Chapter two fight between brothers
I lay in my bed still angry at Justin. I couldn't believe he had reveled that I was seeing a shrink. I never wanted to tell anyone especially my friends. Too late for that now I muttered. I was never going to speak to my little brother again, not if I could help it. I knew I would have to eventually but until that day it was the silent treatment.
I heard the door open and saw Justin enter the room. I knew he was coming in to apologize but I didn't want to hear it, in fact I wouldn't. I turned my back towards him.
"Seth," I did hear his muffled voice that did sound sorry but I still chose to ignore it "Seth, I just wanted to say sorry I should never have said what I did."
"Too bad damage is done" was the only thing I said in way of reply. After that I heard him roll over his bed and get out of his wheelchair and lay down.
I sighed and closed my eyes, I needed to go to sleep but I heard a soft crying coming from across the room. I felt kind of bad then for the harsh words that I had spoken to him. But he shouldn't have opened his mouth about me going to therapy. Besides how did he find that out anyways? I never told him and I'm pretty sure Mom and Dad didn't say anything. Oh well, it was a mystery I would have to wait to solve I needed my sleep so I decided to ignore Justin's crying. Tomorrow I had a long day of soccer practice and I needed all the rest I could get. After all the team needed me this season.. It kind of bothered me that everyone expected me to be a perfect athlete . I have always done very well in all the sports I've played but I've also wondered if I would still have all the friends I had if I wasn't as good as I was. I hoped so but with teenagers the slightest bit of scandal got you talked about. Which is what every teenager in middle school hoped to avoid. Sighing, I decided I would think about more tomorrow and closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep to the sound of Justin crying.
A little while later I woke up to the sound of Justin puking. I groaned this is exactly what I needed to be kept awake by him puking his guts out. I heard the door open and someone enter the room.
"Poor baby" I heard Mom whisper before kneeling down beside Justin's bed. "looks like its going to be one of those nights" and I knew she meant the kind of night where any of us hardly got any sleep. Because he would \be puking the majority of the night. I groaned I really didn't need this right now.
"Seth," I heard Mom say " you know it's not Justin's fault he's sick"
"Sure it's not" I muttered suddenly feeling even more agitated at Justin. Nothing more was said as Justin was cleaned up and I finally drifted off to sleep once more.
The next morning when I had awoken the first thing I noticed was the absence of Justin which was a good thing. Because I still wasn't in the mood to talk to him. Stretching, I slowly sat up and threw my legs over the side of the bed. Standing up, I headed for my closet and grabbed some clothes. I got dressed quickly and headed out of my room and headed straight for the kitchen. Justin was sitting at the table eating. So I poured myself a bowl of cereal and went outside. Sitting down on a bench on the porch, I ate quickly and silently. When I finished , I went back inside and put my bowl in the sink. I grabbed my soccer bag and left the house ignoring Justin sitting in the drive. I got into the truck and waited for Dad.
Five minutes later we were on our way to the school, which was only a ten minute drive from our house. Not a word was spoken until we got to the school and I got out of the truck.
"Have a good practice" Dad called as I started the short walk to the soccer field.
"I will" I called back over my shoulder and headed towards my friend Brad.
"Speaking to your little brother yet?" he asked as we began our warm ups.
"Of course not" I replied "I told you I wasn't going to speak to him again." I bent down and touched my toes while stretching my legs.
"You can't ignore him for the rest of your life" Brad said "you live in the same house, you eat at the same table, and more importantly you share the same bedroom"
"I can try" I replied "besides he had no right to open his mouth about that considering it was a private matter."
"You know it's not such a bad thing to be seeing a shrink" Brad said "I'm pretty sure your not the only person at this school who goes to therapy"
"yeah, maybe so, but I am pretty sure I'm the only one whose little brother divulged that information in front of all of my friends" I said as I finished warming up and headed out onto the field to do my twenty laps around the field.
As I ran I thought about what it must be like to be a kid in wheelchair, whom had never walked a day in their life and probably never would. I had played many sports in my young life, but Justin would never be able to play regular sports like me. Except here recently he did find a sport if you could call it that, that he was able to do it was called soapbox racing. The sport sounded pretty dumb to me. What was the point in getting in a miniature car going downhill. How was that a sport? It sounded more like a science project than an actual sport. I didn't want to go to his race this weekend but I knew Mom and Dad would make me since Justin came to every single one of my games. Looks like it was time to find a good book even if I wasn't much of a reader.
After getting dressed I headed out to the parking lot to where I knew Dad or Mom would be waiting. When I got there the lot was empty and from what I could see of the street no car was coming in either direction. Just great it looked like I would be walking home, even though it wasn't that far away I was not looking forward to it. My soccer bag was heavy and I didn't want to carry it for twenty minutes but it looked like I would have to. I bet Justin was the reason no one was here to pick me up.
I sighed and hefted my bag onto my shoulder and walked towards the sidewalk. It took me twenty minutes to get home and when I did get there. I noticed no one was home I guess Mom and Dad both had to work late tonight. I didn't bother to glance down the street, if I had I would have seen the completely destroyed race. I would have know what had happened and where everybody was. Instead I went straight into the house without thinking that there was anything wrong. What I didn't realize was that if Mom and Dad were at work Justin should have been home and he wasn't. the possibility that he was hurt didn't even cross my mind.
