Warning: Another emotional chapter.

Chapter 6: Confessions

Skipper dragged me into his room and slammed the door. I had never seen such a whirl of emotions in his eyes. In anyone's eyes, for that matter. There was anger, fear, sadness, slight panic. My brother may be hard to read, at times, but you could always look into his eyes and know how he was feeling. And he was feeling.

He walked up to me and looked me square in the eye. "Here's what we'll do. First off, we'll need to-"

"Skippa," I interrupted, "I don't think we should do this."

His brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well...can't we...do what Maurice told us, and talk to Dad when he's soba?" With that, Skipper did the last thing I expected. He slapped me! In the face! I rubbed my now stinging cheek and swallowed the lump in my throat. "Why would you do that!?"

Skipper gasped, obviously realizing what he had just done. "I... I'm sorry. I don't know...what came over me..."

There was an awkward pause, neither of us meeting the other's gaze. Then, I broke the silence, still looking sadly at my feet. "Please answer my question."

"Which question?"

I looked up at him. "The one about Maurice."

"Oh." He cleared his throat. "I just don't, uh, th-think, um-"

"Are you...afraid, Skippa?" I clamped my hands against my mouth. Damn, I thought. Why would I say that?

I expected my brother to argue that he wasn't afraid of anything. Instead, he just sighed and turned around. "I am, Private. I am. Just a little, but I am afraid."

I wasn't quite sure how to react to this. Skipper would never admit that he was afraid. Never. After another pause, I slowly asked "why are you afraid, Skippa?"

He turned back around to face me, his blue eyes filled with tears. He wiped his eyes and answered. "I'm afraid that we'll never catch him when he's sober. I'm afraid that we'll end up catching him drunk, and he'll hurt us, even more." A single tear rolled down his cheek. "What if I'm not with you, and he starts beating you? What if he's even more drunk than he was tonight, and he...he k-k..."

Kills you? I mentally finished his sentence as I wiped tears from my own eyes. I wrapped my arms around my brother. "That won't happen," I assured.

He hugged me back. His voice was barely audible. "You don't know that." I let go of him, and he wiped his eyes. For some reason, he smiled and rubbed my head until my hair was a big, brown mess. "I love you, little bro."

I smiled. "I love you, too."

He took a deep breath. "As previously stated, we'll leave at dawn. Pack light."

Nerves, once again, bubbled up in my stomach. "Are you really sure about this, brotha? Isn't running away...against the law?"

He smirked. "So is skipping school, but that doesn't stop me from doing it."

On any other occasion, I would have laughed at Skipper's remark. "What about that police officer you've told me about?"

"Officer X?"

"Yes, him. Aren't you afraid he'll catch us?"

Skipper chuckled for the first time since our mother's passing. It wasn't very long or very loud, but it still spread a smile across my face. "Private," he said, "that man couldn't catch a cold if his life depended on it."

I laughed.

Skipper: You did not just throw Officer X into the story.

Me: Please review! (Privaterookie24, your OC will be introduced, eventually.)