I'll Remember You

Brooke was walking down the streets of Chelsea, London. She looked at herself in a window and saw herself at age thirteen.

"Brookie!" she turned and smiled at the green eyed, black haired, seventeen year old calling her name.

"Landon!" she called out and he smiled at her.

"Are you having a fun time?"

"Yeah! I wish we could visit granny more!" she smiled and they began to walk.

"Well I don't know about that. It costs mom and dad a lot of money to come here." she looked down.

"Landon, why were you in a fight last night?" he looked over.

"I didn't know you saw that." she nodded looking down. She looked up, tears in her eyes.

"I'm scared for you. Those guys said that they'd kill you!" she said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"You don't have to worry Brooke, I'm not going to leave you. But if by any chance anything does happen to me, run. Run far away." she sniffed and nodded some.

"Come-on, it's getting late, mom will wonder where you've-" he was cut off by a group of boys grabbing onto him. She looked alarmed and ran into the ally. They soon followed but didn't know she was there.

"Yesterday you were smiling as you beat up my best mate. Now, you'll smile forever." three guys were holding onto him as the leader took out a credit card and shoved it into his mouth.

Brooke didn't want to watch, but she couldn't tear her eyes away. The leader then took out a knife and slit the corners of his mouth. A muffled scream was heard coming from Landon.

They then dropped him on the ground and began to kick his stomach and Brooke could see the sides of his mouth ripping and the dark blood pouring out. They then removed the credit card and left him to die. Brooke screamed after that and the police heard and ran to where she was. She was standing paralyzed looking at the dying body of her older brother, surrounded by the black blood that poured out of the open gashes through his cheeks.

"L-Landon." she said tears pouring out of her eyes. The police tried to shield her from seeing the body, but it was too late. They had gotten his wallet and called her mom and dad. They rushed to the scene, but the paramedics had taken his body away. Brooke was shaking and couldn't stop crying. The police and paramedics didn't know what to say to console the thirteen year old.

Brooke awoke about to scream and tears were pouring out of her eyes. Oli pulled her close and held her.

"Brooke...Brooke what's wrong?" she was shaking and crying, unable to say anything but a faint whisper of "Landon." Oli just held her until she calmed down.

"Brooke, babe, it was just a dream." she shook her head.

"N-no it wasn't." she took a deep breath.

"Then what was it?"

"Memories. The memory of my older brother being tortured and dying before my eyes." she sobbed.

"What...what happened to him?" she took a deep breath and began quietly.

"He had gotten into a fight with some guy. This was when we were visiting my grandma who then lived here in Sheffield. And the day after the fight we were just walking around when..." she let out another sob.

"When he got jumped. I ran and hid. They beat him up some and then shoved....shoved a credit card in his mouth and..." she broke off unable to finish, but Oli understood.

He had been given a Chelsea Smile.

Oli hugged her tighter, and let her cry. He had no idea what to say.

"Why Oli? Why did they have to take the only person who ever really cared for me? My parents didn't. They divorced right after we got back. My mom even tried to convince me that it didn't happen." he just let her cry.

"Oli, I love you." she said quietly. It was only about the third time she had ever said it. He smiled softly and kissed her temple.

"I love you too Brooke." her arms tightened around his body. He held her. He didn't know what to do but hold her. And it seemed like she didn't want anything else. They stayed like that for a long while and then she pulled away wiped her eyes and looked at him.

"Let's go do something." he raised an eyebrow.

"Love, are you sure? I mean...we are in Sheffield." she shook her head.

"It's okay. Really. I guess...I guess I know why I thought of it." he looked at her questioningly.

"I have the same dream on the same day every year. It was last night, eight years ago." she sighed and stood up stretching. He gave her a small smile and they walked into the bathroom and Brooke started the bath. Once filled they both stripped and climbed in. He held her as they sat in the hot water.

"I'm sorry that happened to you." she shook her head.

"It's okay. I've...I've learned to accept the fact that the ones you love could be taken away at any moment."

"Is that why you came to me?" She bit her lip.

"Sort of. I also realized that I didn't want to go on in my life knowing that we could be together, but I was the one ripping us apart. I didn't want that. I wanted to be with you, no matter what the ending was." she explained softly.

His arms tightened around her and he kissed her shoulder. They both fell into a comfortable silence. She turned to face him and lent forward and kissed him softly. His hands came out of the water and cupped her face. he didn't realize that she was crying. When he pulled away he saw the tears in her eyes.

"Brooke, is...is he buried here?" she nodded.

"We...we buried him here in Sheffield." he gave her a soft smile.

"Let's go pay him a visit."

_____________________________________________________________________

Brooke and Oli were soon at the cemetery. Brooke walked the path to the grave and placed the flowers on the gravestone. Her fingers trailed at the top of it.

"Hey bro. How are you? Sorry none of us have come by in a while, we-I haven't had sufficient funds." she took a deep breath and felt the tears come to her eyes. Oli knelt down beside her, putting an arm around her.

"I miss you. God how I miss you." she sniffed, "I wish that I could've done something to help you. For the longest time I was so angry. Not at you but at everything. How-how could the world take you from me? I kept telling myself that if there was anything I could do, I would go back and somehow maybe distract them and maybe you'd still be alive. But I realize now that there wasn't anything I coluld've done. I'm sure that they'd make you watch as they did the same to me, and I wouldn't be able to bear that." she took a deep breath.

"Remember when I was twelve and you said that no matter what happened there would always be someone to help me? Well, for the longest time there wasn't. Maybe that was my fault. Maybe you kept sending people to me but I didn't let them in. But now...now I do." She looked over at Oli and smiled.

"His name is Oliver. And I care about him. And he makes me happy. For the first time since you've been gone out of my life, I'm happy." tears were now flowing down her cheeks.

"I wish he could've met you. And you him. I'm sure that you would've gotten along." she wiped her tears away.

"I miss you, and I'm so sorry. I'll see you....I'll see you later." she sniffed and blew a kiss to the gravestone and stood up. Oli wiped a tear from his eye and then laced fingers with Brooke.

"Can we just go...home?" she asked softly. He gave her a slight smile, but his heart was leaping. home. she called this home.

He nodded and they began the walk back to his apartment. Oli had never seen this side of Brooke. She had been living with him for two months.

"Brooke, are you-"

"I want to move here. With you Oli. I...I don't want to be without you."