Till The End Of Time

I heard yelling. I'd been sitting in the corner of my room doing homework, but now the pencil slipped through my fingers, forgotten. I crawled across my bedroom floor, opening the door oh so quietly, and crept out of the room. It took me a few moments to realize who was shouting- it was my father. When I peered around the corner of the hallway, he was standing with his back rigid, his face twisted into a menacing glare.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN LEAVE, BOY?" He spat at the person in front of him. I edged a little closer to the wall and looked to see who'd made him so mad. A figure was slumped on the floor, holding their chin. Their breathing was labored. It looked like it was a boy with a black jacket, dark brown hair messy and permanently sticking out in the back. I knew who this was. It was...Oh, Lord! The boy lifted his head to look at my dad, and I saw that it was my twin brother, Jeremy.

But, he was supposed to get out of here! He was dropping out of high school and getting an apartment! He'd talked to me the night before, unsure. He didn't want to leave me alone with dad, but I'd told him to get things situated and then I'd join him. My dad had anger problems, was a drunk, and depressed from my mother's death when we were born. Obviously, he'd taken out some of his frustration on us.

"You think I'm crazy?" Our father leaned down, getting in my brother's face. "Well, I'm not! The only one who's a monster here is you." He grabbed Jeremy's neck, causing him to make a small noise in his throat. I sucked in a breath. "You," he said the word accusingly. "You took away my Maria. She wanted children so bad, she was so excited...Your sister came out easy, just like any normal birth. She got to hold her at least, give 'er her name." He sniffed. "Ten minutes later...YOU come. And then that's- that's when everything went wrong." Dad sighed and stood up, looking down at Jeremy before kicking him in the stomach. Jeremy let out a cry of pain; I yelped and jumped from my hiding place so I could help him up. Dad just stared at me straight in the eyes, as if nothing happened. "And now what, Jeremy?" he'd asked, looking down at my brother again. I kneeled beside him, stroking his cheek and letting him know I was there. "Your mom's DEAD because of you, you little shit! And you're gonna pay for trying to get away-" he pulled out a gun from the back of his jeans.

My eyes went wide with fear. Everything felt as if it was in slow motion. My arms gripped Jeremy's shoulders as I tried to pull him out of the way. He was also alarmed. His hand flew over mine and we locked eyes for a split second- all the pain, love, and fear we shared was mirrored in each pair of endless blue. My dad cocked the gun and my screams couldn't escape my throat fast enough. "N..!" The words that were about to leave my lips turned into a terrified scream when my brother's beautiful face was suddenly half missing. Blood splattered on the wall behind us and across my chest. The sound of a gunshot echoed in my ears, but all I felt was numb. That couldn't have just happened.

Jeremy.

"Jeremy?"

That was the only word I knew, suddenly. His name. My Jeremy. "Jeremy..."

He lay still in my arms and he never moved again.

*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could hear myself crying. But I couldn't see. Where am I? Where's my brother? It felt as if a heavy weight was being lifted off of me as I floated towards consciousness. My eyes fluttered open and I stared up at my ceiling. Tears had fallen down the sides of my face. Thunder rumbled outside and rain fell against my window loudly. It must've been pouring. And it was so dim, the light outside, like one of those days that make you sleepy.

I had the dream again.

I rolled over to look at my alarm clock, but it was blinking. I must've slept through the worst of the storm. My feet were against the plush carpet and I was walking towards the door. Maybe Aunt May was home and eating breakfast...or lunch. I didn't know what time it was. But, after wandering around the entire house (the kitchen, living room, peeked in her room) I realized she wasn't there. My eyebrows pulled together at this. I was so sure she'd be home. Shrugging it off, I reached for a cheese danish on the kitchen counter. I found out the TV wasn't working right, just snow. I sighed and my thoughts then turned to my dream. My twin. My past.

