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The Key Chased the Blade

Rope

Simon walked me home and waited outside for me to come out. He was going to hide and wait for me in case something happened. I was scared, but I shouldn't have been scared. John was my brother. He was my own flesh and blood and I was terrified of him.

My dad wasn't home yet. I heard Logan playing the Xbox, and I didn't know where Rico or John were. John was probably out. At least I hoped he was, but I was pretty sure because I didn't hear him making a ruckus somewhere else in the house. John was loud wherever he was.

I walked down the hallway to his door, which was covered in yellow caution tape and HAZMAT signs. There was a "Beware of Dog" sign too, even though he didn't have a dog. John was weird with decorating. I took in a deep breath and opened the door.

John's room was like it always was. Clothes were strewn about on the floor and over his computer chair and pretty much were everywhere except in his closet and dresser. I stepped over a smelly pile - probably his dirty laundry, or it could possibly had his clean clothes mixed in it too - and went over to his dresser. Snarky bumper stickers covered the drawers. I opened one, wrinkled my nose, and went through it. There was nothing in there. I did so with the rest of the drawers and found nothing interesting. In the bottom drawer there were a few folded pieces of paper, which judging by the hearts drawn on them, they were probably love notes from Rhode. Thanks for being such a sweetheart, one said, and thanks for protecting me. I'll always have your back too. xoxoxoxox

God. I closed that drawer and moved onto his closet.

Besides the shirts he never wore and jackets that were ratty and torn, there wasn't anything on the hangers or on the shelf above. I stood up on my toes and felt around with my hand, but I couldn't find anything up there. I almost wanted to get a chair and stand on it to look and be sure about it, but I thought that would take too much time. I was getting paranoid.

Then as I was looking through the clothes at the bottom of the closet, I found something.

A feather.

I tore the clothes aside and my breath caught in my throat. There was rope. Thin, cordlike and strong, still with dried blood on it, was a rope. I couldn't believe it. And as I stared more, my disbelief grew. The rope was wrapped in a long pile with a bundle of others. It had been hidden in here underneath John's old jeans. No one would've looked there. No one.

"No," I whispered.

"Noah!"

I whipped around and nearly screamed as I saw my brother standing over me. John, his face twisted in horror, grabbed me by the back of my shirt and flung me aside. My head smacked against the wall and I saw stars. "What are you doing here!?" he demanded. "Get out! GET OUT!"

"I was- I was-" I couldn't even come up with a lie because John gripped my arm and wrenched me across the floor. He literally dragged me out the door with me shrieking in pain and threw me outside into the hall. I heard shouting that wasn't his. Someone took me in their arms. When I got my bearings I saw Rico nearly spitting at John. My older brother was half-holding me up. His strong arms were around my waist.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rico roared.

I grabbed onto Rico's shirt and tried to stand up. John yelled back something I couldn't comprehend. I heard the front door slam open. Rico shouted, "Damnit, John, what has gotten into you!? You can't hurt your sister like this-"

"He hung the bird!" I started screaming. "He hung the bird up outside my window and in the city! There's rope in his closet!"

John blanched. I literally saw all the color in his face drain away. "You're lying!" he accused. His voice was shaking. "I wouldn't ever do that!"

I saw Simon run into the hall behind us. Rico turned, but the moment his eyes left my brother, John slammed his door shut and I heard objects bump up against the wood. He was barricading the door.

"John!" Rico shouted. "John! Get out here!"

I pulled myself away from him, but only to be caught up in Simon's arms as he carried me away. I was swearing my head off. Simon dodged my punches to him and he took me outside. For once it wasn't raining. The sun had come out of the clouds.

"What happened?" Simon asked breathlessly.

"I found rope in John's room. It had blood on it." I wrestled myself away from him and dried my sweaty hands on my sweatpants. There was something wet on my face. I ignored it and kept talking. "It was the same rope that was around the bird's neck that was outside my window. Then John found me."

"He came inside a while after you went in. I texted you a warning." Simon looked panicked. His eyes were wide and his face was almost as pale as I'd seen John's. He put a hand on my arm and squeezed. "You're okay, right? He didn't hurt you?"

"No." My arm still hurt where John yanked me out of his room though. "I'm fine."

"You're crying."

I shut myself up and touched my face.

"We're going to tell Rico," Simon said. "Is that all right? We're going to tell him what happened."

"Sure." I realized that tears were coming out in a constant flow. "We should tell Rico."

Simon didn't say anything more and wrapped me into a hug. I let him. He just tucked me under his chin and held me tightly against him for a long while. After that long while I made myself hug him back. I didn't want to move at all, but for some reason, this made me feel better.

Then Rico swung open the front door. "You have some explaining to do," he said.

Simon and I released. I wiped my tears away. "Yeah," I said. "We have a lot to tell you."