Morning Diamond

A Brother's Nightmare

“One of these days they will be forced to let me go!” Claire mumbled as she stared at the small photo on her night stand. She understood they wanted to protect her and that they were so overbearingly protective because their parents had died when she was a baby, but that was beside the point.

No, that was exactly the point.

She had asked her brothers what had happened the day their parents died many times, but both would immediately become somber and refuse to tell her, stating she was too young to know the heartbreaking details. Instead they had made up childish fairy tales. In them her father was always a great hero fighting against a villain worse than any book could describe. Her mother, innocent and pure, a princess of such grace and beauty the villain would have taken her as his own, had her husband not protected her so fervently.

In every tale they painted a marvelous picture of her parents fighting against ‘The Shadow Lord’ and saving the lives of many people. The stories were remarkably romantic and energetic. At the conclusion of each story her brothers would call to her and encourage her join the fight against the traitorous villain. The games that followed always filled the day with epic battles, adventure, and laughter; her brothers effectively distracting her from the painful questions about their parents.

She sighed.

They had protected her from the sad truth for years. It was only four months ago-after she graduated high school early- that her brothers sat down with her and told her what had really happened to her parents. Her mother had died in childbirth and their father joined her in the heavens that same day; only his life had been tragically stolen by a murderer that had never faced judgement for the horrid deed.

After years of hearing stories of her parents dying in a heroic war, the truth left her feeling empty and vulnerable. After divulging the tale her brothers expressed a desire to move once more; this time to a small town deep in the forest. She argued against the move because she wanted to take a few college courses. In the end she had won and they enrolled her in summer classes that same afternoon and took her camping the next day. The trip allowed her to process the truth of her parent’s death surrounded by the calmness of the forest. It had been a perfect weekend to grieve and prepare for her first semester at the university. She smiled.

Her brothers had provided strength and support every second of the day. They even developed a series of games and tests to challenge her survival instincts. Nothing gave her greater pleasure than showing off her skills and spending time in the forest. Though knowing she had caused her mother’s death and her father’s murderer was still on the loose unnerved her, the twins had soothed the pain away with their presence.

Keith and Mark could turn even the saddest moments into wonderful memories.

Claire looked at another large photo hanging on the wall. Half of Keith’s face- his smile bright and eyes laughing- almost covered the scene behind him. Almost. In the background an eight year old Claire stood straight and proud on Mark’s back as he pretended to be dead. She held a toy sword high above her head in triumph. It was that picture. The picture of her brother’s devotion to a small child forced her to reach for the phone. She punched in the numbers with a heavy heart.

“Mike, I’m sorry I won’t be able to make it tonight. I told you they were pig brained, stubborn, idiots!” She sighed, “They won’t let me go.”

“C, you are almost eighteen years old, you know you don’t have to do everything your brothers tell you, right?”

“I know, I just…I can’t disobey them. They have given up so much to make sure we stayed together after my parents died. I don’t know what would have happened if they hadn’t taken me from foster care and raised me. I am their daughter even more than I am their sister. They raised me. As much as I‘d like to, I can‘t defy them. It would crush them.” The silence on both ends of the line dragged on for several seconds.

“It’s okay C. I wouldn’t want you to do anything that would make you uncomfortable. Besides, we can still hang together. How about I rent a movie, grab something to eat and come to your place?” She hoped he knew what he was asking. “Your brothers can supervise us and get to know me. Who knows, they might even like me, a little… maybe. What do you think?”

“Really? It won’t, like, freak you out to be around them? You do know you will be entering enemy territory which promises extreme hostility, the likes of which you have never seen.”

“I’m not worried. I had to fight against you once, remember?" He chuckled. Claire snorted in response. "They don’t scare me half as bad as you do. I’ll be over in about thirty minutes, anything you want?”

“Yeah, bring some gem gums. Keith loves them.” Why she didn’t know, the tiny fruity suckers had never excited her much. “It might soften him up some. Oh and Mark likes the hamburgers from Burger West, no onions. I’ll go prepare them. See you soon. Oh, and Mike?

“Yep?”

“Good luck. Oh, and another thing, wear a cup!” Her seriousness caused him to laugh. She smiled.

