1A 15 years old boy groaned as he pounded on the door, his blue eyes full of annoyance and temperamental anger. His older brothers always took the bathroom in the morning! Yes, he had four older brothers, and all of them except Clement gave him a hard time.
He was never getting to school.
Of course, Grayson would do this. His 20 years old brother never seemed to have a life anyways. And even though he looked good with his pretty boy face, shaggy in an attractive way black hair, and his blue eyes, which even Brian had to admit, all of them were blessed to have so bright looking, he was a jerk. A hot player, yes, but a jackass all the same.
"GET OUT! Now, Grayson! Some of us have school! Lives!" Brian complained. As he was doing this, his barley graduated at 18 brother, Hector, walked by and rolled his eyes.
Hector had the same look as Brian; blue eyes and black hair. Hector's hair was a more short, tamed cut. Brian's was shaggy and to his ears.
Now that Brian thought about it, all his brothers had blue eyes and only two brothers had red-ish hair, that was Clement and George. Of course, everyone always loved pointing out the identical looks of the brothers but Brian always thought it was dumb. They could all never be alike. Especially him.
"Seriously? You don't always need that perfect attendance record. Such a nerd." Hector flicked Brian's glasses.
"Like YOU have a life!" Came from inside the bathroom.
"Like YOU have somewhere to be for once!" Brian shot back while fixing his glasses.
"Can we all just calm down! Yer yellin' is givin' me a 'ache. And I've got work." George growled, trying to rub his temples and calm down. George was the eldest, at 24. He had red hair that was short but his sideburns that he was always so proud of, reached down long enough to meet his beard. His beard wasn't too long, just a thick enough amount to cover his entire chin.
"Yeah, ya know, Dad is gonna wake up soon if you guys keep this up!" Clement warned. Clement's red hair was shaggy as well, considering he was Brian's immediate older brother at 17 and didn't care much for appearance. He was heavy, to the point kids called him fat and he was kind of tall, and extremely childish in Brian's opinion. Everyone cared for him though, he just had this childlike innocence and a bad habit of bumping into people and things.
Brian just scoffed and stormed away to his room that he shared with Clement, ignoring his brothers' teasing and dismissive waves.
Everyone always teamed up against him, he bet it was because he was the runt! And Brian would be a fool to deny it; all his brothers except for himself, was over the 6 feet mark. And all of them except Grayson and Clement had muscles. Big muscles. And Grayson had a washboard built whilst Clement wasn't really strong as he was plain overall big. George was 6'5, Grayson was 6'2, Hector was 6'3 (almost 6'4), and Clement was 6'0.
And he was barley 5'5. And all his brothers were bigger than him weight wise too, he was the runt of his liter. And that made him even more frustrated, since he couldn't fight back.
Brian realized that Grayson was never going to leave the bathroom now. He was going to take his sweet time to piss Brian off.
He decided to just go get dressed and go heavy on cologne. He was not going to be late, especially since the bullies could grab him then. Since Clement was the only brother he had going to his school, he must rely on himself to deal with bullies because he knew Clement couldn't hurt someone. Plus, he didn't need his arrogant and ignoramus-brained brothers to help him. He could survive school on his own.
He put on black jeans, black converse, and his white, short sleeve button up. He brought his black hooded jacket in case he got beat up too bad to hide it with his hair. In his backpack, he also carried a pair of sunglasses to go over his regular glasses. He rushed downstairs to see Hector getting something from the car out the window, he looked over to the kitchen area and saw George, Grayson, and Clement eating their own little makeshift breakfasts.
"Oh Brian, yer walkin' home alone taday." George informed.
"What? Why?" Brian tried to ignore the feeling of dread rising.
"Clement's got a friend's mom picking him up." Grayson smirked.
"And no, we're not picking you up." Grayson laughed at Brian's upset face.
"And why not? You don't have anything better to do! Neither does Hector! George is the only one with anything to do in this family and you guys still won't help out!" Brian ranted. He thought about his options, ride with one of his mean older brothers or…. Take a walk with the bullies.
