My brothers keeper, p.1
My Brother's Keeper, page 1
My Brother’s
Keeper
TJ Lee
Copyright © 2024 The Weird World of TJ Lee
All rights reserved.
979-8-9899988-4-5
DEDICATION
To those awesome siblings who just can’t give up on their loved ones, even when the world already has. You are a role model to us all.
Prologue
Fiona
“Tonight is going to be ep-ic.” I rolled my eyes at Katia as she moved both hands through the air, as though she were outlining a lit-up sign. Most likely imagining her name in lights.
“Oh yeah, and why is that?” I was only pretending to be ignorant. I knew exactly what she was talking about.
She’d spoken of nothing else for weeks. And the look she gave me was worth it. My smile cracked at her “I will kill you if you are serious” look.
“Fi….”
My smile turned into full-blown giggles as we walked down the hall. “I’m just messing with you.”
Katia was the one rolling her eyes this time. “I can’t believe you. Tonight is important, Fi. You have to be there for me.”
I wiped an amused tear out of my eye as I wrapped an apologetic arm around her shoulder. “I got you, Kat. You know that.”
She sighed and we stopped walking. “I know you do. I’m just nervous.”
I placed both my hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at me. “Hey, it’s all good. Nothing is going to happen that will mess any of it up. I babysat the twins last night and got 50 for it. Just enough to buy my ticket to the game, and dinner after to celebrate. I will be standing right there on the sidelines, recording every minute of it.”
I used to only get half that for babysitting the Walker twins, but ever since the youngest was diagnosed with diabetes, their parents have paid double. The six-year-old terror was not a fan of watching what he ate, whether his brother had to as well or not. They also trained me on how to check blood sugar and give insulin. I figured it was a good life skill to have, you never knew what the future held.
She grunted uncomfortably. “You don’t need to record it. Both my parents will be doing that.”
I pushed her playfully as we turned to keep walking to our first class. “Girl,” I tsked. “I need to have my own copy. Besides, we both know your Dad’s hands always shake while holding his phone up for longer than 5 seconds and your mom will be crying, which means she won’t be all that steady either.”
Plus, I was gonna take my copy, clean it up, and do some fancy stuff with it before I gave it to her for her birthday next week. It didn’t matter that it would be recorded with my phone. I had a gift with computers and stuff. For now, computers were just a hobby of mine, but one day…
Katia agreed with a shy grin before we stepped into our first torture session of the day.
A few hours later, I headed toward the lunch area to buy my ticket for tonight’s football game - the one my best friend would be singing the National Anthem for - her first time with such a large crowd. I was proud of her. She worked hard for this. I was hoping to make the video epic enough for her to use later, when she finally caved to her real desires to apply for Julliard. Her dream school.
I barely stepped out the double doors that led to the outdoor patio area - a large circular set up with picnic tables, trees, and lots of dead grass, surrounded by the school buildings that housed the classrooms - when I heard the ominous sounds of a fight off to the side. It was more shaded in that area, due to a few larger trees. A perfect place to pick on someone out of the semi-carefully watching school security.
With an eye roll and a head shake, I lifted my foot to keep walking. I was used to the fights the idiots in this school did on the regular. Not my problem.
I stalled though when the words being yelled reached my ears.
“Give me my money, Randy. Or you’re dead.” A boy’s voice growled out.
We had a big school - nearly 3,000 kids -and Randy wasn’t all that unique of a name. But something in my gut twisted anyway.
No, not possible. He wouldn’t be in a fight. His coach would kill him. I took another step away, then stopped with a sigh. I cursed to myself, spun, and jogged over to the fight.
I pushed my way through the growing crowd just in time to see a large kid, with a pitch-black mohawk, knee another boy in the stomach hard enough to make him fold over. The kid, who was now on the ground, coughed and groaned. I recognized the short brown hair that stuck up in every direction like he forgot to brush it this morning.
Which he probably had. I left earlier than usual this morning since Katia and her mom picked me up. He had been lagging, so he drove in on his own. Which also meant I wasn’t there to remind the nitwit to do little things… like brushing his hair.
“I ain’t got it.” Randy coughed some more, trying to push himself off the ground to stand back up. As shaky as his legs were, I was pretty sure he had been hit more than once already. “Not yet.”
The much larger kid pushed him back over with his foot and leaned over him with a sneer. “You made the bet. You promised to pay it back last week. You didn’t.” He pulled his leg back and swung it forward, right into Randy’s rib cage. Making him gasp for air.
“Stop!!” I yelled, unable to stand by and let any more harm come to him. I ran forward to stand between the two boys, raising my hands to stop the bully from causing further damage. “Stop. Please.”
