Grow Up

"You remember that TV-show we used to watch? The Twelve Kingdoms?" What kind of question was that?! "Yeah sort of," I muttered. "We quit after the third episode or so."
Mikey shook his head. "You did. I watched the whole thing."
That surprised me. The show was a bit slow and complicated. I thought he agreed with me that it was lame and boring.
"You remember what it was about?" I didn't. "It was about this poor girl Suzu who was sold by her parents as a maid but she ended up in this horrible storm. When she woke up she was in this strange country where she didn't speak the language. She was shunned by the locals and was very unhappy and felt really sorry for herself. A mean woman offered her immortality and the ability of speaking the language in exchange for a lifetime of servitude. For a 100 years she was treated badly before she finally ran away. She cried while she traveled from city to city to stay out of the clutches of her mistress. Luckily she could still speak the language as-"
"Okay what is the point of this story?" I interrupt him.
"That will come later," he said, smiling wildly. "Just hurry," I sight.
"So Suzu found out there was a queen oversea coming from the same country she came from. She takes a boat as fast as possible to go ask the queen for help. At that boat she meets a boy who almost falls overboard. She saves him and yells at him. They fight and Suzu ends up crying. She tells him he shouldn't be so mean to someone so unfortunate as her. He tells her she is not the only one having problems but that most unhappy people would do their best to get out of their misery. You enjoying it so far?" he asks me. "Hurry up already," I grunt.
"Sure. So the second time she meets the boy he is below deck crying. He had become blind. He tells Suzu his name is Seishuu and that he is a refuge. His father was killed by a horrible beast while he watched and his mother died of illness just before they could go on the boat. When his father was attacked Seishuu's head was hit by one of the monster's claws which caused him to feel dizzy and sick. That's why he almost fell overboard. He cries to Suzu because he is afraid he might die just like his parents. Suzu promises to bring him to the queen to heal his eyes. While they travel Seishuu smiles and laughs a lot while Suzu just pities herself. When they arrive at the village Suzu leaves the very sick Seishuu alone to get a doctor. Villagers don't know he is blind and push him out of their way. He ends up on a dirt road where he collapses from another spell of dizziness. A chariot with a very important dude needs to pass but Seishuu is in the way."
I throw my hands up. "And the man picks the kid up, gets the girl and they live happily ever after. I knew this fairytale would end like that. Now what is the point of this mambo-jumbo?"
But Mikey's eyes look empty. He seems a little angry too. "But the man was too important to let some stupid sick kid get in his way," he says. I feel something very hard punch me in the stomach.
"He ordered to drive on and the chariot wheels and horse hoofs crush Seishuu's body. Suzu came just in time to see it. That was the way Seishuu died and Suzu learned her lesson. How much she might have suffered, it couldn't compare to the amount of suffering from that little boy. The end," he snaps.
I don't get it. "What kind of sick story was that!" I yell at him. "It isn't a sick story but an important one. It's Seishuu's story."
I still can hardly believe it. What does a sad little kid have to do with my brother? He wasn't grinning anymore. He looked really determined. Something was not used to from my little brother. It makes him look older.
"And why should he be so interesting for you that you waste my time telling me about him?" I talk a little quieter because I don't want to anger Mike. I've never really seen him angry except for when our mom left and that wasn't a pretty sight.
"Because Seishuu was important!" Mikey started shouting. "He was nice and cool and really smart. He had seen horrible things and was all alone but still he was smiling and laughing. I want to be like that too!"
Oh. There it was. The actual reason. Never thought my kid-brother could even think like this. "So you want to be this dead kid by watching TV and playing stupid pranks?" I mutter.
"I wanna keep doing the things I like. I don't care you think they're for little kids. If I like it I wanna keep doing it."
I don't understand. I thought Mikey was mentally ill or something. But the whole reason he was a pain in the ass was because of some dead cartoon-kid?
"Don't you understand?" he asks me softly. He smiles a little again. "Seishuu was a really hero. He wasn't a crybaby like Suzu and even tried to cheer her up. He said once he didn't want to die because Suzu would cry again. He was a hero because he faced difficulty and stayed happy."
I could only stare. This wasn't something I had ever dealt with and definitely not something I'd expected to come from my little brother.
"So you want to be like your so-called hero?" I asked him, completely baffled.
"I don't need to be," Mikey answered, waving his hand dismissively. "I've got brothers, a family. I have stuff that I love. I'm like the luckiest person alive!" He jumped up and pushed me aside rather roughly so he could fetch the remote behind my back.
"I knew you had it there," he laughed triumphantly. I wasn't really surprised he knew. Probably Mikey would never suprise me anymore after today. Mikey switched on the TV but switched it off again seconds later.
"I'm not really in the mood," he muttered to no one in particular. he stood up and walked off.
I knew our strange, weird and kind of nice talk was over but there was still something bugging me. I couldn't remove the picture in my head of a little boy crushed in the dirt. All bloody and broken. It didn't help he had the same reddish hair and brown freckles as Mikey has. Baby blue eyes staring at me with horror and death, but most of all sadness and fear.
"Mikey...," I said. He stopped so I guess he heard me though he didn't reply. He didn't turn around either. "Your hero ended up dead."
I couldn't see him but I wished I could. Was he smiling or frowning? Where his eyes teary or dry? What did they reveal? What did his posture say? A quick flash of the little boy's face came to my mind. A bloody pulp, anguish written all over his face. I shook my head and looked at my very alive brother's back. And hours later, days later, even years later I would always wonder what my younger brother looked like when he admitted the truth of all truths:

"Everyone's story ends with death, Raph."

My little brother had grown up far too fast.