Chapter One: Silence

Nothing seems right. I'm home alone, again. When I'm alone, the voices get really loud. I look at the big scar on my arm. It grounds me, makes me remember what I'm fighting for - justice. For my parents, and my brothers. It's such a beautiful day. I'm just waiting for Henry and William to come back. I don't expect William to be very long - he's at his friend Isaac's house. God knows where Henry is. All I know is that he was following up a lead on the whereabouts of our parents murderers. The voices are getting insanely loud, and it's giving me a headache.

"Shut up," I say to them. Of course, it doesn't work, it never works. But that doesn't stop me saying it over, and over, and over, and over. It almost drives me insane. I don't like being alone any more. Since my parents died, and I was almost killed with them, I've heard voices.

As soon as I hear the front door open, the whispering stops. I hear the door close firmly shut. It's William.

"Hey bro," I say casually, as if I wasn't just getting a migraine. He smiles at me, acknowledging me, but just barely. He heads upstairs immediately. Curious, I go after him.

I run up the stairs and knock on his bedroom door.

"Come in you nosey arse," he says. I'm shocked at the untidiness of his bedroom. He's usually the tidy one. I sit down next to him on his bed, and for some reason, wait for him to say something. I try hard to read his emotions, but honestly, I can't tell if he's closer to happy or sad.

"I'm not nosey," I eventually say, "I just wanted to make sure if you were okay. I expected you to be out for longer."

"All is well," he sighs, then looks down. "Well. I guess, it's just so hard to be friends with someone when all you want to do is tell them that you're in love with them. I guess you know how that is, with Sophie, though."

"Yes. And it sucks. And I'm no good at pep talks but... look, you should really tell Isaac how you feel, okay?" Making people feel better is hard. Especially now William's rolling his eyes at me.

"You are such a hypocrite. For God's sake, you're straight and you can't ask a girl you like out! Think how it feels for me! I'm gay!" William exclaims. I've never seen him be this mad in a long time.

He realises this straight away. "We used to be close, Will. What happened?" I ask. He tries to apologise, but I walk out the room before he tries very hard.

Coolly, I make my way down to the basement. I love it down there. It's the only place I can ever get any peace and quiet. School is hell, and I'm just so thankful that summer break is finally here. I haven't done anything today, and I quite like it. Because, it is just so hard to concentrate in class, when all you can hear are voices screaming inside your head so loud it makes your blood boil in anger, just willing to be quiet, even for a second.

I think about Sophie. Quite frankly, I am in love with her.

She's basically the only girl I hang out with. Not that I'm awkward around girls, it's more... that they're awkward around me. Everyone thinks I'm weird. Sometimes, I don't mind that. William is openly out as gay, and occasionally he gets picked on. I may be his younger brother, but I'm tougher than most people.

Despite the fact that we argued, I can't stay mad at him. Everyone is under a lot of stress right now. I'll be starting year 10 when we go back in September, which means intense prep for GCSE's, when William goes back in September, he'll be in year 11, and it will be so much worse for him. Henry is an exception to us all. He is 20 years old and is not lacking in qualifications, but he does not like his job very much. He works at a local pre-school, but he never talks about it. At least I know that there's no way he treats the kids there the same as he used to treat William and I.

Although Henry treated us horribly when we were children, I'm pretty sure that's what all siblings are like. When our parents were murdered, he stepped up a lot to become our legal guardian, and we can never thank him enough. I can only imagine how different our lives would be if we were under the care of our grandparents. Not that they're bad grandparents, I just would not like to live with them. My mother's side disowned us a while back - they were extremely homophobic - and actually now live in Ibiza. My father's side are lovely. Maybe a little too smothering, however. Henry treats us well, now.

Now that the voices have stopped, I check my phone and look at the time. 4.29pm. I thought it was earlier than that. Surprised, I head back up and make my way to the living room.

I hear Henry's car pull up to the driveway, just as I sit down on the sofa.

"Will!" I call. "Any progress?" I ask Henry, as he comes in through the door. He strokes his beard gently. He's had so many 'leads' since I came out the hospital a few days after the murder (I was attacked too). I have no idea where he gets his supposed 'leads' from, but he always takes time off work for them.

"A body. In the boot of the car." Henry grins.

My heart is racing. "What body?" I hear William walking down the stairs. "Henry, did you kill someone?"