He sneered at me before glancing down at Randy again. “You’d be wise to dump his lazy A and get yourself a new boyfriend. He’s worthless.”
I lowered my arms with a defeated sigh. “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s my brother.”
“Go away, Fi. I can handle this.” Randy moaned as he tried to push himself up off the ground once again.
I glared at him. “Yeah, you’re doing a bang-up job of handling things all right.” I turned back to the boy who now had his arms crossed over his chest, a smug look on his face. And a creepy interest in his eyes. I held back the grimace when I noticed the metal spikes along his eyebrows.
“Sister, huh?” He stepped closer to me, blatantly checking me out now. “Guess you got all the looks as well as the brains. I bet you and me can work out a deal.” He lifted his hand and picked up a small piece of my long brown hair that was over my shoulder.
I shuttered and stepped away from him. “You’re disgusting. How much does he owe you?”
Not caring about the rebuff, the boy grinned. “40 bucks. Course, I’d be willing to take it in trade.”
“I’m sure you would.” I pulled my wallet out of my bag and opened it. Closing my eyes in defeat, I pulled out the two twenties. It left me with only ten dollars. Thankfully, the game ticket would only cost me seven. I wouldn’t be able to go out and celebrate with Katia, but I could still be there for her big moment. I shoved the money into the brute’s hand, glaring at him with all my might.
“Paying for it is probably the only way you get any with that angry scowl on your face all the time. Take the money and leave him be. Your debt is settled.”
He counted the cash and winked at me. “Pleasure doing business with you. If you change your mind…”
“I won’t.” I cut him off as I turned to help Randy straighten up.
He had mostly made it back onto his feet and was now leaning against the tree, his lip bleeding and the black eye forming. With a sad sigh, I put an arm around his waist and helped him stand straighter.
The crowd had already dispersed since there was nothing of interest to watch anymore. I helped my big brother stumble over to the closest picnic table.
“What happened, Randy?”
“I bet on the school’s football team. I honestly didn’t think they would make it to the finals.” He chuckled, then groaned from the pain.
“Dad is going to be so ticked when he sees you.”
Randy snorted. “Please, he won’t even notice.”
Sadly, that was probably true. Ever since our mother died last year, our father had basically shut down.
“Why did you have to make a stupid bet?”
He shrugged. His nonchalant attitude worried me. What was he hiding?
There was only so much I could do when it came to trying to save my family. What little I had left of it. Before mom died, she made me promise to keep the family together. To not let the men of the family fall apart completely. Desperate to see her smile one last time, I agreed. Even though I often wished I hadn’t.
When Mom died, she took my childhood with her.
Every night, I made sure Dad drank at least some water and ate actual food. Every morning, I made sure he had coffee to help him get up and go to work on time (and somewhat sober). I cleaned the house and cooked dinner every day. I did the shopping, with whatever money my father remembered to put in the shopping jar when he got paid.
Randy seemed to be holding up fine. At least I thought he had. He was still wrestling, and he was passing all of his classes. When he was home, he was typically in his room. I usually only saw him in passing, both at school and at home. And when we carpooled in the car we shared.
“Do you want me to help you get to the nurse? That eye looks like it could use an ice pack.” I offered, knowing questioning him further about the bet would do no good. At one time Randy and I had been close, but as time moved on, he pushed me away.
He started to laugh sardonically, then moaned, and placed a hand on his ribs. They were probably bruised. Mohawk had been wearing some pretty he avy boots.
“No, they’ll just make me report it to the office. I’ll be fine.”
With an eye roll, I stepped away. “I will get it and tell them it is for me. I’ll say I have cramps or something. Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
I didn’t give him a chance to argue, I just turned and walked away. A minute later, I was about to pass the ticket table and stopped. Torn, I glanced back at Randy, who had already been joined by a couple of other boys. He’d survive. He owed me anyway.
I quickly bought my ticket to the game, then continued on to the health office.
Thankfully, they were busy. Which meant they did not question me when I told them I slammed my fingers in the bathroom stall door and needed an ice pack - odds were I would actually need one for cramps next week. They just reached into a drawer and grabbed one. They twisted it a few times and then handed the disposable ice pack to me before turning to the next kid.
Randy was laughing with his friends when I returned, like nothing had happened. I walked up and shoved the ice pack on his eye, a little roughly, making the other boys laugh.
Randy caught my hand as I moved to leave them. He smiled softly and squeezed my wrist with affection. “Thanks, Fi. You’re the best sister.”
He was a butthead. I melted and smiled back, giving him a small nod. It was nice to see a small glimpse of the boy I used to know.
