1 Goodbye

The door was flung open. The loud bang made me look up from my drawing. Mom was standing there looking furious. I took off my headphones.

"I have been calling you for twenty minutes." She was trying not to shout. She looked tired and anxious. Maybe a little angry. "Aren't you going to say goodbye?"

My cheeks grew hot with embarrassment. I wasn't planning on saying goodbye, I never wanted to speak to the jerk again. But, I nodded and stood up. I went downstairs and looked at Eric. He had his arms crossed, a stupid smirk across his face. His chest length light brown hair desperately needed a wash. He towered over me at a staggering six foot two inches. It was hard to believe we were related.

For a second, I thought he was going to punch me for looking at him, then I remembered Mom and Dad were right there. I was going to be fine. He wouldn't do anything while his precious Mommy and Daddy were there. Heaven forbid they see anything unsightly.

"You weren't going to say goodbye," he asked. Fake hurt seeped into his voice. It made me want to hurl something at his head.

"Have fun at college," I said as I held his look. I shot back a small glare of my own.

Eric's smirk probably grew more pronounced. He never liked me. We had grown kind of good at pretending like this. This wasn't Mom's first try at us getting along.

"I hope you get some friends," Eric said. He didn't sound like he meant it. There was this subtle, acidic undertone that Mom never notices. I wanted to punch him. "Don't cause too much trouble."

"Only if you promise to shower," I shot back.

I was actually trying my hardest to not cause trouble, but I wasn't going to tell him that. He would have held his head high and proclaimed that he was the reason his little sister was becoming a decent member of society.

"Gabriella, be nice." I looked at Mom. She picked up her keys and purse, then hugged me and kissed my cheek. "We'll be back in about five hours. All the numbers are on the fridge. There should be money in the cookie jar for pizza."

I nodded. "Bye, Mom. Have a safe drive. I love you."

"Thank you, Gabriella. I love you too," she said with a large smile. She kissed my cheek. "Let's go, honey," she called up stairs. "We need to go!"

Dad came running down the stairs. He was making the finishing touches on latching his belt, so I assume he came from the bathroom. Dad smiled and turned to the stairs.

"See you in a bit, Justin," Dad yelled. He got a muffled yell in reply.

I hugged my dad and kissed his cheek. He hugged me back and kissed the top of my head.

"Can you record Top Gear for me," he asked.

I smiled. "It's already programmed to record. Don't worry, you won't miss it."

Dad smiled and rubbed the top of my head. "Thanks, kid. Love ya."

"Love ya too, Dad."

"Bye, Justin, we love you," Mom yelled up the stairs.

Justin yelled something back and they left and I was left with a big, silent house. It was a Friday night, the parents were gone. I did what every teenager does. I turned on the TV and watched Doctor Who.

Around 9:00, Justin came downstairs. We looked at each other. He was short for his age. He was eight. His small baby face was pulled into a look of sadness and depression.

"Is he gone?"

I nodded.

"He treated me like a stupid child again."

"Like you're just a stupid child who needs to be put in line?"

He nodded again.

"He did that to me too. When I hit eighteen, I'll be out of this house. I'll stay in town in a two bedroom apartment. I'll decorate the second bedroom just how you like it. Whenever you feel like it, you'll be able to come over. It'll be our safe house."

Justin looked up at me. His green eyes were shining, and he was smiling wide. "Like in Minecraft, when we go adventuring?"

I laughed and nodded. "Exactly!"

No one sees anything Eric is doing wrong. If he yells at Justin and I, he's under a lot of stress. If he beats Justin and I, he's just saying that he loves us in a special way. I even told Mom about Eric selling drugs to kids in my class, but she told me to sign up for a creative writing class. Apparently my imagination was getting away from me. My dear older brother couldn't possibly be selling drugs!

Justin laid his head on my lap. I ran my fingers through his curly brown hair. We were silent until the end of the episode. Then Justin picked his head up and looked at me.

"Can I have the remote?"

I nodded and passed it over. I looked at the clock, then at the window. It was a blizzard of snow outside. They left around forty five minutes ago, so they might have missed the storm.

"School might be canceled on Monday," I said. "That'll be fun, right?"

Justin shrugged. "I don't really care about school. All I care about right now is becoming a ninja. How do you think they got elemental powers?"

"Someone in their family was an elemental master."

Justin looked at me. His face held disbelief and shock.

"I watched ahead," I admitted as my cheeks heated up again.

Justin looked back at the TV. He was too young to be going through this. He should be making friends, playing harmless pranks on me, or making forts in his room. He should have a "no girls" club, or be playing ninja. Not constantly looking over his shoulder.

"I wish I was a ninja," he said quietly. "I could fight back."

"You'll be fighting back when you grow up. You can be anything you want to be. Even an elemental Lego ninja."

"Eric will just wreck it."

"You'll be far away from Eric in no time."

Justin must have looked at the clock. "When did they leave?"

"About an hour ago. Wanna order pizza and build a fort in your room?"

Justin smiled and got up. "That would be so cool! We could use Eric's pillows for the walls!"

