Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous

I ran.

I ran as fast as I could, not stopping until I had slammed my front door closed behind me. I had been so focused on getting away that I momentarily forgot what I was running from, but the sting in my face quickly brought it all rushing back.

I hit the ground hard, sobs racking my chest. I’d had bad panic attacks, but I didn’t think I had ever cried that hard.

“Alex? Jesus, what happened?!” Tom was at my side in a moment. “Hey, hey, do you need your pills? Are you having an attack?” I could only shake my head, my voice long gone. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” I felt him grab my wrist and gently pull my hand from my face. I didn’t even know I’d been holding my injured cheek.

Tom was silent for a moment. “You got hit? Who hit you?” I shook my head again. Another beat of silence. “Was it Jack?” he asked quietly. I didn’t move, just tried to quiet my incessant sobbing. “Alexander, did Jack hit you?” he growled. He took my (not quite) silence as an answer and jumped to his feet. “I’LL BREAK HIS FUCKING ARM!”

“No!” I exclaimed in a small voice. “No, please, don’t hurt him. It’s not his fault.”

“Like hell! I’ll fucking bury him!”

“Tom, please.”

He looked over me slowly. “You’re staying with me tonight,” he decided, leaving no room for argument. “Come on, let’s go upstairs.”

I shuffled behind my brother, following him into my room. He sat me on my bed and began rummaging through everything. “W-What’re you l-looking for?”

He didn’t even look up at me. “Where’d you hide them? Or is it just one? I know that you always keep one when we flush them, I’m not stupid. Where is it?”

I swallowed. “I-I, um-“

“Where?”

“G-Guitar,” I mumbled.

Tom raised an eyebrow at me, but walked to the other corner of my room. He picked up my acoustic and slipped his hand under the strings. He felt around for a moment before his eyes went wide. “Alex,” he sighed, sadly, pealing the razor and tape off of the inside of my guitar. He put it in his pocket and turned to me. “Any others?”

I shook my head. Lie. It didn’t matter because I would never touch it. I just felt better knowing it was there.

“Good.” He sat beside me and hugged me. “It’s ok, Alex. You’re safe here. I won’t let anything hurt you.”

I held onto my big brother tightly as a fresh wave of tears spilled over.

Jack:
“Honey, you haven’t had any dinner.”

I don’t deserve it.

My mother sat on my bed next to where I’d been laying for four and a half hours, staring at the ceiling. “Jacky, you need to eat something.”

Everyone would be better off if I starved.

She sighed and moved to lay next to me. “What happened between you and Alex?”

I’m a monster, no better than him.

“That’s not true, Jack.”

My head whipped over to look at her. “What?”

“You’re not a monster, and you’re not your father.”

“But I-“

The corners of her lips curved up slightly, eyes still on the ceiling. “You’ve been thinking out loud for nearly an hour, muttering to yourself in here.” She turned to face me. “What happened, honey?”

It had been so long since I’d been able to talk with my mom like this, that I didn’t know how to even start. I swallowed. “I, um, I think I…ugh…I have some, er, temper issues,” I mumbled.

She nodded thoughtfully. “You always have. You get that from your grandfather – my side, not Bassam’s. There wasn’t an ounce of patience in that man, but he was really a big teddy bear. You and Alex have an argument?”

The backs of my eyes stung. “I, um, n-not exactly.”

She swiped her thumb across my cheek. “Jacky, what happened?”

“I-I don’t r-remember, b-but I was mad and I-I was yelling a-and he was getting a pa-anic attack b-but I could-couldn’t stop, I wanted to b-but I couldn’t stop a-and I- oh my god,” I sobbed. “I hit him, mom. I- He’s my best friend and he trusted me and I just… oh god.”

She pulled me close with a sigh. “Shh, breathe baby. I’ve got you.”

“I d-don’t k-know what t-to do,” I hiccupped.

She rubbed slow circles on my back. “Maybe you should see a professional, love.”

“S-Sure.”

I’d do anything to be in control of myself. I’d do anything to make it up to Alex, but I feared I never could.

Notes

It may interest you to know that anyone who reads this on mibba got very spoiled when I had 22 chapters prewritten and was uploading one a day (just about, you all should know how frantic and haphazard everything I do is by now) and suddenly they go a week without anything and then I give them this. I am high on a few peoples hit lists, but oh well ^^ I'm having fun! Who else loves all this destruction?! :D Enjoy! - Anna