Almost Easy

The day was the 24th of December, 2000. Kyler was sitting outside of the home she lived in with her parents and her brother, the pavement outside was almost bitterly cold. She inhaled deeply on the cigarette placed between her lips, before she exhaled and hissed as the cold nipped at her when she laid back onto the foot path.

Her thoughts wondered wildly in her mind as she contemplated what to do now, having just been told she was an accident and a disappointment by her ever loving father. Matt was not due home for...well until he felt like it.

People just assumed Kyler and her elder brother had no reason to behave the way they did, getting into fights, drinking till they passed out and just what society considered 'troubled' behaviour. No one really knew that at home their father was an alcoholic with a terrible habit of treating his children like the scum of the earth, beating their mother and drinking away everything they owned. It was only natural that they both lashed out where they could, with a general hate towards everything.

A loud crash sounded from inside the house behind her, and she scoffed at the sound of her father’s loud booming voice. Finishing the cigarette in her hand, she pulled herself off the ground. The street was deserted, everyone around was inside enjoying their Christmas Eve dinners.

Starting off in no real direction, she walked along, shoving her hands in the pockets of her low slung jeans, praying she'd find Matt walking around the streets. Matt and Kyler were closer then were usual for brother and sister, and that was not in a creepy way. Growing up Matt had made sure his little sister was safe, but now as he got older he was finding more and more ways to stay away from their childhood home, she couldn’t blame him, but she wished he'd at least tell her where he went.

A car drove past from behind her, it sped straight past before screeching to a hault, and reverse back towards her ridiculously fast 'Get the fuck in!' A voice she recognized as her brothers friend Brian's yelled from the driver’s seat, he leant back to swing the back door open.

Deciding they would know where Matt was more so then her she went ahead and climbed into the vehicle, nodding at Brian in a silent thanks. She looked across the seat and gave a small wave to Zack who sat perched in the front seat, and Jimmy who looked almost dead on the other side of the seat.

'What’s up with him?' Kyler muttered her voice hoarse from not speaking in a while.

'Too much of a good time' Zacky laughed as the car sped off around a corner, throwing her straight across the seat and into the napping Jimmy.

'I knew you wanted me' He whispered into her ear, sending a spark of shivers up her spine. Pretending that it didn’t bother her she pushed him off roughly.

The rest of the ride was silent, not counting the loud music pumping out of the car's sound system. Eventually we pulled up at a park; Kyler was unsure of why they were here but got out and followed closely behind Zack, feeling the energy in the air change from one of relaxation to anger. Zack sensing the slight fear in Kyler's body language reached behind him to put a comforting arm over her shoulders, she appreciated it.

A loud cheer was made from the other side of the dark park, Kyler's head shot up from looking where she was going to trying to find the source of the noise, her long black bangs falling over her face.

The closer they got, the more she could make out that the crowd of people were formed in a loose circle, watching the two people in the centre battle it out. Her breath catching in her throat as she realized it was her brother's body in the middle of it.

'Fuck me' she mumbled watching him punch into the other guy, Matt was a lot bigger than his opponent, making the fear leave her body a little.

No matter how tough she made herself out to be, no matter how many time's she had watched her brother pound the living day lights out of strangers, she could not handle to watch. It broke her heart the minute someone touched him up.

Before she could look again the smaller boy pulled a knife from his pocket shoving it into Matt's arm causing him to scream out in pain. Kyler's first instinct was to push her way into the circle but Brian had placed a firm grasp on her arm 'Don’t'

'You're a sick fuck Haner!' she growled, the acid dripped off her words 'He just got stabbed, my brother, your friend? Remember?'

Ripping her arm from his hand, she pushed her way viciously into the middle of the circle, shoving the guy with the knife off the top of her brother kneeing him as hard as she could in the stomach before turning to face the face that was so like her own. He was bleeding a small amount but other than that he seemed fine.

He was bluffing.

Her eyes went wide with confusion but before she could speak a word an ice cold pain ran through her body, turning around I spotted that the knife had been shoved into my side. Matt's eyes nearly fell out of his head 'Ky' he breathed.

I nearly fell out of the bed as I was jolted awake, the memory of my youth still stuck in my brain. Turning to my left I spotted the sleeping Jimmy and to my right I spotted a sleeping Isaiah, all wrapped up in his bassinette.

I felt physically sick as I remembered the incident. The scar on my body felt eerily cooler than the rest of my skin, but that could just be the thought of it. It'd been many years since I'd even stopped to think about it.

Christmas sucks.