"Don't forget his blankets," I said with a grin. "And it can stay up until May, when he comes back."

Justin grinned and ran up the stairs. I grabbed the landline and called Pizza Shack for Justin's favourite pizza.

The next morning, it was a winter wonderland. I looked at Justin.

"We have options," I said. He looked at me. "We can go outside and have an epic snowball war, or we can stay inside, finish the pizza, and play video games."

Justin looked at the driveway. "Mom and Dad should be home by now. It's just two hours there, and two hours back."

I sighed. My breath momentarily fogged up the window. "We're fine on our own. I'm sure they'll be back soon. Maybe the storm was too bad to drive last night. I'm sure they stopped at Eric's dorm room for the night. I'll call them. You go play some video games."

Justin nodded and sat on the couch. I took a deep breath and dialed Mom's number on the landline. I waited for a few minutes. The call went to voicemail after four rings. I sighed and called Dad. The same thing happened. I groaned and called Eric's number. No one answered.

"Is everything okay," Justin asked. "Eric hasn't killed them, has he?"

I looked at him. "Don't be ridiculous. Eric can't kill anyone with those wimpy arms. No one answered. I'm sure that they're either on the road, or their phones died. Everything is going to be okay."

Justin nodded again. We fell into this silence, which was a little uncomfortable. I left him in the living room playing video games.

I got dressed in a long sleeve shirt, then went outside to shovel. I cleared the driveway, then the walkway. The snow was incredibly heavy, and it felt like there was a hundred inches. In reality, we may have gotten a couple feet of snow.

When I got inside, Justin was heating up pizza in the microwave. "These are your slices," he said as I took off my boots.

I walked over and kissed the top of his head. "Thanks, kid. Want some hot cocoa?"

He nodded and I began heating up water in the kettle. After making us each a cup of cocoa, I went upstairs and put on warm pajamas. I was grabbing my sketching stuff to take downstairs, when there was a knock at my door. I opened the door to see Justin looking up at me.

"Gabby, there's someone at the door." He sounded worried.

I frowned and went downstairs to the door. A police officer stood there, looking kind of somber. My gut twisted. Something wasn't right. I looked at Justin.

"Go upstairs."

My gut is never wrong, I wish it was. The officer cleared his throat.

"Is this the Frost residence?"

Now, I don't have the best record when it comes to the police. I wanted to run and hide. I knew he wasn't going to arrest me, I'd done nothing wrong, but I still wanted to hide.

I nodded. "Yes, sir. Is something wrong?"

His face fell a little. "Are your parents home?"

"No."

"There aren't any adults with you two at all?"

I shouldn't have been offended, but I was. I put my hands in my pockets, to avoid folding them over my chest. "I don't mean to be rude, but we're fine on our own. I'm fifteen, I know CPR, I can cook, I can work a phone, and I've been babysitting since I was ten."

"I didn't mean to offend you," the officer said politely. "It's just that the news I have isn't something I wanted to say to anyone. I was hoping saying them to an older adult would be easier."

With a small tilt of my head and a frown, I leaned against the door and crossed my arms. "What are you trying to say?"

He looked at his feet, took a deep breath, then looked at me. His face was emotionless. "Last night, we got a call about an accident on the highway. A box truck spun out of control. Two adults were killed."

My heart skipped a beat. I could feel myself beginning to cry, but I pushed the tears away. Don't let them see you cry.

"The red minivan was in pretty bad shape. We ran the plates, and it said it was registered to this address. On the bright side, your brother is going to bounce back. He just needs to come out of his coma. In the meantime, we're going to take you two to a nice woman. She's going to foster you, while your brother is recovering."

Tears were gathering in my eyes. I looked away as I felt anger and fear bubbling in my chest. A scream was rising in my chest. Instead, I cleared my throat and forced a smile.

"Sorry, I think you have the wrong house. My dad would have been driving, and he's a pro at avoiding cars."

"I'm sorry. You have to come with us. At least identify the bodies."

I crossed my arms over my chest. I didn't care about being polite at that moment. "I don't think that's a thing that Justin should see." My tone came out a little cold.

"We can have him in another room with an officer. He'll be fine."

I took a deep breath. "Fine. Whatever. Let me go get him."

I closed the door softly. I packed a bag for Justin to keep him satisfied. Then I changed into ripped jeans, with a long sleeve shirt. I grabbed my blue and white striped sweater from the back of my desk chair.

Then I went to Justin's room. He didn't answer the door. I went in and knelt in front of the fort. Justin was sitting inside. He was curled up and crying.

"Are they really dead?"

I shrugged. "I have to go find out. You have to come with me."

He shook his head. "I don't want to see them…"

I shook my head. "You won't, bud. You'll be with a police officer in another room. It's okay."

"What if it is them?"

"Then we'll go into foster care. But, on the bright side, we'll be away from Eric. I can teach you how to fight back, so we'll be prepared when Eric wakes up."

Justin sniffed and nodded. He crawled out of the fort and we went downstairs. I handed him his bag, then slid my art supplies into my bag.