Big Brother Ben

Hi, my name is Alice and this is my story.

April 16 2007

I turned 8 today and I couldn't wait to see what I got. I got a hairbrush and another diary. Okay, maybe I expected more, but it was alright, because we got an ice cream cake for my birthday. Everybody in the family sang Happy Birthday, but brother sang the loudest. I blew the candles and got the first piece of the cake. After that, everybody dug in. It was a fun birthday!

April 25 2007

Today was Ben's birthday and he would turn 9. He got another basketball and another journal. I felt sympathy, because it looked somewhat similar to what I got, but he was actually pretty delighted. He talked about how he needed a new basketball and that maybe he should get away from playing mini-basketball with the miniature net and miniature ball hanging in his room. I couldn't bear to hear all this talk about basketball, it's bugging me. He ended up getting an ice cream cake too for his birthday, but I lost my enthusiasm of singing Happy Birthday when he had talked about his basketball gift.

May 1 2007

Now that the birthday month of April is over, May was next month. I was starting to get excited, because there were two more months left of school before another summer break occurred. In school, I still had no friends and just walk around in break time and lunch time. At lunch today, I saw something new. My brother and his friends were playing basketball. I thought they were playing at the playground, but I guess I was wrong. Basketball was slowly changing my brother, for the better or the worse.

May 24 2007

At lunch break, I saw my brother played basketball again! What's happened to playing at the playground? Anyways, while everyone played with their friends, I'm still alone with no friends. It sucks!

June 9 2007

"Hey Alice, do you want to go outside, since it's a Saturday?" Ben asked.

"Yeah. Sure," I simply replied.

"Hey. What's wrong?" my brother asked me with concern in his eyes.

How did he know? "What?" I asked.

"You look sad. What happened Alice?" my brother asked me.

What did he know? He had friends and I didn't. It was as simple as that. "Nothing," I replied.

My brother began to open his mouth, but I cut him off. "Maybe I'll just stay at home"

He looked disappointed, but he gave an understanding nod. "Sure and if you ever need to talk about it, I'll be right here"

June 21 2007

It was finally over. Today was the last day of school! When I arrived home, I saw my brother hand my parents his report card.

"Amazing. A 88 on math, a 76 on science, a 74 on language arts, a 69 on social studies and a 85 on gym," my parents gushed. "Alice, what about your report card?"

I handed them my report card and they didn't look pleased. "A 66 on math, a 62 on science, a 71 on language arts, a 60 on social studies and a 70 on gym?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Alice, head to your room. You are grounded for a week," my parents ordered. "So are you Ben, but you are grounded for two days"

There goes the start of my summer break.

June 23 2007

I'm still grounded and my brother is probably set free from being grounded. Obviously, it sucks when my parents are strict on me and it also irks me of how they congratulates and praise my brother, while I only get some of the praise. It's almost like my brother is the hero and I'm the sidekick.

I heard a knock on my door. "Hey Alice, it's Ben. Do you want some company?"

What makes him so special? Why are my parents treating him like a hero and treating me like the sidekick or occasional hero.

"No. Go away!"

June 26 2007

I'm still grounded. There's only two more days until I'm set free. My brother hadn't talked to me in the past three days. When I'm grounded, it meant that I have to stay in my room. Especially when it's breakfast, lunch or dinner, so I had to eat my meal in my room with silence. Why was my brother grounded for two days, while I'm grounded for a week? So not fair.

June 30 2007

It was about time! I hated being stuck in my room for a week!

"Hey Alice, do you want to go outside?" Ben immediately entered my room.

"Maybe tomorrow. I was thinking of going by myself and having some fresh air by myself," I replied and emphasized the word 'myself' twice.

"Oh. Okay. Sure," Ben nodded and slowly left my room.

I ended up going to the playground and played on the swings for an hour or two.

July 7 2007

"Oh my god. It's great!" I heard our parents excitedly talk. I didn't want to interrupt, so I hid.

"In the provincial achievement tests, Ben got a 96 on math and 84 on language arts. That's so amazing," my mother happily said.

"That's my son!" my father bragged.

"What about Alice though?" my mother asked.

"There's nothing we can do. She doesn't like studying or going to school," my father replied.

"We have to celebrate Ben's achievement tests," my mother pointed out.

"I agree and then we'll find out what to do with Alice," my father replied.

I felt a tear fall down my cheek. Why do brother always get the attention? Why does he have friends? Why did my parents consider him as superior? Were my parents trying to treat me like trash?

I quietly sobbed and quietly walked up to my room. I didn't want to see anybody today.

