Kinda long but...well...
I really wanted to do one of Huey and Riley being good brothers
and this is as good as it gets XD
"Take this, bitch!" Riley barked, slamming his thumbs down on the game controller.
"Watch it! Watch it!" Huey told him back and wiggled the joystick at the other side of the controller.
Lightening clapped outside and the game was over. The screen danced with colors indicating that player two was the victor. Huey smirked and looked at his little brother with his head held high. Riley grimaced, knowing what he had to do now. It was a tradition the boys had started ever since they started playing video games. Since Riley had challenged Huey to a game of "Fatal War," and lost miserably…. It was time for him to face the music.
"I'm waitin," Huey informed him, his smug grin not leaving his face.
"I only lost cos its yo birthday, man!"
"You know I don't celebrate my birthday. Besides, you still lost so you have to do it!"
"Ugh!" Riley moaned and stood up. He raised his hands above his head and sang "The Song of Humiliation," Riley style.
"Yo ya beat ma ass and now I gosta sang
The humil'ation that I feel iz a painfull thang
Ya beat my ass and now the world must see
I aint nevah gon be bettah than my big bro Huey,"
Huey bobbed his head mockingly, "Ya know what, I think that's my favorite song," He told his brother, "Replay,"
"Hell nah,"
Huey raised an eyebrow at his brother. They both knew the rule was that whoever won got to hear the Humiliation Song however many damn times his heart desired. Riley, who was normally the loser, was getting sick of losing all the time.
"Ahem?" Huey coughed. Riley growled and sang the humiliation song again.
Huey clapped, "Okay, that'll do. Wanna play again?"
Riley folded his arms over his chest, "No I do not! Ya always beat me! I think ya cheatin!!"
"That's retarded, Riley," Huey snapped, "You're easy ta beat cos you do the same thing over and over again! You've played this game the same way ever since we first got it two months ago! And I thought you said you let me win cos it was my birthday,"
"Well, I don't memohrize yo moves!" Riley barked, "And you don't celebrate yo birthday! Which really dun make no sense! WHy don't you!?
"Because you CAN'T! I change my tactics EVERY time I play. You're too predictable to beat me at this game," Huey told him, "And I don't because birthdays are stupid,"
"Fine!" Riley barked and sat down, snatching up his controller, "Rematch! I'ma show you!"
Huey restarted the game quickly. The boys were taken to the character choose screen. Huey chose "The Lone Swordsman", as he always did. Normally Riley would have picked "Thugistone" but instead he picked some chick wearing a kimono. Her name said "Sakura".
"Whacha pick her for?" Huey asked. They rarely ever played any other character but their favorites and never have either of them once ventured out to pick a female character.
"I'm uppin ma game,"
"MmmKay," Huey shrugged, "Just try not to sing too flat,"
Riley growled and pressed the game start button and the two fighters were taken to a precarious cliff side. Riley was trying to figure out what buttons did what for this new character before the high pitched voice from no where shouted, "GO!" and allowed them to come at each other.
Surprisingly, Riley was doing very, very well. He nailed his brother character with a series of kicks. Suddenly, Sakura jumped in the air when Riley pressed the triangle and x button at the same time. She came down on The lone Swordsman, her legs straddling his face. Both boys eyes widened.
"What the—"
"What kinda fighting style is THAT?!"
"Hoe-fu," Riley joked. Huey rolled his eyes
Suddenly, just as Huey noticed his health bar was nearly empty, something very odd happened. All of the lights in that big ol' house shut off.
And the TV flickered into blackness.
The only light in the black room was coming from the full moon that was shining through the big living room window. It was plenty of light for the boys to look at eachother, but not much else.
"HELL NO!!" Riley wailed, "I was…I was sooo close!!! Gah!!! That aint fair!" He turned to his brother with an accusing glare, tears threatening to spill from his still eight year old eyes, "You made the powah go out, di'nt you!?"
Huey popped an eyebrow up, "Riley, don't be stupid. How the hell could I have done that?"
"I dunno!" Riley barked, "With yo freaky mind powahs maybe,"
"Whatevah," Huey muttered, tucking the controller away, "C'mon- let's go find some candles or something,"
"Looks like the whole block is out," Huey informed his brother, who was currently lighting the second candle they had found. Huey was holding the first and walking away from the window. The rain was pouring like crazy and the thunder was loud enough to rattle their large house.
Riley rolled his eyes and watched the fire on the end of his candle flicker. It really wasn't fair. After eight years of having to sing the humiliation song every time he ever played his older brother, he was so close to getting to hear that song sung back at him. He didn't want to wup his brother every single time. He just wanted to hear it once. Just one time. And he was SO close to it, too.
