come out of his room, he wouldn't eat, he wouldn't go to school. He locked himself inside whenever dad wasn't around.
And when he was, he shouted at Max, and sometimes, he hit him.
I couldn't do anything. I wish I could. My dad threatened me when I was 7, saying that if I called the cops, he would kill my mom and my brother.
And one day, it came true.
I was 13, and I was at school. Max didn't go to school. He stayed locked up in his room.
I didn't know when or where it happened at that moment, but I got called down into the office where police officers were waiting for me.
I was rushed to the police station where I was told that my dad had just murdered my mom.
Max was waiting at the police station, and I was panicking, sobbing the whole time. Max stayed still.
My dad was arrested after he was caught on camera in the streets behind an alley.
First degree murder.
30 years in prison.
My mom was dead.
My dad was in jail.
And worst of all, Max stopped feeling.
We were sent to live with our grandparents for a month. And then my grandfather died, so my grandmother overdosed and killed herself.
Then we waited for some other relative to get us, but none of them wanted us. As a result, we were sent to a foster home.
It took a bunch of families. They all liked me.
They didn't like Max.
They said he was a psychopath. They called him name. They only wanted me.
Until we finally came to a family who lost their child due to a miscarriage. Miracle was my foster mother's name, and Neil was my dad's name.
Max didn't talk to them at all.
But they knew our past and they were patient with both of us. I was still trying to recover from my depressive episodes where I developed anxiety.
This all happened in less than a year.
Miracle and Neil helped us both a lot. They suggested therapy and we went. Max took a longer time opening up, and our therapist told our family that due to the emotional and verbal abuse, it traumatizes Max so badly that he lost his emotions and was detached from himself almost all the time.
That hurt me so much, because I felt like it was my fault. I didn't know why, but I felt responsible for my little brother.
But through it all, Max still loved me and he would stick next to me all the time.
I recovered from my anxiety after 3 years, and Max, he was progressing little by little.
He started slowly opening up to Miracle and Neil. He can't talk to people easily. It took 3 years, just recently, for Max to actually call them Mom and Dad.
Even then, Max can't express his emotions that well. But he's working on it and it makes me so happy seeing how he's getting better.
When he feels an emotion, it's a very small amount. He had to re learn everything, such as crying, getting angry, getting upset, and being happy.
He was taken away from his own happiness.
He started going to school which was a sign of huge progress change. Max started getting bullied which was extremely bad, but he met this friend in school, Ashton, who defends him and fights for him.
I was thankful for Ashton.
"Irene," he groaned. "I'm tired."
I smiled. "I know, buddy."
Max and I finally got home and my mom and dad greeted us happily.
Max went up to my room and laid on my bed. "I'm going to sleep."
"Change your clothes, brush your teeth, and then, you can sleep," I said, pushing him off my bed. I did the same thing and as I was about to get ready to sleep, Max came to my room and laid down on my bed, pulling the blankets closer to him.
I shook my head. "Night, Max. Love you."
"I love you too."
my brothers
- andrew -
"Is he actually not going to come?" I muttered, staring at my present for Daniel.
Ethan sighed. "Where is he?"
"Bro, I literally bought that little shit a gift, he better come," Brandon said.
"So, Ev wont come either?" Jayden asked. "Not even Daniel?"
Alex shook his head. "Evanna definitely won't come. Daniel—"
The door opened and all of us rushed to the door. Daniel walked in and walked past all of us.
"Where were you?" Ethan asked.
"Out."
"Daniel," Brandon said. "Where were you."
"I just told you, I was out."
"Doing what?"
"Celebrating my birthday."
"With who?"
"Someone."
This was going to be impossible.
"Can you please tell us?" Ethan asked. "You were out the whole time and we were worried."
"Talk to me once you get Evanna back."
Jesus Christ.
Mike and our mom left somewhere. Evanna wasn't home. Daniel just came back. There was an obvious tension between all of us.
"Forget it," Jayden muttered. He went upstairs to what it seemed like Daniel's room.
I sighed.
This has been the worst week ever.
***
Hey guys! I hoped you guys liked this chapter and enjoyed it!!
I actually uploaded on time today, so I'm happy with that.
And also there are two new characters, what do you think about them?
That's all for me today, thanks!
<3
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