July 8 2007

I cried again and I could feel the hurt.

"Hey Alice. Do you want to go outside today?" my brother entered my room.

"Go away Ben!" I screamed, while crying on my pillow.

"Alice, are you crying?" Ben asked.

"Go away Ben!" I repeated, but in a quieter and harsher tone, while crying on my pillow.

"You know I can't. You're crying, so that means I can't leave you alone and helpless," my brother explained.

I saw him walk towards me and gave me a hug. I cried in his arms for a long time.

July 9 2007

I walked towards my brother's room and gave a knock.

"I'll be out in a minute," a voice from the other side said.

So, I impatiently waited for a minute. Ben didn't come out of the door, so I had to wait a bit longer.

Suddenly, the door opened to reveal my brother. He was wearing jeans, a yellow t-shirt and he had a basketball in his hand.

"Oh. Hey Alice," Ben greeted. "Are you feeling better?"

I nodded my head. "You said some nice words"

Ben placed a hand on his hair. "I guess so. I think I read those words in a story." He looked like was in deep thought until he burst out laughing, "Oh well, I can't remember"

"So, what are you doing?" I timidly asked.

"Basketball. Want to come?" he asked.

"No thanks," I declined.

My brother nodded, "Okay, I'm off"

August 2 2007

Today was a rainy Thursday. Only my brother and I were in the house. I saw my brother strode towards the garage.

"Where are you going?" I couldn't help but ask.

"To the garage. I'm going to bike today," Ben replied.

I recalled that my brother and I each got a bike last week. "In this weather. Are you crazy?"

My brother gave me a foolish and goofy smile. "Nope. I love the rain! Add in the wind and it's so much fun!"

'My brother is an idiot' I sadly thought.

August 17 2007

Today we were going to the mountains by car. We had to leave our house at eight in the morning. I was nervous, while my brother was once again bubbling with excitement.

"This is going to be so much fun!" my brother exclaimed.

"Yeah," I said.

Later in the day at around 8pm, my father announced, "We're lost"

"What!?" My brother and I both yelled out.

"It's best we go to a hotel for a good rest," my mother suggested and pointed at a hotel. "Over there!"

Ben and I exchanged looks. I had a worried look, while my brother had a sad look.

August 18 2007

"We're finally here!" my father announced. We were on the top of a mountain.

Ben was the first one to exit the car. "Let's go explore!"

My parents laughed at his eagerness. "Alright, let's go explore"

After exploring for an hour, we took a break. In my brother's hand were flowers.

"What's that?" I questioned.

"The red one is a rose, the purple and blue one is a violet, and the pink and purple one is magenta. I'm not really sure what the other flowers are called, but I have an orange, white and yellow flower" Ben explained.

"Okay," I said, even though I didn't comprehend the whole thing. "How do you know so much about flowers?"

"I went on a class field trip to the flower garden," my brother replied. "Aren't they beautiful?"

I nodded. "It sure is"

After another hour exploring the mountain, my brother said, "Let's take some photos"

We all agreed. There was one family photo where everyone was posing, but my brother was jumping in joy. So, the picture captured my brother in mid-air. We all took individual photos of ourselves. For one photo that I was posing by myself, my brother jumped into my picture and it looked like he was flying in the picture. Ben found a couple of branches that looked almost like swords, so he suggested using the branches as swords, so there was a photo of my brother and I battling each other with wooden branches.

It was fun!

September 4 2007

Why did school have to start again?

I made no new friends and I had no friends.

School was a horrible place to be in.

Unknown date, 2007 (NOT INSIDE MY DIARY, BASED ON MY MEMORY)

I lost my diary! My diary! I lost it! My diary! Where could it be!? What if my classmates found it!? I suddenly remembered that I brought my diary to the park yesterday, but I couldn't find it at the park! I suddenly remembered that I have the key to my diary, so they can't read what's inside, but I still felt nervous! At one point, I broke down and started crying and wailing.

"What's wrong?" my brother asked.

"I lo-lost m-my diary," I replied through my tears.

"You sure? Maybe you just misplaced it?" my brother suggested.

I shakily stood up and walked up towards him until we were only centimetres apart. "I checked everywhere. It's gone"

My brother gave a sigh. "I'll find it, so don't worry" he patted my head.

I looked Ben straight in the eye. "I checked everywhere. It's gone"

Thank you for reading! Yes, this was from my diary and it's what happened in real life. I could write a lot more, but I guess I just cut it into parts and didn't feel like writing more was necessary. What do you think? Should I write a lot more for each chapter or should this amount of words works for each chapter? You decide! Anyways, thanks for reading!