It just wasn't fair.
"Kay," Was all he said simply. He ran his finger through the flame with ease. He played with it gingerly, keeping his gaze on the reaching up flickers that would dissapitate into the blackness, "When's Grandad gettn' home?"
"I dunno…" Huey shrugged, "Probably not til late. Ya know how he likes to pretend the girls at the club are with him,"
"Man, this sucks," Riley mutterd.
Just before Huey could say something, they both heard a loud bump coming from upstairs. Both boys paled and looked at eachother.
"What the hell was that?" Riley asked.
"Niggah, like I know,"
There was another loud bump and a crash coming from high above them. It was obviously beyond the second story. Probably the attic.
Huey looked at Riley and Riley looked back at him.
"Should…. Should we go see?"
"It was prolly nothing impor-" before the older Freeman brother could reply, there was a series of two bumps, a loud rolling noise and then another shatter.
Both boys dashed hurriedly upstairs. Though their methods were very different, both boys were able to move in fast speeds without being heard. A skill that had been honed and made second nature. Riley took each step up the large flight of stairs, silently as he ran. Huey was ahead, taking large bounds from step to step, also as silent as night time.
They made it to their bedroom, where they hastily grabbed the weapons they would need. Riley snagged his two guns and Huey chose his favorite katana. He also picked up a small flash light and tucked it in his back pocket. Then, just as swift and quiet as they had arrived, they departed and dashed down the hall way to the attic door.
Riley gulped as Huey hoisted him up so he could grab the white string hanging down from the door in the ceiling. Clutching it tightly in his hand, he looked down at his brother and nodded slowly. Huey tossed him up and moved backwards so Riley's weight would pull the attic steps down. He wouldn't have been able to budge the old door if he had just pulled normally.
"Cover me," Huey hardly whispered in his raspy voice as he went up first, taking slow, steady steps. Riley obediently when up after him, keeping his two guns up, in case he was surprise attacked.
The attic was pitch dark and lightening flashed in the dusty window facing the street. Thunder clapped and Huey flipped out the small flashlight in his pocket and shined it around, searching for the intruder. Riley had his back nearly up against his older brother's, the small beam of red lights coming from the noses of his guns danced around the room but found nothing to note.
They walked in deeper, feeling the hairs on the back of their necks rise. Each step was taken with care and made long painful moans of the wood.
Suddenly, Riley felt something crack under his foot. The sound resonated through the room, making both boys jump slightly. Huey turned around, flashing the light all over but found nothing was there. Looking down, they saw what made such a loud crack. It was a fallen picture in a frame. The glass was cracked over the photo and the frame was split in two.
Huey moved the flashlight around, only to find the culprit himself; a small racoon who was rummaging through a large box ontop of a dust cloth covered table.
It screeched when the light shown on him and he ran away. Huey shook his head and was about to leave when he noticed Riley staring down at the photo.
"Ready ta go?"
Riley sniffed and picked up the picture. Huey peered over his shoulder and felt a deep wound stab at his heart.
The photo was of a young black woman with thick, wavy brown-black hair. She was smiling wide, a big fluffy dog licking her face.
Huey turned the flashlight to look at the box that raccoon had been sifting through. In big black letters it said "Laura Freeman,"
"Riley…" Huey whispered. Riley looked and walked over the lage box. There was some old clothes, a lockette, an old bottle of perfume and some old photos. Finally, Huey reached in and pulled out a small camcorder that was completely full of memory.
Huey cautiously unfolded the screen so they could see and pressed the play button.
The clip was of a young woman sporting a rather large baby belly. She was standing infront of a counter, mixing a large silver bowl full of goop. There was a small toddler standing on a chair next to her. On his head was a mini fro and on his face was a big painted smile.
The woman smiled at the camera and waved gently, "Say hi to Grandad, Huey!"
"Hi Gramdad!" Huey waves enthusiastically.
"Heya big man! Whatchyall cookin today?" Grandad asked thoughtfully, "I hope it's made of pork,"
"No Daddy, it's tofu. You know pork is bad for momma's heart,"
"The day pork is bad for anyone's heart is the day that lucifer catches a cold," Grandad snapped back.
"We havn' brawklee (broccolli) Gramdad!" Huey informed him, holding up his favorite vegetable.
