Chapter 2 - 2 - Brothers

Chapter 2: Chapter 2 - Brothers

(Liam's POV)

As I pushed my brother's wheelchair through the fairly crowded streets, a fresh morning breeze swept across us, fluttering Ken's hair and mine while carrying the moist and damp smell of grass from the park just beside us along with the rustling of leaves and the swaying of trees.

I took a deep breath and felt the coolness of the air filling my lungs, refreshing and rejuvenating me from the inside out.

People could be seen walking around us, each of them with different purposes.

While some seemed to be in a hurry to get to their various places of work, some took their strides in leisure, taking in the sights and sounds around them.

The occasional honking and horns of the cars on the street could be heard, further adding to the peaceful atmosphere.

'It sure is peaceful...'.

Looking to my right, I spotted some children playing in the park, energy and enthusiasm evident from their smiles. Two adults could be seen watching over them from a short distance.

'Probably their parents' I thought as I began to ponder over something else.

'It's being eleven years since then, hasn't it? The day we lost our parents'.

Ken and I had a huge squabble over something, something so ridiculously irrelevant that I can't even seem to remember what it was. Anyway, our parents tried to mediate between us but we seemed so adamant on continuing to ignore each other.

They then decided that we'd go to an amusement park the next day to have fun but it was obvious that they were only trying to let us reconcile with each another.

The day eventually came and although Ken and I still did not speak to each other, the atmosphere between us was slowly getting better.

Then misfortune and tragedy struck. A car driver who was seemingly drunk swerved off his opposing lane and crashed into us, causing both our parents to lose their lives and Ken losing his lower limbs. The rest is pretty much history.

I was left to take care of my brother at the young age of seven and Ken lost his smile. Although we had family members from both of our parent's side, they all never really got along with either of our parents so we were left to take care of ourselves.

Luckily though, our parents were very well off and their life insurance, real estate (in the form of our house) and trust funds were enough to comfortably support us for the next 10 years.

'However, there are no such things as happy endings, are there?'.

A few years into our solitary lives as brothers, our parent's relatives found a way to successfully and illegally convert all of the assets our parents left to us, leaving us with next to nothing in our names.

I on the other hand, had secretly sold our house when I was thirteen as a sort of fail-safe and backup plan to counter an event like that if it ever happened. I was glad I did.

When I told Ken about it back then, I'd expected him to be furious at me for selling the house, the only link we had to our parents. So I was quite surprised when he just nodded and said that he understood.

'I guess tragedy really does mature you far beyond your years'.

-BANG

"...-m, ...-am, ...-iam. LIAM!!!"

'Huh. What's happening? Why's Ken screaming? Ken never screams. Why is everyone running away? Also, why am I on the pavement? Wasn't I holding the wheelchair? My vision's dimming. Is that blood? My blood? Why am I lying in a pool of blood? I need to get up. The convenience store is just up ahead. I need to cook Ken something to eat... Ah, I see. I'm dying... Ken, I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise to you...'

***

(Ken's POV)

'Liam seems to be thinking about that day again' I said as glanced backwards and saw a sad smile on my brothers face.

I should leave him be at times like this.

He's always been strong, maybe even stronger than I would ever know. He comes out of every hardship he's faced even stronger. Quite the contrast to me honestly.

'No, no, I'm not saying I'm weak-minded or anything, I just feel like I could be better'.

I know we never talk about it but we both feel guilty for the death of our parents. Me especially. It was just a stupid toy and I just had to throw a tantrum because he broke it by accident. Eventually, my tantrum led to a big fight.

At some point, I felt like I should have apologized because it blew way out of proportion but my fickle six-year old pride and the belief that my brother was still quite pissed at me brushed the thought away.

'Well there's no use in pondering over the past now'.

As I took in the fresh morning breeze and felt it wash over me, I began to hear a faint sound of cop sirens blaring from afar.

-Sigh...

"The cops are at it again. Why do they have to blare their sirens just to avoid some traffic? Traffic isn't even that bad". I said as I glanced at Liam as he stared at some children in the park.

'Guess he's still thinking about it huh. It's alright though. We're almost at the convenience store'.

-Swoosh

I relaxed once again on my wheelchair as I took in the cool breeze and the peaceful atmosphere. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the cars in the distance were rapidly parting aside to make way for something. I immediately frowned.

'That doesn't seem right. I'm getting a bad feeling about this'.

"Liam, let's go through the alleyway". I beckoned to Liam, but he still seemed to be in a trance even though I spoke to him.

"Hey Liam. Liam? Liam to earth? Still no reception huh?". I continued trying to grab the attention of Liam while being totally oblivious to the chaos that was about to happen.

A high speed chase was ensuing between a police car and some armed robbers in their get-away vehicle, their sirens blaring and its lights flashing. The two cars weaved through the traffic, taking dangerously sharp turns in what seemed to be a heart-pumping chase.

Suddenly, a robber peeked out of the passenger's side window with a handgun.

The police officers chasing them knew how bad the situation was and without a second thought, the officer in the driver's seat stepped on the accelerator with full force and increased the car's speed at full throttle causing them to ram into the get-away vehicle, but it was too late.

-Pow!

A shot was fired as the get-away car spun out of control, leaving behind pandemonium as people began to run helter-skelter while some lay flat on the ground.

All of these happened in what seemed to be seconds and then I heard a whistling sound above my head and as I looked back to see what swooshed past my head, what I saw turned my world upside down in a moment.

A bullet had hit Liam squarely in the middle of his head and his limp body collapsed to the ground, blood flowing out of the orifice it created. I watched in horror as I muttered.

"Liam. Liam. Liam"

And then I screamed.

"LIAM!!!".

"No, you can't do this to me bro. No! Get up! PLEASE! ANYONE! HELP!!! SOMEBODY CALL AN AMBULANCE!"

I continued screaming as tears began to drop out of my eyes.

I clattered and fumbled out of the wheel chair as I began to drag myself towards my brother's dead body.

I knew what I was doing was hopeless. No one survives a gunshot to the head! I knew and yet I still screamed for help.

"It should have been me! IT SHOULD BE ME! TAKE MY LIFE INSTEAD!".

As I screamed and bellowed, I heard a screeching sound behind me as I lay in the pool of blood from Liam's cold dead body.

-Crash!

All I remember after that was me being flung across the pavement onto the wall as the vehicle that skid towards me hit me squarely in the head.

As I lay in my own pool of blood and my vision dimmed, I barely made out Liam's dead body. I tried stretching my arm towards him but it was futile. I tried to guess what had happened to me but my brain seemed to have gone out of commission.

"Someone please. Anyone please. Anyone please save my brother..." I said in a faint whisper as I spurted blood out of my mouth.

All that responded back to me was the screams and shouts of people running in confusion, panic and fear as they struggled to find a way to safety. n--o-(V--e/.l-)b-(1/.n

'Maybe it's better this way. At least we can all be reunited in the afterlife. I'm sorry Mum. I'm sorry Dad. I'm sorry Liam. You all have done so much for me but I wasn't able to repay you even once, but at least we'll be together again'

Those were my last thoughts as my consciousness faded away.