The bell rang not much later, before I even had a chance to grab something to eat. I jogged over to one of the kids who I knew sold snacks out of his backpack and handed him one of the few bills I had left in exchange for a bag of chips. All he had left was plain Cheetos. Which I was fine with since I didn’t care for the hot ones anyway.
After school, Katia waited near my class anxiously. We had separate lunches, so I hadn’t seen her since our first-period class ended. I lifted my game ticket up and she squealed. I laughed with her as we boarded the bus home. I didn’t mention anything about Randy or the debt I paid for him. I didn’t want to do anything that would ruin her day.
That night, I stood on the sidelines with her parents. All three of us recorded with our phones, while Katia belted out the National Anthem at the first round of finals. The crowd cheered - because my best friend had the best voice in the world. It had nothing to do with me being biased either - which I totally was - she had tried out and earned her placement there.
We left before the game even started. Her parents surprised us both by taking us out to eat. Their treat. I sighed with relief. Katia never needed to know my brother almost ruined her night. She wasn’t his biggest fan to begin with. Never had been. I didn’t really know why, nor did I care. It didn’t affect my relationship with either of them.
Randy ended up getting his arm broken a few weeks later.
By the same guy.
Sadly, they both knew who would pay the debt.
I was grateful when my brother left for college at the end of the school year. I still had two more years to go, but I had my plans. As soon as I turned 16, I got a work permit from school and started working at a local movie theater. I was planning to save everything I could up for college. I worked as often as they would let me.
I thought I would get a reprieve once Randy was gone. I thought I would no longer have to be his keeper, paying off his debts.
I thought wrong.
I had already started a bad habit of helping him out.
No one but me knew about his gambling problem, and I wanted to keep it that way. I just had to keep faith that eventually he would kick the habit.
Chapter 1
Fiona
I paused outside the hospital room door, ignoring the nurses walking behind me, and the sounds of family members leaving the rooms up and down the hall. The place had that feeling of winding down for the day. It wasn’t all that noticeable. Not unless you had spent enough time there to know the difference.
Sadly, I had. I’d spent the majority of the past week in this very room. Only leaving to go home and shower once in a while.
Today had been my first day back at work. Physically anyway. The joy of cyber security - it was easy to work remotely. Considering I’d been at my job for 7 years, my bosses trusted me enough to know I would actually be working when I asked to work out of the office.
I jump-startled when a soft hand landed on my arm. Nurse Betty, with her red hair mostly still in its bun, stood next to me.
“You all right, darling?”
I gave her a soft smile, something I didn’t fully feel. It had felt good being back in my own life. Even if it was for only a few hours. Unfortunately, that made it ten times harder to go back into that depressing room.
“Yeah, Betty. Just taking a moment before I go in. I want to make sure I don’t bring any outside stress in there with me.”
She patted my arm a couple of times before removing it. “I understand. It’s hard going back and forth. But the doctor says he’ll be able to go home in a day or two.”
I closed my eyes and sighed. “That's good news.” Not.
I mean, yes obviously it was. I loved him and I wanted him home. It just meant more work for me in the long run.
With one more sigh, and a supportive pat on the shoulder from Nurse Betty, I pushed my way through the door.
I couldn’t help but smile at the grin he gave me from where he lay on the bed. Up until about three years ago, I rarely saw the man smile. Since then, though, they started coming more often. This last week, they’d been brighter than I remembered seeing since I was a little kid.
As happy as I was to see it, I wished he hadn’t had to go through all of this to get that part of him back.
“Hey, Pixie. How was work?”
I chuckled. That was another thing that had returned. The nickname. A little girl goes through one very short phase of loving fairies and dressing up like them every chance she could, and a new nickname is born.
Leave it to Dads to be embarrassing.
“Great. I was so worried I had fallen behind, but it was like I hadn’t ever left.” Except for all the hugs and well-wishers.
Everybody had offered their support and told me they missed having me around. Probably because I usually did most of the work, always helping them out once I was done with my own. And sometimes at the same time as my own.
His grin crinkled his aging face. “I’m glad to hear it. I’m so proud of you for sticking with it and not giving up.”
Dad was referring to college. He was still under the belief that I worked so many hours to help pay for my schooling, instead of taking out a bunch of student loans. Little did he know, I still took out most of it in loans. I had only worked so much to try and keep my brother above water. I also borrowed more than needed because of him.
Randy ended up losing his scholarship half way through college because he missed a lot of practices and was failing most of his classes. And, on occasion, he’d show up to one or both with bruises he always lied about. Now he was a manager for the movie theater, the same one I had worked at all through high school and college.