Brian sighed as his family looked at him weird.
"Are you okay?" Clement asked good heartedly.
"Yeah, fine." He spat. "I don't mind walking home anyways." His voice was full of pure hatred. So, if Clement wasn't with him, they didn't care? If Clement wasn't with him this morning, would that mean they wouldn't take him to school?
'Why do I even try to think they care? They don't.' He thought absent mindedly.
"In fact, I'll walk to school too." He said with finality.
"Wait, c'mon Brian, stop being such a mood killer." Hector had heard what was going on considering no one saw him enter the kitchen.
'I'm the mood killer. Seriously?! When they hurt me, physically, mentally, and emotionally and I stand up for myself, I'm the mood killer!? Do they even think about how I fucking feel?' With that thought, he clenched his grip around the backpack even tighter and walked out without replying.
He learned a long time ago, don't feed the dogs.
Brian sighed as he watched from the distance. Hector was driving Clement to school. They didn't even care that he was upset.
'Whatever…' He thought, trying to shake away the dark thoughts that he knew would come at night. He scoffed to himself and didn't notice he was walking faster or clenching his backpack straps tighter, the point his knuckles were turning white and his hands were aching.
'I don't care. Let them be happy without me. See if I miss them…' he then bit his lip. 'Maybe those kids were right, my family would be better off…' He then turned the corner and continued walking. He shivered, it was a cold day in Carmel. Arriving at the school within twenty-seven minutes, a drive was nearly ten, he bit his lip again and got inside. He was surprised his lips hadn't bled yet.
After school came quickly. So, did Brian's footsteps. He tried making himself small and quick to leave but no such luck had come. He found himself on the floor, his chest hurting from being pressed in the concrete and his face getting dusted with the dirty ground.
"Holy crap he's weaker than I thought!" One boy laughed.
A girl from the background snickered. "Wait, wait, I've got to get this on camera." She said, almost as if it were a celebrity rather than a boy getting his ass kicked by the school's star quarterback.
"This is sad. I thought he learned his lesson the last time he showed up. You hear me nerd? You. Are. A. Freak! No one likes you! You should never come back to school, understand!" One boy yelled even though he was next to the guy on top of him.
Kids laughed and make comments as they recorded Brian getting slugged, kicked, slammed into things, socked out, everything and anything was done to him.
When they were done, it was almost 4:30 p.m. and school had let out at 3:30.
As Brian stood up as the crowd slowly disappeared and the pain become less prominent and just duller. But he still ached.
His phone startled him, how had it not been broken in the middle of all this? He didn't know.
He looked down to see his phone ringing. The caller ID was 'George'.
He thought about it, then turned it off and shoved his phone back in his side pocket. He didn't want to talk to them, any of them, and they wouldn't even worry. He was sure their father had just made him call.
So with that idea in mind, Brian started walking. His stomach growled again for the hundredth time that day it seemed. He had to bolt the house after the fiasco without breakfast or money or lunch, he went starving. Not like he never went starving before, the bullies steal his money and lunch anyway, but he normally he would've at least had something in his system. He ended up spending lunch hiding and gulping down water at the fountain to "fill" his stomach.
He didn't know where he was walking, he just wanted away. Far, far, away. As he found himself near a mini mart, he went inside. He found an area in the back to open his backpack and slipped into his hood and shades. He left the mini mart and then continued his walk, all the while contemplating his worth.
Just as he was deciding to call his 'No going home strike' quits, he was walking past the wrong guy and the man, maybe older than George by a couple years, grabbed him. Since almost no one was around, no one saw the scene that unfolded.
Brian screamed, yelled, kicked and flailed. He just wasn't strong enough.
"Stop! Please!" The man wouldn't stop dragging him. Brian felt himself thrash right against a pole, the man having used his fear against him and guided him into it so he could have Brian against it. Brian felt his eyes widening.
"Stop! W-w-what do you w-want…" He tried not to stammer but failed.
