Chapter 23: He Wants You To Know…

Ruthie stood outside a large brick house pacing back and forth she stopped at the mailbox and traced her fingers along the name. The house had a huge lawn in front with a white picket fence bordering the property. Red and pink roses sat in flower boxes along the front of the house. It was three stories high, from were she was standing she could see into the kitchen, it was empty except for a big black cat that was sitting in the window staring at her. Ruthie worked up the courage to walk up path, when she reached the steps she stopped and turned around.

"No, you have to do this," She said to herself. She turned around and walked up the steps. 1-2-3. She counted in her head. When she reached the door she took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. She waited a couple of minutes; she was about press it again when she heard footsteps. She lowered her hand and waited. The door swung open, and an eleven-year-old boy stood there glaring at her.

"Hi, Max right? I don't know if you remember me but—"

"I know who you are." Max said cutting her off. "What do you want?"

"Can I come in?" Ruthie asked. Max looked at her holding the door tightly, his face was blank except for his eyes which were filled with anger.

"Whatever," He said letting go of the door he walked away heading for the living room. Ruthie followed him into the living room, where he sat down sprawled out on the couch. Ruthie stood there, watching him continue to play his video games.

"So…" She said trying to break the silence.

"So what the hell do you want? You came here remember." He said in an annoyed tone.

"I wanted to talk to you…" Ruthie stopped.

"Yeah…what about. I only met you once remember, you might not seeing as you were to focused on screwing my…"Max drifted off. Ruthie winced when he said that.

"That's what I want to talk to you about, I wanted to talk to you about Tristan." Ruthie said. Max paused his game, and looked down at the floor.

"Tristan who?" He said quietly.

"What? How could you say that? He's your brother, your just going to forget about him like that?" Ruthie screamed.

"I'm nine years old, what do you want for me. Or do you forget that I'm only nine. My parents sure do, but guess what I'm the oldest now so I'm in charge. While my parents are somewhere on business, yet again." Max said standing up.

"What does that have to do with Tristan?" Ruthie asked. Max looked at her in disgust.

"Why do you care anyway?" Max said.

"I loved your brother—"

"SO WHY IS HE DEAD!" Max screamed. Ruthie stood there in shock trying to figure out what to say.

"Because…" Ruthie drifted off, she didn't have an answer for him.

"You killed him and you have the nerve to come here and tell me how much you loved him! TEL ME HOW BAD A BROTHER I AM FOR TRYING TO FORGET HIM!" Max screamed.

"That's not what I'm doing. I never said… I didn't…" Ruthie stopped fighting back tears. "It's not my fault."

"If that's what you tell yourself so you can sleep at night, then whatever." Max said.

"Max. I didn't kill him."

"I DON'T CARE!"

"You should!" Ruthie said stepping toward him. "Your brother loved you, he wanted you to know that…"

"How would you know that!" He said backing away. "You didn't even know him, you went out with him for what a year practically and you never met our parents until he was dead!"

"So that means I don't care about him! I loved your brother. You think I don't blame myself." Ruthie screamed. "You think I don't know that if I hadn't fought with him in the car he'd still be alive!" Max looked at her.

"He wasn't your brother… He wasn't the only person that cared about you." Max said, tears streamed down his face.

"Your parent's love you, Emily love's you!" Ruthie said crying.

"Emily's six!" Max yelled. "My parent's don't love me, I'm just a nuisance. Now I'm just a caretaker for Emily."

"Max, I know it's hard to lose someone but you can't block them out of your memory. Tristan loved you a lot. He told me so, he told me to tell you that he loves you and…" Ruthie stopped. She looked at max who was crying. " I know you wont believe me but he told me, he's sorry he left you." Max began to sob. Ruthie went over and hugged him crying.

"When did he tell you this?" Max asked quietly.

"When I almost joined him…" Ruthie whispered. " He loved you, and he knows you loved him."

"He knows you loved him too…" Max whispered.