Good whatever time of day! Hope this finds you well. This is another challenge brought to you from the minds of MissScorp and ReadingBlueWolf. This challenge consists of seeing through the eyes of a sibling.
Please enjoy.
He was eight when he realised those eyes could get away with murder. Wide, blue-grey eyes staring up at Mummy after knocking the antique lamp onto the ground and watching it smash to smithereens. Meanwhile, he stood near the kitchen observing as Mummy gathered her beloved into her arms to make sure those eyes were okay.
At ten those blue-grey eyes first appeared at his bedside late one night with a mess of brown hair to go with it. He heaved a heavy sigh as he pulled the toddler into bed that night. However, as frustrated as he seemed, he did prefer it to the company of sleeping alone in the draughty family home.
Twelve is the age he remembers the evenings turning from sleeping to late night talks with a newly realised pirate captain. Those blue-grey eyes might have been the dumb one, but any wisdom imparted made them all the wiser. And, why wouldn't it? They saw everything. Might not understand, but they never missed a single moment.
He's fifteen when those blue-grey eyes, so full of love and laughter, are buried six feet under. He still remembers the sobs shaking that little body. He remembers wet pillowcases from nights those eyes cried themselves to sleep on his bed. Though those eyes never saw how he wept, too.
Sixteen is when his heart begins to break as he's alone again in a new house. But that doesn't bother him as much as the empty void left in the wake of those cold, hard, blue-grey eyes. That's why he's tried gluing together the pieces of his shatter heart in the darkest parts of the night. The little pirate who could get away with murder hung up his captain's hat. The little pirate picked up a magnifying glass and questioned why shoes were left at a pool. The little pirate no longer needs him, and he feels so alone because who else could understand him?
He's twenty-one and alone in his government office when the dams break because Mummy's just told him they found drugs in the lost pirate's room. He's in no way surprised, but that doesn't stop the ache. That brilliant mind and broken soul doesn't even ring round anymore because the lost pirate doesn't remember crawling into bed for late night talks—nor do those eyes remember anything from their past life.
Twenty-two is when he first witnesses the pain and suffering from withdrawals. Agony rips at his heart as harsh words from years of silence tear a further rift between him and those blue-grey eyes. His one moment of weakness is where he pleads for a list of substances used from now on. Going home is anything but cathartic as his pillow soaks with tears because he realises just how far the pirate is lost at sea.
Twenty-five shows the first ray of hope in years that maybe the drugs haven't fully taken hold as the lost pirate decides on attending Uni. He might be frightened by the prospect of those blue-grey eyes taking chemistry, but he does the only thing he can and sits back while keeping close tabs.
At twenty-eight, he's proudly watching those blue-grey eyes graduate. If the time can be taken to really seek, a world so vast and wonderful is ahead of little pirate. However, he can't help but wonder if life will truly burn in those blue-grey eyes, again.
Thirty-three is when hope grows as he tells a blooming detective to let those eyes assist on a case. It's the first time the shell seems to crack—even if it's only a little.
He's thirty-six when that shell shows signs of jagged lines across its exterior as the soldier comes into play. For once, there's someone who sees the same thing he does: a pirate lost at sea beneath cold, hard blue-grey eyes.
It's thirty-nine that drives him to the photo album as he realises the soldier becomes the brother he could never be. It rips at his very being, but as long as those blue-grey eyes are vibrant again, he would sacrifice his soul to bring that pirate back from the abyss.
Now, at forty, he feels an overwhelming amount of relief that those eyes have gotten away with murder again. That is until he stands on the plane looking into those blue-grey eyes so glassy, so drugged up, he doesn't know how they haven't permanently closed. It takes everything within not to break. It doesn't matter how many decades pass, his heart can't take the idea of losing those blue-grey eyes.
Sitting on the plane, he keeps calm for the soldier and his wife.
"Did you make a list?"
The blue-grey eyes never once meet his, but it doesn't take long before they do throw a folded piece of paper to the ground.
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