The man touched Brian's area, making the boy's eyes go wide as he realized what the man was doing. The touch frightened him.
The man chuckled, not a friendly but a way too friendly that suggested what shouldn't happen to a 15 years old boy, so with that, Brian took his knee and bashed it upwards into the mans 'crown jewels'.
"Agh! Ya little brat!" The man seemed to be howling almost, and if he had the time, Brian could've imagined the man in front of a full moon, his head back like it was, and howling into the cold air in pain. But Brian's mind was too busy being terrified and only thinking one thing; run.
And Brian did just that. He sprinted, though not very fast, and raced down the street, trying to get himself into a more populated area. He didn't dare look back.
He was panicking thinking what could've happened back there. He wanted to look and see if the guy was still there, lurking in the shadows of buildings like he had been, waiting to grab him again. Or worse, his next unsuspecting victim.
Brian stopped and checked, there was nothing. He fumbled for his phone and struggled to turn it on. He was hungry, cold, out of breath, and terrified.
'I nearly got raped. Kidnapped! Oh god… Oh fucking god!' as he realized the unfortunate truth, he began to have hot tears rushing down his face and feel himself sob, though have of this barley registered. He jumped out of his thoughts when the phone, which was now opened, began going off like a firework because of how many calls and texts he missed.
19 missed calls.
28 missed texts.
'Brian, answer ur fucking phone' Grayson.
'BRIAN WHERE R U ANSWER NOW' Hector.
'Brian if this is a prank I'll have ur ass!' George.
'NOT FUNNY. where r u?!' George.
'Brian? Where are you? What happened? Are you okay?' His Dad. Tears began spilling.
'Brian, please pick up your phone, pls' Clement.
The countless other messages made him want to puke. They were trying forever, and of course, he acted out like a brat.
He opened his phone and called his eldest brother, knowing his father was probably still at work and had only known through his brothers.
Ring. R-
"Brian? Oh my god, Brian are ya okay? What happened man?" His voice was filled with relief? He thought his brothers hated him. He knew his father and Clement cared, but the rest?
'He was probably forced to stay up or something. He doesn't care for me. None of them do, except for Dad and Clement.' He thought spitefully.
"I-I really-"He cut himself off. His voice was horrible, scratchy and it sounded like he went through hell. In all honesty, in his book, being nearly raped counts as horrible enough. But they didn't need to know. Know that he was even weaker than they already teased him for.
"I really need a-a ride… home." He tried, his voice cracking now as he thought about what nearly just happened.
"Where are ya? Where Brian? I was just out lookin' for ya, I'll pick ya up quick, promise." He explained, this caused Brian to wince. George's voice was raw and seemed to crack.
He felt horrible doing this to him.
"I'm on…" He looked at the street names and then proceeded to repeat them to his older brother.
"Okay. Ar-are ya okay? Ya hurt?"
'You can't tell him…' He thought, then realized, 'He'll know anyways, he'll be searching. The bullies earlier didn't help my appearance either.'
He couldn't think anymore before George repeated, "Brian? Brian are ya okay?"
"Y-yeah, just b-beat up a bit." His voice shook and wavered.
Suddenly, he got blinded by the bright headlights and the phone call ended.
"G-Georgie?" he internally yelled at himself for using the old childhood nickname. The truck had pulled up right in front of him, window all the way down.
"Brian! Thank fucking god you're alright, where the hell were you!" He didn't notice Brian's actual appearance yet thanks to the darkness, shades, and black hoodie.
"…"
"We've all been worried sick, it's fuckin' 9:30 at night and you're all by yourself!" Grayson got out, surprising Brian, and before he could speak, Brian threw himself into Grayson.
Before Brian knew it, he was sobbing into Grayson's stomach.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Th-here was a ma-an w-w-who-" He was blubbering. He wanted to stop but for some reason his mind didn't listen.
"Slow down. You're going too fast."
"A guy tried t-touching m-me." He stammered. For some reason, Grayson's body went stiff and he felt his brother's grip tighten.
