A short one-shot about the Hill brothers as children to celebrate the 4 new episodes this month! Read, review and enjoy!
Pete ran his hands through his hair. If only he could get his little brothers to leave him alone for 10 minutes. His mother was gone for the day, something about a wives' spa day, and with his father still deployed he was left in charge of the two younger Hill boys. It wasn't exactly out of the ordinary for him to babysit but since he'd started high school a couple weeks ago the age gap between him and them felt bigger.
"Derrick! Randy! Go play outside!" Pete yelled from the couch. His brothers had been fighting over which one of them would get to play with the brand new gameboy their uncle had sent them.
"Do you wanna play Horse with us Pete?!" Randy asked excitedly, from behind the couch, popping up next to Pete like a tiny little sprite. The family always assumed that Randy would begin to grow out of his 'excited-rambunctious' stage but he was 8 years old now and there were no signs of stopping.
"No one wants to play Horse with you, loser." Derrick scoffed with his eyes glued to the game.
Pete shot the middle brother a dirty look, "Sorry Randy. I'm going to sit this one out. I'm waiting for Marissa. She said she would call when she got back from her violin lesson or something." Come to think of it, Pete couldn't really remember what his girlfriend had said she was up to today. Oh well.
"Don't worry about him buddy. His raging hormones are now in full control of everything he does. He's like a zombie now." Derrick sure did love to stir a pot.
"A zombie!? Like one from that movie from last night?!" Parker was basically in Pete's lap now in terror. Pete winced, yeah; I shouldn't have let him watch that movie.
"Get out. Now. Both of you!" Sometimes being the one with all the authority felt nice.
After both brothers left the house Pete sighed. Ahh, sweet, sweet silence- like music to my ears. Speaking of music, Pete switched the channel to MTV. He wasn't supposed to watch this channel with Randy around (as explicitly stated by his mother numerous times) so now was his chance to watch those girls on the Real World get in the hot tub!
Pete opened his eyes, blinking to catch focus. MTV was still playing on the television but it was getting dark outside. He must have fallen asleep. Looking at the clock it was almost six in the evening! He should have been making dinner already. Plus his mom would be home in a couple hours.
"Randy! Derrick!" No one answered. He looked around the house quickly but each room turned out empty. They must still be outside. Putting his sneakers on he cursed them. They both know to come inside when the street lamps turn on, little brats!
Of course they weren't right in the driveway. That would have been too easy. Pete headed towards the playground down the street, cursing his brothers again. Having authority was nice, but being responsible for other human beings was not nice at all. What if Marissa called now? Wait, why hadn't she called before? Whatever, she's probably still doing… whatever it was she was doing. Damn, he really needed to start paying attention more.
"Derrick!" Pete called as he saw his 12-year-old brother in a small huddle with other middle school kids. "It's time to come home."
"Pete, not now. We're playing truth or dare and it's about to get good!" Derrick pleaded.
"C'mon, let's go. We need to get dinner started." Pete called back from about 30 feet.
"Fine!" Derrick said his goodbyes and ran over to his older brother. Noticing for the first time that the youngest Hill brother wasn't with Derrick, Pete groaned inwardly.
"Where's your brother?" Pete mentally crossed his fingers, hoping Derrick would have an exact answer.
"He's not at home? I told him to get lost when we started playing big kid games." Leave it to Derrick to do something like this.
"No! He wasn't at home!" Pete replied angrily. Derrick was so irresponsible at times. "Now we have to search the whole neighborhood!"
"Calm down, Mr. Crazy. I bet he's at the playground. You know how he'll stay on that merry-go-round till he pukes."
The Hill brothers had now searched the playground, and the three blocks Randy was allowed to go by himself. He was nowhere to be seen and all the other neighborhood kids who might have seen him were inside having supper. Pete could feel his blood being to boil. It was officially dark now and his littlest brother was lost.
"You know, this is all your fault!" Pete stopped and turned to Derrick.
"My fault?!" Derrick came to halt and turned to his older brother.
"Yes! Your fault! You were supposed to keep an eye on him! And instead you just sent him away! You know how Randy is! You can't let him out of your sight!" Pete could feel T-Man coming on. He knew he had a bad temper but right now he was worried and angry.
"Oh, yeah sure Peter! This is rich—coming from the guy Mom left in charge of him!" Derrick's faced turned red. "You kicked us out of the house first! You didn't want him around first! I am not the one who was supposed to be watching him today! That was you!" Derrick began storming off.
"Where are you going?" Pete yelled down the otherwise quiet street.
"I'm going home! Good luck finding him on your own, jackass!" Derrick continued to stomp back towards their house.
Frustrated, Pete kicked at the September air like a four year old having a tantrum. Now he had one brother lost and the other brother hating him. It was turning out to be a fantastic day AND his mom would be home soon. She was going to murder him for losing Randy.
