Chapter 7:

Wirt led Greg into his bedroom, and for Greg, it was the first time in a while. It wasn't just because Greg was in the hospital for the majority of his last months, but it was also that Wirt had never let his brother in the room in general. He walked in, admiring the strange space as if it were a museum.

The bedroom was much different from Greg's. The most notable of things was that it was much smaller. There was a single window in the corner of the room, on top of the beige walls and red carpet. He had a bed with green covers sitting next to a small oak nightstand. In the middle of the room there was a desk and a chair. On the desk lay countless sheets of paper ripped from his poetry journal, clarinet music, a small train set, books and a cassette recorder. Wirt's room was messy, to say the least.

"Ooh, a train!" Greg said, running over to the desk where the toy lay.

"Greg, don't touch that," Wirt snapped. "Come on, you need to get under the bed, now!"

Greg did as he was told and squeezed under the bed. It was a tight fit, but it made Greg feel as though he was in a sandwich. He giggled.

"Wirt, honey," a soft voice called from downstairs. It was his mother.

"Oh, shit," Wirt muttered under his breath. "Uh, coming!" He turned to Greg. "Don't make a sound."

A muffled "eye eye, captain!" came from under his bed.

Wirt quickly ran down the steps and into the living room to find his mother and step-father. His mother came in for a hug. His step-dad didn't bother. He just looked at the clock and tapped his foot, impatiently.

"I'm so sorry we were late, we got caught up with this meeting at the office," she said.

Wirt's mother had met his step-father at their job, the same job they had today. They did something in marketing, at least, that's what Wirt remembered. His father, his real father, was very close with Wirt when he was little. He was the one that had bought Wirt his first clarinet. But, there were some problems with Wirt's mother, and one day, he just left. Wirt doesn't know anything about him, and hadn't seen him in 8 years. Then his mother quickly met his step-father and had Greg, all in the same year. For his mother, everything had fallen into place perfectly. For Wirt, it totally sucked.

"It's fine, I just… hung out with Sara all day," he replied.

"That's nice, sweetie. Oh, and do thank her father for letting you spend the night. It was very nice on such short notice."

"Sure, no problem, mom."

His step-father and mother yawned at the same time, turned to each other and laughed. Wirt winced. He knew that they loved each other, which was the thing that hurt him the most.

"I think we should go to bed," said his mother. She kissed Wirt goodnight, and she and his step-father walked upstairs to their room. He waited until he heard the door close, and he raced upstairs to Greg's room.

He headed towards the dresser (which was also green, needless to say), and looked for some pijamas. The knobs were dusty, for not having been used for so long. After all, Greg was only wearing hospital gowns during those previous months.

Once he retrieved the pj's, Wirt walked back into his room, closed the door and motioned little Greg to come out.

As he squeezed out from under the bed, Wirt lay blankets down on the ground, to work as a makeshift bed for the night. He then turned to face his brother, who got stuck in his shirt while attempting to take it off. Wirt rolled his eyes and laughed, walking over to help Greg out.

"Ok, lift up your arms," he commanded Greg, to which he did. Wirt then carefully took off the rest of Greg's clothes and put on his pj's for him, something that he would never had done while Greg was alive.

Once he was finished, Wirt looked at his brother, only to cover his eyes with his hands while he rubbed his eyes. Greg looked confused.

"What seems to be the matter, chief?" He asked Wirt, while doing a little bow to pretend that Wirt was some sort of leader. He got nothing in response. Wirt just looked at the ground for a few moments until he sighed.

"I just, I just don't understand what's going on," he said to his brother. He expected to hear another one of Greg's goofy responses, but instead was replied to in a more serious tone.

"Wirt, I promise that it will make more sense soon. For now, can you just do me one itty bitty favor?"

"Like what, Greg?"

"Pleeeeease, with a cherry on top?"

"Alright!" Wirt snapped. It was understandable, it had been a very long day for him.

"Can you just trust me?"

Wirt looked at his brother. He had been asked this many times before, when Greg would ask Wirt for his trust and then go off and break it. For example: Years back, when they were quite smaller, Greg requested to take Wirt for a walk with him blindfolded, so Greg could lead him anywhere in town and then surprise him. Wirt wasn't a fan of the idea, but was intrigued. He allowed Greg to take him, and before he knew it, they ended up in a neighbor's pool, and had to walk home with soggy clothes. Ever since then, Wirt did not trust Greg one bit, but this time he had a funny feeling, a feeling that this time would be different.

Wirt didn't know what was happening, and why Greg was standing in his room when the funeral service was held days before, but at that particular moment in time he had full faith in his brother.

Wirt nodded his head. "I promise," he whispered.

Greg did a little jump while a giant smile stretched across his chubby face, but his exhaustion got the best of him, and he yawned. Wirt stood up.

"We better get to bed, Greg it's getting late," he said, walking him to the small pile of blankets on the floor. Greg plopped down on them, and bundled up underneath the covers.

Wirt got into bed and, too tired to even bother changing into his pajamas, turned off the light on his bedside table. He fell asleep in a matter of seconds.

Not five minutes later, however, he was shaken awake by Greg, who decided to make himself more comfortable and climb into Wirt's bed. Wirt, about to tell Greg to get back in his bed, caught his tongue. Looking down at his little brother, who snuggled right against his arm, he smiled. Greg's presence felt unnatural and wrong, but Wirt decided for once to enjoy what he got. He kissed his little brother on his head, and fell back asleep.