"Grayson?" After so much quiet, he was wondering if he said the wrong thing to anger Grayson.
"Who?" The minute Grayson said that, he pulled from Brian and went off like a flame to wood.
"Who the fucking hell touched you?! I'll kill him!" He raged. He turned around and scared Brian by kicking the old black truck's wheels in anger. George then got out and looked Brian straight in the eye.
"Take the hoodie down. Same with the shades kid."
Reluctantly, Brian did so. And Grayson stopped his angry rampage while George's entire face softened.
"There. I didn't mean for all this to happen. Please don't be mad."
"Brian…" George gently caressed Brian's swollen shut black eye.
Brian winced but let it happen. "Who did all this to you?" Brian knew it was fair of him to ask. He had on eye swollen shut, the rest of his face black and blue, and cheek was cut open.
In other words, he looked like shit.
"Some kids…" He trailed off and looked at the dark streets surrounding the them and thought about that weird molester waiting in the shadows to grab him and did the most childish thing he's felt he has done all his life, he grabbed George's shirt and buried himself into his strong chest.
"Brian… It's okay. We've gotcha." George soothed as he stood up, carrying his underweight brother into the truck.
"He's too light. I could run through the streets with him."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, look."
George gently handed Brian to Grayson who was thrown off guard due to the light weight.
"Brian, have you been eating right?" George pressed.
Half of him zoned out he replied, "Well, I haven't ate nothing today… I forgot breakfast and money or lunch." He explained this while letting Grayson put him in the backseat.
The two brothers looked down, guilty.
"Sorry man. I-" He stopped himself, lost for words, "I should've given you a ride. None of this would be happening if I had." As soon as Grayson got in on the passengers side, he looked back at Brian.
"I'm so freaking sorry."
'Did-did Grayson just apologize?!'
"I-you-wait what?"
"You heard me; it's all my fault." He then shifted around to face the front again as George got the truck started.
As they drove, Brian didn't know how to swallow his pride and say, "It's not your fault" or anything else to comfort his brother. He also felt guilty since he didn't even tell them it was his own fault for getting bullied or getting nearly raped. If he'd went straight home like he should've done, none of this would be happening.
As they pulled up to the home, Brian's eyes widened as he saw Hector waiting on the porch steps. His brother was strong and the athlete of the family, despite both George and Grayson being extremely fit and strong as well. He just wasn't the brightest tool in the shed.
"Brian? Shit, you're okay!" Hector got up and raced over to Brian, pulling him into a bone crushing hug, he then looked down and saw Brian's messed up face.
"What happened to you?"
"I'm, I'm okay… really." Brian shifted in the tight but protective hug and felt truly safe in any of his brothers' arms.
"Something happened to him. We're gonna talk about this as a family." Soon as George informed Hector, Clement came outside.
"Hey Clement…" Brian said impishly. He shifted a foot and had pulled away from Hector's hug. He hugged one of his arms close to his side when Clement bounded over and gave Brian a tight hug.
"I was getting ready to call the cops!"
Brian gave a raw laugh, "Yeah, I'm glad you didn't." That's when Clement's hand brushed against Brian's back, by complete accident. This bad Brian shove Clement away and back away right into George's chest.
"Bud?" Hector worriedly asked.
"Brian, your hands are shaking. Calm down." George said as he rested a huge hand on Brian's thin and small shoulder.
Brian looked to find, indeed, his hands were on a rampage.
"I-I'm sorry, I just, I don't wanna be touched."
"What do you mean?" Hector asked.
"Just, just please…" Brian was begging now, snuggled into George's chest.
"Let's just give him some space, he's been… through somethin' today, 'kay?" George tried with his two younger brothers.
"Ya, we need to talk about that…"Grayson trailed off.
"C-can I be in my room when you guys talk about it? Plea-please."
"Sure kid, just until Dad gets home."
With that, Brian ran himself into the house and upstairs, while all the other brothers moved into the living room to talk about what the youngest had exactly got himself into.
TBC