I'll always care

A Story by Emmy

The look he gave me will forever be engraved in my mind. The look of betrayal. "How could you keep this from me?" He asked, anger flaring in his normally cool, brown, teddy bear eyes. I somehow couldn't look away.

"I didn't want you to be hurt. I knew how depressed this would make you! I can't see you go through that too!" I felt tears forming in the corner of my eyes.

His face hardened. "And so you decided to lie to me, to hide the truth? You must not care about me at all! The fact that you kept this from me so long is only going to make this all worse! How could you!?" He demanded.

I felt my heart break. He accused me of not caring, when I did more than anything! I opened my mouth to reply, but nothing came out except a small squeak of shock and hurt.

He turned away. "Yeah well, when they get back tell them I've gone out for a bit." He marches outside, slamming the front door full force behind him.

All I found myself able to do was stare after him. What had I done? All these years, I'd been there, trying everything I could to protect him. He was my twin, my only brother. I cared about him more than he'd ever know, and he now hated me. I had no clue what to do, so I sat down, and started writing.
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3rd grade: evil dentist
"Come on! We're going to be late!" I poked him in the side as we rushed out the door.

"What was the for?" He asked, laughter dancing in his eyes.

I smiled. "You're it!" I took off at full speed for the bus stop. I was always faster. He followed. I round the corner at an amazing speed, well for me anyway, and skid to a stop. Adam halts next to me. "Ha I win!" I yell.

He "glares" at me. "I'll beat you next time!" He runs off with his friends as my best friend, Zoe comes over. We all hop onto the bus, ready to start another day.

I stare at the clock. Wait for it... I hear my name over the intercom. "Emily is being checked out." I smile, grab my things, and race out.

In the hallway on the way to the office, I meet up with my brother. "Ready Adam?"

He gives me a nervous smile. "Uh y-yeah. S-sure." He stutters.

I turn to him, and grab his arm. "Don't worry Adam. It's just the dentist. We'll be fine." I smile, hoping to ease his nerves. It works, and we head out with our dad.

When we get there, they call Adam first. He looks over at me, a wave of terror crashing over his face. I whisper, "You'll be fine," as they take him into the room. I close my eyes, say a silent prayer for him, and continue to wait for my turn.

Adam walks out, a look of pride written all over his face. "You ok?" I ask.

He grins and hold out a small toy car. "They gave it to me for being brave."

I laugh. "See? Told you so! Wish me luck!" I head in for my turn.

7th grade: hair attack
I sit on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. I don't move as I hear my door creak open. "Are you ok?" I hear Adam ask.

"I'm fine," I say dismissively. I didn't want to talk about it at all.

"No you aren't. Cheer up!" Adam smiles at me. "I'm sorry, ok? I didn't mean to get so angry." He mutters, eyes down on the ground now.

I sit up and smile. "It's ok. I shouldn't have gotten mad either."

"So... Uh, are we all good?" He awkwardly asks.

I nod. "Yep. Want to go play basketball?"

A grin splits his face. "Yeah!" We race outside and start shooting.

"Don't look now." I say, an angry flame burning in my dark blue eyes.

Coal walks up, a smug look on his face. He heads over to Adam. "You call that shooting?" He taunts. Before Adam has a chance to reply, he hits him in the gut.

Never before had I ever felt the anger or energy rush through me like that. I flew over to Coal and grabbed him by his hair. I pulled him over the the park, away from my brother, not stopping at his screams or cries. "Listen up. If you EVER touch my brother again, you'll have to face me, and we don't want that, do we?" I was surprised at the smooth, cool anger my voice held. Obviously Coal was too.

His eyes grew huge. "I won't! Let go! You're going to pull my hair out!" He screamed.
I smiled cruelly and let go. He stood for a second, as if trying to decide if he should hit me or not, but thought better of it and took off. I couldn't help but feel pride when I saw his hair sticking up in chunks.

I turned back to my brother, who glared at me. "I could've handled it." He told me.
I shook my head. "There's nothing wrong with a little help." I knew that wasn't going to cut it. I not only would be in huge trouble for hurting the kid, but would have to deal with my brothers anger for a while, but I knew Coal wouldn't be messing with him anymore for a while, so it was worth it.

8th grade: it all begins
I walk home from a long day at school. Adam had beaten me home that day. Sitting down with a box of cheese-its I started my homework.

My sister walked into the living room. "Hey Adam ill take you to basketball today."

"Why," he asked, a puzzled and slightly angry look on his face. He must have wanted to show off his skills to Mom.

She sighs. "They're busy. Come on!" They head out.

I sit for a second, listening. I can barely hear my mothers angry voice coming from they're room. I walk over and press my ear against the door.

"Why can't you ever think of me? I have so much paper work to do, and you say all I do is sit around? No!" I hear my mom yell.

"You sleep what, thirteen hours a day? You come home from work and nap, and leave me to take care of the kids and do all the housework!" My dad bellows.

I hear a sniff. "That's not true..."

"You know it is." He cuts her off. "That's the way it always has been."

"If that's how you feel, maybe we shouldn't be together anymore." She screams.

I can't take it anymore. I race up to my room, burry my face in my pillow and bawl my eyes out. I scream in my mind, "God this is so unfair! Adam won't be able to take this! He's so sensitive how will he live with this!? This happens to other families, not ours!" It's then I decide not to tell him. I decided to do everything in my ability to keep him from knowing.
I look in the mirror. My brown hair was wet with tears, along with my face. My eyes had changed to light blue, which they did anytime I became upset. My nose was bright red and I look like a mess. I splashed water onto my face, and put my hair back so Adam wouldn't be able to tell I'd been crying.

When he came home, I didn't tell him a word of what happened. I guess my parents had decided not to tell us kids, because they were silent about the matter also. I felt so alone. No one knew what I knew, and I couldn't tell. I couldn't risk Adam finding out. We were twins. No, that didn't mean we could feel each others emotions, and in fact we were about as close as any other siblings would be. But I loved my brother too much to let him hurt the way I knew he would. I stayed silent, and he never found out, until today.
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My parents came home. They didn't even have enough decency to ask where my brother was. They went straight to fighting again. They'd finally told us, and Adam figured out that I'd know for almost three months. My sister understood, thanked me for being quiet about it, told me I'd done the right thing, but it didn't help. I'd in a way lost my best friend. Sure, we'd fight every day, but he was there for me too in moments of need. He might not realize it now, I told myself, but we'll need each other more than ever from now on. With that, I went up to my room, sat down, and started thinking.