It's What a Big Brother Does

A dull bang roared from the floors below, shaking the ground at our feet. A siren began whining loudly throughout the building. It was the fire alarm. The sprinklers blast on at that moment, drenching us to our bones without difficulty. It was as if the building had begun crying, too.

I swallowed the heavy sob in my throat, hugging the twin boys tighter in my arms and trying to stop the tears from running down my face. My trembling breath shook my whole body. Or maybe those were the trembling breaths of my brothers as they buried their own sobs in my shirt.

I turned to Romeo. He was facing the ground and squeezing his eyes shut; his lips were tight as if he were trying to swallow bitter medicine. But grieving was the bitter medicine to the sorrow in your heart.

I put a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to me as if I had shaken him out of a trance. His eyes were glossed over with moister. He was crying, too.

I shook my head, finally gaining the courage to weep along with the boys and I grasped onto his shoulder. “Oh, Romeo-”

Suddenly the lights cut off with only dim emergency fire lights to light the hallways. The boys screamed out, hugging me tighter. My eyes quickly adjusted so I could still see despite it being rather dark.

Romeo pulled away from my hand while I was distracted. “The hallway has to be clearer now. We should get out while we still can.” He sounded cold and bitter, as if Jer meant nothing to him.

I swallowed my pain again, hugging the boys tighter and pretending Romeo didn’t sound as heartless as he just did. I saw the pain in his eyes before the lights went out. I saw the sorrow in his expression.

Romeo put a sleeve to his face, hiding a sniffle in his soaked clothing.

It made my heart just jump. He still has some feeling down there somewhere. He was grieving for the loss of his friend. I nodded, smiling sadly to myself. If only Jer could see how much he really meant to Romeo and to me, to his brothers, his father and his mother. If only I could have convinced him sooner, better.

“Come on, boys.” I urged the pair ahead of me toward the stairs.

“W-wait!” Ben tugged on my sleeve, snot running down his teary, wet face. “Sh-shouldn’t we wait for Jeraud! He said he’d be back!”

My heart caught in my throat. I shook my head at him. “N-No, Ben… Jer went…with mom and dad.”

“And when will they be back?!” he stomped his foot on the ground, pouting childishly at me with alligator tears streaming down his upset cheeks. He seemed set on staying until Jer came back.

“B-Benjamin…” Ed started, holding onto my shirt and giving his younger brother sorrowing looks. “M-mom and dad are-”

“They’ll be back. Later, Ed. They’ll be back later.” I gave Ben a reassuring smile and a pat on the head before kissing the top of it, and threw Ed a silencing glare.

Ed buried his face in my shirt while Ben loosened his grip on my hand, allowing us to move on forward.

Romeo gave me a sympathizing look, mixed with a bit of disgust for my lie. I looked away from his stare. Not everyone was as icy as him.

He led us down the stairs and across the lower hallway, stopping right before the titanium heavy door. He pushed us back a bit. “Let me go first and then I’ll give you the all-clear, ok?”

I held tighter onto the boys before nodding. There was no chance of anyone surviving that blast—saying that felt like I was sticking needles into my own heart—but if there was, Romeo could take care of them. Despite being a traitor for us, Boss made him second in command here for a reason. And it wasn’t out of pity for his tragic loss. Romeo was one of the fastest, strongest, most thoughtful soldier I know.

“When I give the all-clear, you run the last flights of stairs, ok? Run as fast as you can with them!” He pointed at the boys.

I swallowed hard, giving him an assertive nod and lifting the boys in my arms. They gasped at my strength, just noticing it now.

Romeo gave me another stern look before readying himself to open the door, his hand on the handle.

“Wait, Romeo..!”

He stopped and turned back to me with icy question.

I met his gaze. Why did I stop him? This could be the last time we meet. I look up at the short ceilings, the empty hallways, the blank doors. The room I grew up in had looked just like this, as did Romeo’s after…after what I had done. I looked back at him guiltily. “I-I’m sorry…for dragging you into all of this.”

He let go of the knob, turning to me with his ‘enough of that old BS’ look. “Rose-” he started, but I shook him away. I had to say it now. It might be the last time I ever get to talk to him.

“Romeo, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry and I know you did this for Jer and his family, you did this for your best friend and I did it for them, too, but I also did it for, for, for…” I stuttered on the words.

“Rose.” He stepped towards me.

“I did this for you, Romeo…” he stopped. I could hear him gulp. “I…I took a bullet for you today, and I… I died there, Romeo… And I went to heaven and it was so beautiful there. I don’t know how I got there, I didn’t deserve to be there, but then I saw mom and dad…” I shook my head, my whole body shaking as it filled with fresh emotions as I cried. “I begged them for forgiveness, and they said they’ve already forgiven me, Romeo. They said it wasn’t my time to go yet because I still had to save Jer and Ed and Ben, and I have to…I need you know if you’ll forgive me, Romeo…” I looked back up at him desperately, sniffling. “I love you, Romeo. Ever since that first day we met, ever since that first promise and that first kiss, I’ve loved you. And I’m so sorry for what I did, but…but I just didn’t know what else to do…” a sob climbed up my throat, hiccupping past my lips.

