Chapter 2: It changed

Footsteps. I can hear them.

I open my eyes and continue to listen to those footsteps. It was from outside my door. Late at night, walking in the halls, that's only one person that often does that. It's my brother.

Its 3:42 am on my phone. Its quite late and my brother needs to wake up early. The only reason why he's still awake at this late hour is because he has insomnia.

I tiptoe my way to my door and hear the footsteps fade out as he walks further away. I lean on my door to listen better.

From the distance, I can hear a door creaking. He must be in the bathroom. I decided to sit by my door and wait for him to go back in his room.

I wait a little longer after my brother went inside his room. After a while, I slowly get out and into the bathroom to check. He did take his pills. Obviously.

I don't even know why I wanted to check. Even if I do this, it won't cure my brother's illness. This is why I want to become a psychiatrist, in order to at least help my brother and those that suffer in similar ways.

With no other things to do, I went back to my room and fell back asleep.

~~~~

3rd person POV

The sun shining through the room of Ron still sound asleep. A slight nudge from Charlotte made Ron open his eyes.

"Hey, wake up.. It's already 8, you're gonna be late."

Hearing 8 come out the mouth of his sister, it causes him to jolt upward, quickly getting out of bed. Grabbing his towel and out his room, he leaves Charlotte behind.

He was still up a few hours ago, it's no wonder he needed to be woken up, is what went through Charlotte's mind. This kind of event only seldom happens between the siblings. On nights when Ron forgets to take his pills, his little sister would have to wake him up whilst feeling indirectly guilty.

Wasting no time, Ron finishes preparing and is ready to get out until their mother stops him.

"Hey hey heyy! I know you're late but you should at least eat." Proclaims Sylvia, their mother.

So, the brother calms down and the two siblings sit down to eat. "Don't hurry, or you might choke!" The mother adds after observing they were chewing too fast.

Without another chance, the two left after finishes their dishes. Hmph, they forgot to even give me a kiss.. Anyway, I have to hurry too, thought the mother as she watches her two children hurriedly walk out the house.

Out the house and unto the street, the two siblings make haste as they only have a few minutes left before they're marked late. A yawn comes out of Ron's face which causes Charlotte to look over, "Still sleepy? That's what you get for staying up till late." Jokingly conversing with her brother, she adds a small chuckle.

"Ohh, you saw that?"

"Yeahhh.. You're footsteps kinda woke me up."

"Ahh sorry bout that."

"No noo, don't apologize."

They look at each other in the eyes and laughter synchronously came out from the two.

Red, is what showed by the traffic light, the two stop for a moment. Looking both ways and holding her brother's hand while the other rubs his eyes and continues to yawn.

Green, it changed. Charlotte crosses first with Ron following behind. Still clearly drowsy.

Too drowsy, he didn't notice a truck racing towards him. The horn of it being continuously pressed on, people shouting to warn the person, and the person with only a second left saw too late.

A second left, it only took a second for him to be pushed away. Ron watches as Charlotte takes his place. His dear sister, face only full of concern for him. His beloved sister.

He could only watch as his sister's body gets thrown far, blood scatters everywhere including to his face. The truck crashes into a shop. His dear sister's body on the street ahead.

The screams of people, the loud crash noise, all of it slowly transition to ringing in the ears of Ron as he focuses on Charlotte's body.

Charlotte? No.. nooo!

He struggles to run towards her body, limbing since the push injured him. But none of that mattered to Ron. Not the truck crashing, not the people panicking around him, how there were also other people that died, no, he didn't care.

He arrives right next to Charlotte's lifeless body, blood literally everywhere, her bones and limbs broken and disarranged, there's no way she was still alive. He knelt and caressed his shaking hands on her hair.

It fell. His tears fell.

It overflowed his face. He couldn't believe it. His beloved sister, so beautiful and loving and cute. Turned into this.

He could only wail next to her body, endlessly wishes she'd come back. Please. God please. My s-sister. Charlotte.. Begging the Lord that he never believed in, he prayed and prayed and prayed.

She's dead. That realization, he will never accept it.

~~~~

Charlotte's POV

Green, it changed. Letting go of my brother's hand, I led the way for us. Seeing his tired face could only cause me to feel guilty and he doesn't like it. Anyway, we still need to hurry, we're going to be late.

Loud horns beeping in the near distance caused me to look towards it. A truck was racing towards us. No, towards Ron.

Quickly, I turn towards him, a few steps away. He was rubbing his eyes! He didn't see. No! Too close, its too close!

Don't hesitate. I ran towards him as he looks at the face of death. I pushed him as hard as I can. Sorry for the push brother. As he hits the ground, his face distorted to be hysterical.

The truck is right next to my body. Everything suddenly motions slowly. Is this what it feels like when you're faced with death? Right then and there, my life flashes before my eyes. It wasn't a perfect one but I loved it all because of my family. Yes. I own them my life. That's why I will never hesitate to give it up for them.

My brother. My loving brother. Please, live your life happily. Graduate, get your dream job and get married with a loving woman. Live out your life for me. Don't grieve too much or I'll regret doing this..

Ahh.. I don't want to die..

Then the truck hits me.