Simon's POV
As Alvin and Theodore slept, I pretended to be asleep. In reality, since I was an angel, I didn't need to sleep. I, however, laid between them, enjoying their company, their warmth... Their life.
I sighed softly. If only I stood up to my aunt. If only I told someone what she was doing to me. If only...
There was so much I regretted not doing. So much I wished I could have done differently. But that's impossible.
A hand resting on my stomach woke me from my thoughts. I glanced at its owner: Theodore. Though asleep, he had a content smile on his face and was happily curling up against me, like he usually did. I smiled and patted his hand before resting my hand over his. If only there was a way to be alive again.
The night was long for me. I passed the time by counting various objects: floorboards, posters, hairs on Theo's head, and others.
Just as I finished counting Theodore's hair, I heard something in the other room. I quietly got up and tiptoed down the hall to the source of the noise. It was coming from Dave's room. I slipped through the slightly open door, and walked right up to Dave's bed. I gasped as I saw what he was doing: crying.
I looked at his hands. They trembled as they held something. I had to stand on tiptoe to see it. It was my glasses. My real ones, not the ones I had as an angel. Dave was cradling them close, crying softly.
"Simon, I'm so sorry. It's my fault you're gone. It's my fault for taking us to my sister's house. It's my fault I didn't realize you were getting hurt. I'm sorry,"
My chin trembled. It wasn't his fault. Not at all. It was only my aunt's and my fault. She hurt me and I didn't say anything. Eventually, Dave put my glasses in his side drawer and curled up under his blankets. I gave him a light hug even though he didn't feel anything, then headed back to our room. After I got comfortable between my brothers again, I went over that scene with Dave multiple times in my head. 'He thinks it's his fault,' I thought sadly.
Finally the sun decided to rise. I watched the alarm clock, knowing it would go off any second and wake my brothers to get ready to go to school.
Being nice, I reached over and changed it so it wouldn't go off today. Instead, I decided to wake them myself. I had nothing better to do anyway. I turned to Alvin first, knowing he would be harder to wake. I reached over and trailed a finger down his nose, making his face scrunch up from the tickle. Still asleep, he reached up and rubbed his nose, then fell limp again. I bit my lip so as not to laugh. Walking some fingers down his nose again, I snickered at seeing him make a face. A small, complaint whine could be heard from the back of his throat.
'Alright,' I thought. 'Enough games. It's time to get up.' I sat up a bit, pulled my pillow from behind me, and with a mighty drop, the pillow landed flat on his face. Crying out in surprise, Alvin sat up quickly, looking frantically around. His eyes narrowed when he saw me laughing quietly behind my hand. The next thing I knew, Alvin grabbed his own pillow and it hurled on top of my head. I stood up on my bed to get better leverage, but then I felt a hit from behind! Theodore woke up because of the commotion and joined in the fun!
The pillow fight lasted maybe 15 minutes. In that time, I not only gave some good shots, but I also received some good ones as well. Eventually Dave heard us and came up the stairs. When we heard the door opening, we all gasped, threw the pillows down, and jumped off the bed. The door opened.
"Fellas, what are you doing? Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?" Dave asked, holding the bridge of his nose, indicating his annoyance.
"Yes, Dave," Alvin, Theo, and I replied. While Alvin and Theodore got dressed, I just lounged on my bed; I was already dressed. Then we all headed downstairs. Dave made my brothers a quick breakfast, and then we were off to school. I was thinking about how I could do this. Should I go to MY classes or my brothers'? I voiced my question.
"Maybe you could go half a day with Alvin, then the other half with me!" Theo suggested. "I need some help in math anyway,"
"Of course! That's a great idea, Theo!" I smiled. "I'll do the first half with you, how's that?"
Theodore grinned. "That'd be great! Thank you, Simon!"
I turned to Alvin, "What do you think? I'll spend the second half of the day with you. We'll meet at lunch and then I'll go with you."
It seemed like Alvin forced up a smile. "That's great. So I'll see you at lunch?"
I tilted my head a bit and looked at him. Something was wrong. "Yeah," I trailed off. "Is something wrong, Alvin?"
He glanced at me for a second then looked away. "Just... Take care of yourself. And Theodore."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You'll take care of Theodore, right?" He asked, looking at me. His eyes seemed to be pleading me to say yes.
"Of course!" I cried, putting my arm around my older brother. "Why wouldn't I?"
Alvin didn't answer. We walked in silence the rest of the trip to school.
Once at school, Alvin said a quick goodbye as he left for his locker, leaving Theodore with me. After spinning the combination lock and grabbing his books, Theo closed his locker and led me to his first class. Well, he tried to, anyway.
As we were walking, a jock grabbed the back of Theo's shirt collar, making him stop. I took a step back and just observed what was going on. 'Is this what Alvin meant?' I wondered, my mind racing.
The jock spoke quietly to Theodore, but since I was an angel, I heard every word clearly. "I have nothing to do, so you're gonna entertain me." The jock wrapped his hand around Theo's neck and squeezed, making my baby brother squeak. He dropped his books and grabbed the jock's hands, trying to pry them off his neck, but to no avail.
A flashback of one of the first things my aunt did to me skimmed my mind: she held me up against a wall by my neck and socked me right in the face. I saw the jock's fist clench, and my vision turned red. I yelled as I tackled the kid, knocking him down. He let go of Theo, who rubbed his neck, in the process. I made sure the jock was pinned to the floor for a second before letting him up.
It must have been the scariest experience in the world to him; an invisible force knocks him down and pins him to the floor. As soon as he stood up, he ran away, screaming hysterically, his jock friends right behind him.
I approached Theo. "You get bullied?" I asked gently as I fixed his hair and shirt collar, picked up his books, and handed them to him.
Theodore shrugged. "Yeah, but it's not too bad."
I felt a rock form in the pit of my stomach. My mouth pressed into one line. "Theo, when our aunt was hurting me, I didn't think it was too bad, and I never told anyone. Look what happened," I motioned to my transparency and the little halo. He got the point and looked down, ashamed. I quickly hugged him and told him that it was okay until he believed it. Then we continued to class.