“Bye, C. I’ll see you soon.” Claire hung up the phone with a delighted giggle and rubbed her hands together in excitement. “Take that boys!” For the first time since coming up stairs she felt she had the upper hand on her brothers. She rushed from her room, but slowly descended the stairs, a smug smile on her face.

“Well, look at that Keith, Claire-Bear has come to apologize. She comes to tell us we are her favoritest brothers ever.” Mark's baby talk made her chuckle, if only he knew what she had really come down to tell them, her smile grew. He was going to flip. “She’s filled with such sorrow because of that awful fit she threw. She will now confess there’s no place she’d rather be than hanging with us old farts.” Mark laughed at his own wit, earning a punch from Keith.

Mark rubbed his sore shoulder, but smiled up at Claire giving her a wink. He sat, sprawled out on the small living room floor dressed in his usual attire, loose blue jeans, no shirt and bare feet. If only he’d wear a cowboy hat he could be a billboard model for lifted pickup trucks. She laughed at that thought. Mark wouldn’t be caught dead in a cowboy hat!

“See, you dope, she thought it was funny.” Mark swung around, but Keith was fast. He jumped on Mark before he could follow through. This was a daily ritual between the two, sometimes hourly. They were constantly wrestling around and fighting over some foolishness. Mark used his legs to push Keith across the room. Keith landed on the one end table they had left, it crumbled under his weight.

“Wonderful, boys. When will you two grow up?” Claire moved to the couch Keith had just vacated, sat with her arms crossed, and glared at the two sheepish looking twins. They studied the room to avoid eye contact.

The living room was small but cozy. The walls were painted in muted orange tones. A cream colored couch combo enhanced the color. At one time there had been two beautiful matching end tables and a coffee table, but with her brothers wrestling antics the coffee table met its doom the first week they moved in and one of the end tables joined it in the junkyard a week later. Claire had guarded the remaining table like a mother hen.

“The room was cramped with it anyway.” Keith attempted to excuse their behavior. Her eyes narrowed further in response.

From the outside their house looked huge, but Claire had been disappointed when she entered and the rooms were much smaller than expected. Even so she turned the simple house into a comfortable home. It was true that the living room would be roomier and give her brothers more working space, but even still it did not make her feel better about the loss.

Both her brothers worked from home running a business in trade goods. It had become very successful over the years. They also spent time giving back to the community by spending a lot free time at local orphanages teaching children valuable skills to help them have successful futures. She tried to remember that when she broke the news about Mike.

“I just wanted to let you know that Mike will be over in a little while. Since we can’t go out… we’re staying in!” She knew she sounded smug, but at least she was calmer than she would have been had she not remembered the orphans.

“What the…he…no freaking way, Bear. I don’t want some half-wit piece of crap hounding around my little sister. Not happening. Call it off, he’s not welcome here,” Mark bellowed. Claire almost smiled.

“Mark, take it easy. It’s just a guy coming over to hang out. Besides I want to spend some time with the low life son of…uh……..” Claire’s warning look had Keith biting off the cuss word. “The guy.” Claire grinned.

Keith looked at his sister and sighed. She felt sorry for him. She was growing up and neither of her brothers were fans of the idea. She was tiny and petite, barely five foot three and a quarter, although she argued she was five foot five on the dot. She could almost be mistaken for a child, if not for her face.

Over the last few years it had lost its childishness. Her brothers hated her older appearance. Mark had told her numerous times she had the charming look of her father, but her mother’s large round eyes. Had they been green and not soft violet, they would have matched Arianna’s perfectly. Claire also had light hair like her mother, but where Arianna’s had been the lightest shade of blonde, Claire’s was pure white. Mark claimed the combination of shining hair and unique eyes would make her dangerous to some poor sap someday.

The twins wanted her to stay young and innocent forever, but she was growing up and they would have to deal with it sooner or later. She crossed her fingers now and gave Keith her best smile, hoping it would convince him to let Mike come over. “He can come, Bear, we’ll be nice.”

Claire felt ecstatic; she could always count on Keith to take her side. He wasn’t as hot tempered as his twin. He thought things through and looked at how they could benefit the family. She stuck out her tongue at Mark, jumped to her feet, kissed Keith on the cheek, and ran up the stairs to get cleaned up, unaware of the conversation between her brothers the moment the bathroom door closed.