Internally Dead

"Danny.....what happened?!" I gasped as I walked out my bedroom quickly to catch him.
He went rigid and hastily put his shirt on. "Nothing." He numbled without turning around. "It's nothing."

Before I could respond, he walked down the short hallway and headed to the kitchen. I ran after him.
"The hell its nothing." I said. " Tell me what happened." I demand, resting my hands on the table.
He quietly fumbled around the tiny kitchen searching for something to eat, only stopping to place items on the table. Flour. Sugar. Eggs. A mixing bowl.
"Are you baking?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Why not?"
"Danny."
"What? I like to bake when I am bored." He placed the milk on the table as well.
"No. You like to bake when you are trying to distract me. Tell me where you go that scar from."
"You like pound cake, right?"
I sighed. "Danny, please."
"Sophie."
"Just tell me where...."
"Just leave it alone! " he slammed his palm on the table. I jumped. His head was lowered and he took a slow breath."Just...please."
I bit my lip. " Okay. I'm sorry."
"It's alright." He gave me a wary glance and then smiled. "So how about that pound cake?"
"Yeah, sounds perfect."

By the time the cake was finished baking, I was out the door and walking down the street. It wasn't that I didn't want any cake, I just couldn't handle another second of the tension in the air between Danny and I. I know he wasn't really angry with me just the situation. There was a time when Danny would have told me everything. Apparently that had changed. No matter how much he seemed like the old Danny, I knew that wasn't true. He was harder, more angrier. I got that, I did, but it scared me. What if I had lost my brother? What if he had changed so much he didn't even recognize himself. I slowed my pace.
I saddened me to think that my kindhearted, funny brother was someone new. Through all the years of torment and abuse, he had always stayed strong. He was that light that kept me going.
"But where did he get that scar?"
"He Who Should Not Be Named, of course."
"Gah! Dude don't sneak up on me like that!" I smacked the now laughing Adrian on the arm. This caused him to laugh harder though, which in turned caused him to snort.
I lost it. "Oh god, did you just snort!" I giggled. He grabbed his stomach and shook his head vigorously.
"Please....that...stays between...me and....you!" He said between cackles. We laughed for a few more beats before we both sobered.
" So, where you headed?" He asked.
"No where in particular."
"May I join you?" Now under any normal circumstances I would have denied him. For some reason though I didn't.
"Sure, why not."