"Seth?"
Seth opened his eyes. It was dark outside. When did he fall asleep? He looked at the figure lying in front of him. She was still sleeping.
"Seth, are you in here?"
He heard someone calling. He recognized the voice as Tyler. No need for Tyler to see his sister in here in bed with Seth even though they were both dressed and it was all rather innocent. Seth removed his arm from her waist and crawled quietly out of bed. He hurried out of the bedroom and closed the door behind him before Tyler could see Donna in there.
"Hey man, what's up?" Seth asked.
Tyler held up two beers and smiled.
"Haven't seen much of you today so I figured I bring a little of the party to you," Tyler said.
"Let's go outside," Seth said and headed towards the front door.
"What? You got a woman in there since you don't wanna be in here with me?" Tyler said jokingly.
If he only knew how right he was.
"It's just so hot. The heet in here is killing me," Seth said.
They sat down in the grass in front of the guest house. Tyler opened the beers and handed one of them to Seth. Seth took a sip and looked across the garden towards the noise at the pool.
"Party still going strong?" He asked.
"Many have left but many are still there. You wanna come join us?" Tyler asked.
"Nah, still on German timezone in my head. I'm too tired," Seth answered, hoping Tyler would buy the excuse.
They sat a little in silence, sipping on their beers.
"I saw Donna earlier," Seth finally said.
"You did? I didn't even notice she was here," Tyler said.
"I think she left quickly again," Seth said.
"She probably went home with Hunter," Tyler said.
Hunter. Seth frowned as he heard the name. If Hunter wasn't there anymore, he had probably gone with one of those two girls or maybe even both. Seth wondered why Donna was with him when he clearly wasn't above trying to pick up other women at a party she would attend to, not to mention it was her own brother's party.
"What happened to her?" Seth asked.
"What do you mean?" Tyler asked.
"She didn't seem like her old self," Seth said.
"I don't know. We rarely talk," Tyler admitted.
"You don't talk to your own sister?" Seth asked.
"It's not like we ever were close. You know that," Tyler defended himself.
"Have you even looked at her recently? I mean, really looked at her?" Seth asked.
"What am I supposed to see?" Tyler asked.
Seth shook his head.
"Nothing. Just forget it," he said and sighed.
Seth finished his beer and stood up. Before he could leave, Tyler spoke again.
"It hit her hard when you left," he said.
Seth looked down at him.
"For a week she barely came out of her room. We were beginning to think she had gotten a depression. Then suddenly one day she came out all dolled up and said she was going to a party. One party turned to many and she partied her ass off for three months straight, like she wanted to drink away the memory of you. It was in that period of time she got together with Hunter and they've been together since," Tyler said and stood up too, looking at Seth, waiting to see how he would respond.
Seth didn't answer. He just turned around and started walking inside the guest house again. Tyler's words were roaming in his head. He walked into the bedroom and looked at her.
"So it's my fault?" He asked out in the air.
She rolled over in her sleep and he looked at her face.
"I left and you couldn't cope?" He asked.
He felt his tears roll down his cheeks. He quickly reached up and wiped them away. He felt so guilty all of the sudden.
She woke up as the morning sun hit her face. She opened her eyes and saw Seth standing against the wall next to the window with his arms crossed. He was staring at her.
"What are you doing? It's like 4 in the morning," she said.
"Is it my fault?" He asked.
"I don't think you're able to control time so no," she answered.
"Is it my fault what you're doing to yourself?" He asked.
She rolled her eyes.
"I'm not doing anything," she said as she got out of bed.
"Bullshit!" He raised his voice.
His tone scared her. She looked at him as she slowly backed towards the bedroom door. He pushed himself off the wall and followed her just as slowly.
"I'm just gonna go, alright?" She asked, almost in a whisper.
"No, you're not," he answered.
"Seth, please, you're scaring me right now," she pleaded.
"I don't fucking care," he said.
She turned around to leave but he was quickly next to her. He grabbed her arm and dragged her to the little kitchen.
"Sit!" He commanded.
She sat down and looked at him. He opened the fridge and took out some eggs.
"I knew I could count on your mother to fill up this place with some food for me," he said.
She watched him work. Eggs, salt, peber and curry all in a bowl mixed together. He poured them in a frying pan and started making scrambled eggs.
"You used to say I destroyed the eggs with all that curry," she said.
"You did. First you killed the egg flavour with the curry, then you scrambled the shit out of them for way too long and in the end you poured ketchup over in case there was any egg flavour left," he said as he was pouring the eggs on two plates.
He put the plates on the table and soaked them in ketchup.
"So why have you made a plate for yourself? You don't like them that way," she said.
"Well, being away missing you made me do crazy things to keep the memory of you, including making eggs your way. I ended up liking it with time," he said.
He handed her a fork.
"Dig in," he said.
She watched as he started eating.
"I said, dig in," he repeated.
"I'm not hungry," she said and put the fork down.
"Suit yourself but you're not leaving this table until you've emptied that plate," he said as he continued eating like the situation was normal.
"You know I don't like cold eggs," she tried.
"Then I suggest you start eating now while it's still warm," he said.
"Seth, please," she tried.
"No! No please, no excuse. Eat!" He barked.
She grabbed the fork and slowly started to eat. The tears were running down her face. He noticed but didn't comment on it. He just watched her silently as she slowly made her way through the plate.
"Good girl," he said once she was done.
Those words made her break down. She started sobbing.
"Why are you doing this to me?" She cried.
He got to his feet and was quickly next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and helped her up from the chair.
"I can't stand seeing you like this. Me leaving might have tricked this whole downward spiral with you so I'd like to think that me being back home again will somehow help you get better," he said.
"I hate you! You left me! You fucking left me and I hate you for it!" She yelled.
"Well, that's too bad because I love you," he said softly as he lifted her up and carried her back into the bedroom.
He sat her down on the bed.
"So, here's my plan. I'm keeping you here for some days. I'm gonna feed you no matter how hard you try and fight me. You won't get a moment alone, not even when you need to go to the bathroom. I can't have you throwing up again," he said.
"I don't believe you. You're fucking insane," she said.
"I might be," he said.
"You can't keep me here!" She yelled as she got up from the bed and tried to push him out of the way.
He lifted her up with ease and laid her down on the bed. He straddled her and held her arms down as he looked at her.
"You can make this easy or hard on yourself. You can eather agree to this arrangement or I'll get the handcuffs from my bag and make you," he said.
"Handcuffs? Really?" She asked.
"Hey, I remember how much you used to enjoy being in them. You can't really blame me for bringing them here. I was hoping you'd still be single and missing me," he said and smirked before climbing off her again.
He walked over to his bag, pulled out the handcuffs and showed them to her.
"So what's it gonna be?" He asked.
"Fine," she said and rolled over on her side so her back was against him.
"Aw, and here I was almost hoping you would pick the hard way," he chuckled.
"This doesn't change anything. You're still an asshole and I still hate you," she sneered.
"I don't mind that. Hate me all you want as long as you just do as I say," he said.