Think Pete think! Randy, though very lovable, was not very bright so it shouldn't be that hard to find him. If I were Randy, where would I go? And then it hit him like a ton of bricks. Of course! Pete started running towards the woods. How could he not have checked here first?
Behind the woods, there was a bayou that the Hill brothers would go swimming in during the summer. Of course since school had started neither Derrick nor Pete had much time or desire to take Randy swimming. Fear struck Pete. What if Randy went swimming? What if something had happened to him and that's why he didn't come home. A shiver ran down Pete's spine, as he thought of his youngest brother drowning in the water or getting bit by a water snake and unable to get help. Damn it! If he's okay, I swear God I will never let him out of my sight again. Derrick was right; it was his entire fault. If anything happened to Randy he would never forgive himself.Pete began running faster.
Dodging through the trees and bushes he was almost at the bayou.
"RANDY! RANDY!" Pete called out frantically.
"Pete?" He heard a small voice.
"RANDY! Buddy! Where are you?!"
"I'm down here!" Randy called again, his voice sounding louder the farther down the trail Pete got.
Looking over a small ditch he found his brother, covered in dirt and clutching his leg.
"Randy! Oh thank god." Pete jumped down into the ditch and side hugged his small brother.
"I'm so glad you found me." Randy said, looking at his brother. It was clear he had been crying earlier. "I fell down and hurt my ankle." Pete looked at his kid brother's ankle. It was bruised and swollen. Definitely sprained, maybe even broken.
"What were you even doing out here? You know you are not supposed to be here unless you are with me or Derrick." Some of the relief had faded and Pete was now feeling a bit angry towards his brother. He should have known better.
"I'm sorry Pete! I thought I would come out here and make a fort in case zombies make it on base! Like the ones in the movie." Randy looked up at his brother with his big blue eyes. Damn! It's hard to stay angry with him for long.
"Yeah, I shouldn't have let you watch that movie. My bad." Pete crouched down in front of his brother. "C'mon. Let's get you home and washed up." Randy carefully climbed onto his brother's back, gingerly moving his injured ankle as to not touch it.
The two Hill brothers made their way back to their house. Pete was so thankful when he didn't see his mom's car in the driveway yet. He still had some time for damage control.
"Derrick!" Pete called as he entered the house. His middle brother came out of the kitchen.
"What? I'm making dinner. Oh that right- that was your job too." Derrick folded his arms and leaned against the doorway. "What's wrong with him? He asked, changing his tone and nodding at Randy, who was still on Pete's back.
"I hurt my ankle." Randy chimed in, sounding a bit tired.
"Yeah, we need to get you washed up before Mom sees you."
"I'll help." Derrick ran into the bathroom and turned the water on.
After getting Randy bathed and dressed in fresh clothes, Pete placed him on the couch.
"Okay, so let's go over this one more time: you were not alone when you fell. I was with you and I took you straight home. Got it?" Pete asked with pleading eyes. Randy wasn't a good liar so it would be hard to pull this one over on their mom.
"Got it!" He said enthusiastically.
"Do you really think she'll buy it?" Derrick asked, bringing over an ice pack for his younger brother's ankle.
"I hope so." Pete turned on the TV to some kid's show that Randy liked and joined Derrick in the kitchen. Dinner was already done thanks to Derrick, even though it was just mac n' cheese and hot dogs.
"Look," Pete exhaled deeply; it always sucks to apologize. "I'm sorry for getting angry at you before."
"Aaaaand?" Derrick asked in a mocking voice. He loved every second of this, as it wasn't often his big brother admitted to his failures.
"And, I was wrong and you were right. I should have been looking out for him better. But admit it, you should have too!" Pete couldn't help it. He wasn't entirely to blame.
"Fine. Next time I will walk him home before ditching him." Derrick smirked as he served the food onto three plates.
By the time their mom came home an hour later, Randy was asleep on the couch and the two older boys were playing Super Mario Bros together.
"Hi boys! How was your day?" She grinned as she entered her home. Randy stirred awake.
"It was good but Randy fell and hurt his ankle. I think it's sprained." Pete responded, pausing the game to greet his mother.
"Yeah." Randy agreed sleepily. "I was all alone for like three hours and Pete came and rescued me. He said I was really brave." Pete and Derrick groaned. So much for playing it cool.
"What?" Their mother inquired sternly.
"Oops. I meant Pete was with me the whole time." Randy turned to wink at Pete.
"Peter Hill!" Their mother scolded.
Taking a deep breath, Pete was just glad that Derrick didn't hate him anymore and Randy was safe at home. He could just deal with whatever punishment came his way. That's what big brothers do.
Thanks for reading! Don't forget this month brand new Enlisted episodes will be airing every Sunday night at 7/6c.