"Laura, you aint teachin that boy right,"
"I'm teachin him just fine, Daddy," She rolled her eyes and gave him a kiss, "Huey, tell Grandad what you learned today,"
The little boy with big brown red eyes looked up at his grandfather as the camera zoomed in on his face. He couldn't hold back his smile as he held up both of his hands to pray.
"Our faver who marth in haven. Hello be fine name. Five kindum come. Fivevill be done. On Earffe as it is in heaven,"
"Good boy, Huey!" Grandad cheered. The young woman laughed and kissed the young boy on the head sweetly.
"He's gonna look so cute in his first communion suit,"
"Woah, baby girl," Grandad chuckled, "Gon' be sometime fore that happens,"
"I know. But He's smart enough to go for it now, aren't you, baby?"
Huey smiled and gave his mom a hug before kissing her tummy, "Momma, whens my baybeh bruddah comin?"
"Very soon, baby. Now, go get washed up and tell Grandmom to come down for dinner,"
"Kay!" Huey cheered and hopped down the chair. The camera wiggled a bit and the screen went blue. A second later, it fuzzed up and a new clip started to roll.
This time they were in a hospital room.
"There's my sweet baby girl!" They heard a slightly younger granddad said from off screen. The camera landed on the young woman from the photo who smiled tiredly.
"Heya Daddy," She spoke softly. There was a bundled up lump in her arms that she snuggled gently. The camera flashed over to the door where a fuzzy headed toddler wobbled into the room, holding the hand of an elderly woman who the boys recognized as their late grandmother, "Huey! Come see your new brother!"
The elderly woman hoisted Huey up and placed him on the bed next to his mother. He crawled closer to the small bundle and touched his exposed brothers face.
"Baybeh…" Huey babbled and patted the baby Riley on the head.
"Can you say Riley?" His mother asked sweetly, "Riiiiileeey?"
"Riywee!" Huey laughed, clapping his hands.
"This is your baby brother," She told him, "You have to take very good care of him, y'know? You have to look out for him all the time,"
Baby Huey smiled and wrapped his tiny arms around the frail child, he put his rather large mimiafro covered head on the baby's stomach.
"Huey big bruddah. Huey take careo baybeh!"
The baby screamed and slammed his foot into Huey's ear, pushing Huey back. Huey's eyes narrowed and he slapped a hand across Riley's face.
"Huey!" His mother gasped as the baby started to wail loudly.
"Boy!" The camera fell lopsided and you could see small sneaker covered feet jump off the bed and fun out the door, followed by much larger feet covered in penny loafers, "We don't hit babies in THIS family! C'mhere so I can beat yo ass!"
The camera went blue again.
The boys waited another second before it started up again. This time Huey and Riley were running around, smiling as big as they knew how. They were jumping and cheering and running like most young kids do in anticipation of something. The weird thing about this film was that no one was holding it. It was set on a high point some place in the room so it could catch everything that happened. Grandad must not have been at the house that day.
"Whatchyall so excited for?" Their mother teased. Huey jumped as high as he could.
"I'm three! I'm three! Issmy birfday!" Huey grinned, holding a new wooden baseball bat, "Lookit what I got!? Grandad got it for me!"
"That's RIGHT!" His mother giggled sweetly, "You should tell him thank you when he gets home today,"
"Burfdeh!" Riley tried to jump but ended up just falling back on his rump.
Riley looked about one and a half and Huey was clearly three. He was missing a tooth in his front and his afro was getting bigger. Riley's hair looked like Huey's did from the very first clip.
Suddenly, the door burst open and in staggered a tall black man. He was dressed like a thug and his face showed that he desperately needed a shave.
"Dedrick!" Laura exclaimed. The man who had just walked in smiled at the young boys who looked shy in front of him.
It was he first time either of the boys had seen their father. If Huey had seen him before, it had been before he could remember what his father looked like. The grown man who gave them their existance was obviously drunk and his mouth was filled with a gold grill that looked terribly uncomfortable. Any normal human would have wondered what a beautiful woman like Laura saw in such a man.
"Hey Laura,"
"What are you doing here?" She wanted to know, going over to her sons to pick up Riley.
"Just here to see ma boys,"
"You need to leave,"
"Don't be like that, sugar,"
"I said get OUT!"
"Laura! Babeh, what's wrong?" An elderly voice from upstairs called. Down came Grandmom who was wearing nothing but a robe and a towel around her hair. When she saw the man in her house she ran over to her daughter and stuck an index finger in the mans face, "You get outta this house, RIGHT now! We don't need yo kinda here!"
