Twinfestation

Empty grape veins, banana peals, the tops of strawberries, the skin and top of a pineapple, the skin and pits of mangoes, and the empty shells of half a watermelon flooded the trash can. He didn't even bother to take out the trash.

The half of a cantaloupe wrapped up in the fridge gave answer to my horrific suspicions.

"Oh god Silver, what happened?"

Ever since we were little, Silver has had a habit of eating fruit when he was upset or feeling extremely good. When we were little and someone would make fun of his hair for being white or his hobbies being slightly girlish he'd head straight home and get a apple, banana, or whatever sort of fruit he saw first. As he got older he started to become more crafty with it and would usually take out his anger or frustration on the fruit as he cut it up to make fruit salad or he would whistle and talk to it with a smile like he was losing his mind. If he was doing well, he'd carve out half a watermelon and put the fruit in that, saying that he liked the smoothness of it all. If he was upset he would carve a cantaloupe and put the fruit in that, saying he'd liked the rough shell to rub him raw.

Even though Silver would usually hide his emotions quite well with others, he'd always let them out full force to me. And even if he tried to hide any of them, I have been with him since birth, I know every give he has and a few he doesn't even know about.

It's not always a good thing in my situation, him being open with me. I never minded the physical abuse; how he punches me when he's angry no matter what he's mad at, how he leaves nail marks on my arms and shoulders when he holds onto me while he cries, or how he'd wrap his arms around my neck too tight when I give him piggy-back rides when he's too upset to walk.

But, when he's holding onto me upset about how he couldn't get a date or someone broke his heart, it's hard. All I've ever wanted to do was hold him and tell him that I'd always be there, I'd never hurt him, I'd make sure he'd never cry in emotional pain again. Which I did once, but of course he took it that I meant it in the brotherly way.

Now physical pain I'm not so sure of, especially considering I'd like to be the one to cause it. I mean, lets face it, my brother's not exactly the toughest thing out there, certainly not the biggest. And I've made guys twice his size cry, not to brag, but I think I might brake him.

The sound of angry(I assumed) Japanese men and Silver's mimicked yelling voice hit me before I'd even gotten to the hallway. Shouts of madness, rage, or pleasure I wasn't sure, but it only meant that things were even worse than I thought. Silver only yelled with the anime if he had nothing else to yell at and if he wanted to yell then things were bad.

Did he get in a fight with his boss? He's always asking unreasonable things of Silvester and it's about time Silvester said something to him. Or maybe someone broke his heart. God, please do not have let someone hurt him again.

Or maybe our dad had called.

The thought sent me hurtling towards his room. "Silver, please be okay."

When I opened the door I found Silver laying butt-naked on his back, nothing but a red bandanna rolled up and wrapped around his head. A cantaloupe of fruit say on his stomach and his television was yelling, what I was almost certain, Japanese profanities.

"Baka baka baka!" he yelled through chews and swallows as he spun the cantaloupe bowl over and over on his stomach. "Oniiiiiiichaaaaan! Oniiiiiiichaaaaan!" he eventually yelled to me.

I sat next to were he laid on his mat and removed the cantaloupe from his stomach as I turned down the television's sound. Not to my surprise, the cantaloupe had rubbed a spot on his stomach red and raw.

"What's wrong, Silver?"

" 'What's wrong?'!" He yelled as he flailed his arms "Why does something always have to be wrong!? Can't a boy just eat fruit naked and not be upset!?"

"Yes, but then we'd call him insane and give him pills. Plus, we're not talking about a boy, we're talking about you."

"So meeeaaan." he said adjusting the bandanna around his head. "Saaaaallleeem, why are you so mmmmmeeeeeaaaaaannnnn?"

"That's the price I pay for thinking I'm funny." I placed a hand on his chest hoping it would make him think I was trying to make myself seem more serious.

I knew I really just couldn't keep from touching him as the buzzing feeling went to my chest like it always did. It was as if bugs, not butterflies, had made their way there and were buzzing around, violently hitting the edges in a rhythm. Like a heart only forty times faster, making my chest so warm it hurt. "Now stop talking like a 11-year-old girl and tell me what's wrong."

He took a deep breath "Wel- ow ow, Say Say that burns!"

I quickly withdrew my hand and held it in my lap. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking."

That was another reason I couldn't have Silver. Not only was he my brother, but I sometimes made him burn when I touched him. When we were born, I had black hair and a body temperature that ran higher than most people's. Silvester had a dangerous lack of iron in his body causing him to have snow white hair and anemia. For some reason, touching me was sometimes like touching fire for him. Not to mention his chest was just a sensitive part of his body, it was really my lack of thinking that caused it this time.

Silver looked me in the eye and immediately began crying. "Salem, I don't know what to do. I have so much work to do and not enough time. I have so much homework and school on top of it! And Mr.Daylen keeps giving me more and more and he knows I have school but expects me to do the same amount he can. And I have so much homework, I don't get any of it! What is the 4Th amendment and what the hell is a polynomial!" He cried his shouts through a mouth full of spit and salt water now. His hands went straight to his hair and started to tug at random clumps, like they always did when he was upset. "And since when was there letters in math! And I can't read anything, it's just a mess of lines I can't comprehend and I'm so stupid, Say Say, I'm so stupid! I'm a fucking retard! I can't even tell a 7 from a L anymore!"

"It's okay Silver." I puled his top half up to me and he immediately wrapped his arms around my abdomen, clawing into my side. His white hair brushed against my cheek as he buried his face in my shoulder. I felt his sobs, shudders, and gulps go through his body.

God, please help him. I thought. I think he's close to braking.

"It's gonna be okay, Silver. You're not stupid, you're just tired." he shook his head frantically into my shoulder at my words. "You just need to go to sleep, rest your eyes."

"I-I can't!" He cried into my shoulder. "I'm wasting time, I need to finish my work, I have to be a good apprentice, I can't be nothing before I'm something!" His nails dug deeper into my sides, asking me to help him, help him before before he fell apart to nothing.

"No." I pulled him closer when he tried to pull away. He didn't object, only put his head back on my shoulder and held on tighter. "Just take deep breaths. Don't think about anything. We'll put on some music and you can lay down. I'll help you with your work, you can sleep. And when you wake up we'll go and buy some sushi, plane white rice just how you like, my treat."

He shook his head a few times but didn't let go. His warm body had cooled to the point were I was on the verge of goosebumps and his breathing went back to normal. Only when he fell asleep did his grip loosen enough for me to lay him down.

Looking over at the cantaloupe, I gave it a death glare. "This is all your fault." I said as the buzzing feeling left my chest.