Family

IVORY'S POV

That night, I had a dream. It was vague and blurry, I couldn't remember much of it but I remember enough. I was standing in a room, I recognized the room since I'd been there before. That room gave me the chills, that was the room I'd first lost my innocence to pedophiles.

I woke up completely unbothered, seeming to forget that Amelia could share my secret with the cops. Or maybe I didn't feel threatened by it. I was unusually calm that morning, and that scared me a bit. I hurriedly took my bath to avoid another confrontation with Jason. I'd not recovered from the last injuries he gave me.

I noticed my brother in the living room after I got dressed, which was weird because we try to avoid or parents corner as much as possible and he was just there, sitting.

"Brian?", I called, worried about him, me and basically everyone that lived here.

"Yeah? What's up?", he asks, not looking up to face me.

"I've not murdered them yet, don't worry. I'll make sure you go to college before that happens. They never came back yesterday night.", he added.

"Oh", I didn't remember the last time I sat down to watch TV. "Can I watch?"

"It's on the news channel. That's the only the that's on."

I sit next to him and immediately get comfortable.

"You know a kid called Amelia?", he asked.

I was shocked, I never told him about my school life and he couldn't have met her anywhere else.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"She's dead"... "And you're a suspect"

I freeze on the chair. I clearly remembered the events that happened the previous day. Amelia chased me away because she was scared of me, she was scared that I'd committed murder and I wasn't my usual shy self.

"What's the cause of death", I asked.

"It's suicide. She jumped off her balcony"

"Then why am I a suspect?"

"Because this is the third time someone close to you is commiting suicide"

"Third time? Anna and I weren't close, forget that even. Who was the third person."

"Some kid named Bella witnesses said you were the last person she saw."

I felt sick in my stomach.

"Brian? I know the cops would've come to search our house. Where's mom and Jason? Where are the cops?"

It was in the sheer hours of the morning. It was barely dawn.

"I promised you I'd protect you no matter what, didn't I?"

I stare at him.

"I would never let anyone hurt you, not again"

I blink.

"You're safe, don't worry."

I realize.

"Oh my freaking god, You killed cops?", I asked, rising from the couch.

"I will protect you, Ivory"

"Well fuck that, I didn't kill anyone. You could've trusted that I didn't but you don't trust me. You don't care about my feelings. Fuck this. There's no way I can get out of this one now", I was exasperated.

He didn't try to calm me down. He just stared at me.

"How do you know that you didn't kill them? You have two different personalities, idiot. You didn't know you killed that assaulter till Jason told you so", he was unfazed while spitting out those words.

"I'm fucked.", I look at him and walk away to switch on the living room lights. Of course,there were dead bodies in my house. Two cops were laying on the floor, obviously lifeless, their heads had been bashed in by something strong. It was probably the metal jar we used to store our water. It was also laying on the floor with them.

"What about backup? Did backup come?", I asked.

"Not yet"

"Well, are you waiting for them to surround this place and kill us both?"

He doesn't answer. Instead, he turns his head to my direction.

"You killed them. You've probably forgotten. They must have had something on you and you wanted to get rid of it so you got rid of them. That's what happened. I know you well"

"I didn't do shit.", I spat and walked over to the dead bodies. There was no getting out of this so I called 911 and said I'd then myself in. I was prepared to sacrifice my brother to save my life.

He had to remain here till the cops arrive.

"Tell me the truth. What happened to mom and Jason?", I asked him.

"They ran off. Both of your friends died yesterday night after all. And now you've called the cops on the one person who wants to stand by you."

"I didn't do anything so I'm not scared. But you'll have to take responsibility for these cops"

"Then take responsibility for the lives of your friends. I noticed you were avoiding the topic of your personality disorder"

I flinched. I knew I had a screw loose somewhere but I wasn't bad enough to kill someone and not remember. That could certainly not be possible.

My phone rang from inside my room. I went to check on who would call me at such a bad time. It was James.

"Hello", I started

"Run away, Ivory", he said, he was probably panicking.

"I didn't kill them", I said. "So I have no reason to run"

I hung up on him and went back to the living room. Brian was still sitting in the same position. I suspected something was wrong, normally, he would've tried to find a way for us to run out of town but he was just sitting in a corner, breathing softly.

"You were shot, weren't you" I asked, suspecting that the blood I thought to belong to one of the cops was actually his blood.

He chuckled, "Took you long enough, I'm gonna die. You can't help me"

"I wasn't going to"