It had been warm in the house, but my chest quickly turned cold, ice fingers clawing at my heart. The danish didn't taste so good anymore. My jaw fell slack, my eyes set on the blank television screen. I was looking past that, though. I was looking in his eyes, and his arms were around me while we sat on the couch watching a movie. Dad was at work and we'd had so much fun laughing and joking and being free.He was my best friend. "Was.." I whispered to myself. My eyes had welled up with tears as I thought about him and I looked down at his shirt, fiddling with the hem. The tears dropped down my cheeks, one stopping at the corner of my mouth, the other one sliding past my chin. No- Jeremy wouldn't want me crying again like this. I had to get better. Keep moving on. He'd always be with me, I'd carry him in my heart- show him how great life could be without Dad always bringing us down. I wiped away the wetness on my cheeks and walked to the kitchen , throwing out the useless danish.

When I'd tried turning on the light in the bathroom later, nothing happened. I'd flipped the switch several times, but to no avail. I was extremely curious as to what the time was, so I'd know when to be expecting Aunt May. The only noise in the house beside the pounding rain and my own breathing was all of the contents in my "Junk Drawer" being pushed around. I saw chap-stick, a few pens, folded pieces of paper, barrettes, and a frog key chain, but where was- "Aha!" I said when I'd found my old watch. It was still ticking as usual and I studied the face. It was 3:20 in the afternoon. "Well, where the heck is Aunt May?"

A loud clash of thunder cut me off and I shivered. Walking over to the window so I could inspect the "damage", I saw that the streets were nearly flooded. My eyes widened. Good God, Aunt May was probably stuck somewhere or something. Suddenly, though, as I thought this the rain slowed to a light drizzle. Then, it stopped. Just like that? Wow. I hopped down the stairs and to the front door, swinging it open and not bothering to close it. Barefoot, I walked down the sidewalk, through the damp grass, and to the curb. I saw my reflection staring back at me in the some three inches of water in the road, and dipped my toes in. It was lukewarm temperature. I smirked to myself like a little kid, a Jeremy type of thing, and splashed right into the middle of the road. Not bothering to look for cars because today it seemed like a ghost town, I danced around in the water laughing. I almost didn't notice the sun peep around the edges of a dark gray cloud, and I looked up at it expectantly, but nothing more happened. I sighed.

Exploring the rest of the street, and soon around the block, the eery calm was starting to get to me. So, I walked a little further. No one was walking in or out of their houses, like you might see any day. Cars were parked along the curbs on quiet roads, which wasn't all that unusual. It was when I came to a more busy street, and I saw that a car was smashed into a pole on the corner, that I became worried. Where were the cops? The ambulance? I walked over to the dented Ford Explorer only to find there was nobody inside it. How could this be? Where was everyone?

"H-hello?" I said. Then, louder, "Hellooo!!" I turned in circles, searching all around me for a sign of human life. I was all alone? I started jogging down the sidewalks of town, shouting for people at random times. There was no one.No one! Imagine that. It was like a dream, almost. Amazing, yet scary at the same time. I'd seen a few cars sitting around in the middle of streets, parking lots...off the road on curbs. Was I seriously such a heavy sleeper to have not noticed an obvious hurricane? Or something along those lines...The local pizza place was empty, so I grabbed a bag of chips. Hey, I might as well take advantage of the situation. I walked past my high school- parking lot vacant. I passed into several different towns, actually, by the time it grew dark enough for me to know it was getting late. And there hadn't been a single soul. How very odd.

But, I couldn't just stop anywhere. Even if it was getting late. When I saw the sign that said 'Morrisville', I'd searched around for a bit until I found my old house. I gulped, standing in front of the side door, the one we'd always used. Reaching for the handle, hands shaking, I went to turn the knob, but just couldn't. I was afraid, afraid to see the blood stains on the wall. I was scared to see his room, so empty and cold without him in it. So, I turned around and went to our old neighbors' home. Nobody was there, not that I was surprised. It was almost too dark to see now, so I went into Kara, the daughter's, room, curled up under the covers, and tried to sleep there.

What was going on? Was I dreaming? I was starting to hate this dream. I tried not to think so I could sleep. And I did...eventually.