He wasn’t looking at me. He just took a deep breath, a deep sadness in his eyes. Then he shook his head. “I…” he started, before swallowing his words and groaning angrily.

My heart fell. He hasn’t forgiven me for that day. Not yet, and he probably never will. I know that’s what he’s thinking; I can see the words forming at his lips.

“Rosalind, I can’t do this right now.” He muttered. He shut his eyes, as if making sure he couldn’t see my face.

It felt like a gunshot through the chest, and my heart sank to my shoes. All the bitterness I thought we had gotten rid of in these few months of working together, it was still there. My throat let out an involuntary moan as my gaze fell to the ground.

It was stupid of me to hope, anyway. Romeo forgiving me? I bit my lip at the thought. Because that was all it was, a mere dream of slight fondness. How could he ever continue to love his murderer?

A cool hand cupped my cheek, pulling my gaze forward so I could stare at the most gorgeous chocolate eyes I’ve ever seen. His skin still seemed soft and fair, his fine auburn hair neatly kept out of his eyes. But his face was no longer childishly round. It had chiseled out around the edges and grown in masculinity. His smile was no longer care-free; it has been molded into that serious pucker due to the impeccable amount of maturity he developed. But he still held that aura of complete determination.

“I promised mom and dad that I would love you forever,” he declared before leaning in towards me, “And I never ever broke that promise, Rosalind. It took a while, but…I forgave you around the time JFK was president. I just…didn’t have the words to tell you exactly how I felt and I still don’t so please,” he gave me an apologetic smile, his glacier aura just melting in his handsome glow, “Can we talk about this later?”

It was like we had finally found the treasure underneath that tantalizing red X on the map. A smile spread across my lips and I nodded at him like a madman.

He mimicked my nodded before laughing at me, wiping my tears with his thumb. “I love…how easily flustered you get, Rosalind.” He almost whispered, almost nostalgically. Then he looked down at the confused boys. “Let’s get them out of here.”

I looked down at the boys. They clung on to me like lost puppies. “Y-yeah. Let’s get out of here.”

He nodded once, his expression assertive and cold again, before going back to the door and opening it just a crack so he could peek through. He looked around the hallways.

I held my breath. Maybe—by some miraculous chance—Jer did survive the scorch. But I knew better than to keep my hopes up now.

Romeo signaled the O.K. and opened the door wider. “Go, Rose. Come on!”

I picked up the boys and secured them under my arms before running down the hall, Romeo close on my heels. The boys buried their screams in my skin, digging their hands into my sides as they clung on for dear life. I looked around the burned hallway. It was filled with wet ash, and the walls were scalded and stained with blisters in the shape of human figures. I was glad the boys couldn’t see.

We ran down the last flight of stairs and into the ground floor. The flames didn’t reach all the way down here, but the burned floor above creaked from below, threatening to collapse at any moment and I wasn’t planning on staying long enough to find out when. I continued running toward the glass doors that led to freedom. I felt like now was the time to make it or break it. It was like that very last moment in a dream where you either become the hero and save the world or wake up and find out it was all in your head.

This moment hardly felt real. Being free from the Sr. Ellik’s tyranny just didn’t feel real.

And it wasn’t. A figure appeared at the doorway, blocking our exit and forcing me to skid on my heels just to stop in time.

I looked at the random person incredulously, lost for words. What was he doing here…? There was just no way… I shook my head at the person.

“Rose why did you stop?!” Romeo thudded behind me, trying to push me forward before looking at the door. His jaw dropped in disbelief. “Bryann? What are you doing here?”

Bryann dropped his cap, huffing as if he had just run a mile. His clothes were tattered and burned and he had a bit of ash on his cheek. “I-I heard a blast and I just booked it over here! What happened?!”

Romeo shook his head, putting a hand up in disbelief toward his friend. “But how did you get here, Bryann? Why are you here?!”

The boys finally caught their breaths, turning toward me with eyes as large as saucers.

“R-Rose wh-wh-wh-”Ed started, gasping for air.

“What are you?!” Ben finished with a large huff.

“Oh, you don’t know, kids?” Bryann squatted down to their height, placing his cap back on his head, suddenly not gasping for air any more. “She’s a werewolf. A real life werewolf.” He stated in a matter-of-factly way.

I stared back at him with wider eyes, the boys trembling under my palms. “H-How…” I whispered. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. How did Bryann know?

“Yeah and, uh, Romeo here? Your big brother’s ‘best friend?’ Yeah he’s a vampire. A blood sucking vampire.” Bryann finished without missing a beat. “And he’s a backstabber to his best friends.” His tone went dark as he stood, glaring at Romeo.

Romeo maneuvered himself between us three and Bryann, his hands balling up into tight fists. “What are you talking about? Those kinds of monsters don’t exist.”

Bryann chuckled. “But don’t they? You see, when I noticed you were spending more time with the beautiful and ever radiant Rose here, Romeo, I began following the two of you. I figured you guys were making out behind all of our backs and I couldn’t have that. But what I found was ten times juicier. I know all of your secret little hiding places and your plans. I know who you two really are.”

“How much do you know, Bryann?” Romeo growled, baring his teeth at his friend.

A slow wicked smile grew across Bryann’s cheeks like ivy. “In my building, Romeo, you call me Boss.”