"I need to talk to my wife,"
"She aintcho wife nomo!" The elderly woman barked, "Now get out! You know we have a restraining order against you! Get out before I call the police!"
"I need to talk to Laura,"
"No,"
WIth that, the man slapped the old woman across the face, she fell back onto her side, making Laura scream and Hue run over to clutch the end of his mother's dress. He tried to hide his face but peeked out to watch.
"You can't keep me from my kids, Bitch!"
"They're not yours!" She barked, pressing Riley to her chest with her other hand lowered so she could press Huey's face into her leg, "I wont let you get the chance to hurt them!"
"Bitch!" The man screamed, "LEMMIE SEE MY DAMN KIDS!!"
"GET OUTTA HERE NOW!"
He pulled his hand back and smacked her across the face. She fell back, slamming her head on the coffee table corner. Blood spilled everywhere and Huey could only watch. The baby Riley was still clinging to his mother's chest but had started wailing loudly. Huey tried to shake his mother, tears spilling from his own eyes.
"Mah...Momma!"
There was a scream when Grandmom finally came to, "WHAT'D You DO!?" she got up and ran to her daughters side, "Call an ambulance! Hurry! She's bleedn bad! What have you DONE!?"
There was a horrible bang and the older woman collapsed next to her daughter.
The man looked at Huey who was too stunned to even cry. He just stared at the two bodies of the women who had devoted their lives to love and care for him. He looked at the man who took it all away from him. The man who was supposed to devote HIS life to love and care for them. He had killed them both.
All he did was stick his pistol back into his pocket and look down at the young boy before him.
"C'mon, son," The man said, holding out his hand, "Come with me. I'm your Daddy we can take Riley and go live at my house in Vermont,"
"You..." Huey started, letting tears spill, "AINT my dad!"
"Sure I am," The man said, "Now hurry up and lets go before the cops get here,"
"YOU HURT MOMMY! AND GRANDMOM! YOU HAVE TO HELP EM!"
"They gonna lock me up if I stay much longer, son, now lets GO!"
"No!"
The man sighed and went to pick up Riley. Huey used all of his strength to hit the mans hand with his new birthday bat. The man looked at him for a second until Huey charged him, hitting his knees and hips and stomach with the bat as hard as he could, tears spilling freely.
"DON'T TAKE MY BRUDDAH! DON'T TAKE MY BRUDDAH! Go away! Don't TAKE my BRUDDAH!"
The man slammed a fist into his gut and the boy confulsed. He fell over and clutched his stomach. The man heard sirens and stood up. He cursed and ran out the still open door as fast as he could. Huey crawled over to his dead mother, grandmother and crying baby brother. He snuggled up to his mom and closed his eyes.
Suddenly Huey turned off the tape and closed his eyes. He looked at his brother who had tears streaming from his face. The eight year old Freeman was sobbing like a baby. Huey didn't say anything. He just put his arm over his younger brothers shoulder and placed his cheek atop his head. Riley clutched Huey's hoody and sobbed onto his chest.
A single tear rolled out of Huey's eye and dropped on Riley's head.
They stayed there for a long time.
They couldn't ignore what had happened anymore. They had lived their lives so long pretending that it never happened but they couldn't do it anymore. They had to cry.
And that night as the storm raged outside, the two Freeman brothers stayed in that attic. They cried themselves to sleep that night and for the first time in what seemed like forever... they comforted eachother and understood the other. It seemed like the first time they were on the same page.
They had grown apart but the hurt remained forever.
The thing was, Riley had only heard that story once before when his Grandad had told him. Riley knew the pain but could never trully feel it until that moment. All this time he had been judging his older brothers poor dispisition of the world. Now he understood it...
Huey had been hurting because he saw it.
He saw it all.
And there wasn't a day that went by that he didn't remember that day.
"Hey Huey,"
"Yeah?"
"Happy birthday," Riley whispered. It wasn't a joke nor was he trying to be cute. They both understood that it was more like a sincere way of saying, "sorry you birthday sucks so much,"
Huey gave him a light squeeze and nodded slowly. Remembering, he wasn't alone in his pain. He forgot that his baby brother shared it with him.
Even if it was the only thing other than blood that they shared.
"Thanks, Riley,"
Pain...
It reminded them that they were brothers.
Their mother was meant to be that force that binded them. She was meant to be the reminder of their love for each other. She was supposed to bring them to help and know the other and to make sure they knew the couldn't be alone if they were brothers. To be the others closest and dearest friend... but she left
and pain became the closest thing to a mother they ever knew.
hm Darker than i originally planned
hope ya liked!