* THOMAS *

I followed him down the corridors but found him nowhere. Only after a few moments did I notice that someone was standing in the distance.

"Mitch? " I walked closer with the gun pointed at the man.

But the guy who came out of the dark wasn't my brother. It was Bucho.

"Surprise. " He smiled sheepishly and came a few steps closer.

"Where's Mitch? " I asked right away.

"He's busy. " He threw up his arms.

"Where's my brother?! " I repeated.

"Really? " Bucho raised his eyebrows up. "After everything he did to you..." Said and came closer to me again. "You still calling him your brother? " Man looked into my eyes. "Think... He's not your brother anymore. He never was. You're alone, Thomas... There's no one left. "

"You think so? " I narrowed my eyes.

"Your friends won't help you..." He continued. "Neither they... Neither your beautiful, green-eyed girl. They'll die in battle for you, which is very noble of them. " He put one hand to the heart. "But that's all... Look around... Everyone you love dies. First your parents... Now friends and your girlfriend... Stop it and be finally killed. Otherwise it won't all end. You'll watch them all die and you won't be able to do anything about it. " Man stood in front of me. "It;ll be better... Just as simply as in the world, you'll finally die. " Added and pulled the gun from his belt, and after a while there was a roar of a shot.

I looked at myself, but nothing happened to me, except that Bucho's blood spurted right at me. I looked at him. Bucho stared at me for a moment, then turned back to the direction the shot was coming from.

"But..." He began, but didn't finish because his killer interrupted his words.

"Plans have changed. " Mitch said and shot him again, and this time he finally killed him. "You should've died the first time. " Added.

My breathing quickened. I didn't know what had just gone wrong here, but seeing my brother I immediately came to my senses. I looked at him and he looked at me, and I took a step forward toward him, my gun in my hand. Mitch did the same.

I looked at him and didn't know what to say. Now I was in a total confusion, and one question was still circulating in my mind.

"That's true? " I asked my brother with tears in my eyes.

Mitch didn't know what I meant at first, but he figured it out when I finished the sentence.

"That you killed them..." I felt tears running down my cheeks. "That's true...? "

Rapp said nothing. He stared straight into my eyes, in which for a moment I could see tears.

"I did what it, but I had to. " He replied after a moment.

"You just killed our parents to get into some goddamn gang?! " I shouted. "What did they do to you, huh?! You were supposed to kill your family so why am I still alive?! " I let my emotions explode. "Why?! Finally tell the truth! Just this one bloody time! "

"I had to! " Rapp shouted. "I had no choice! "

"There's always a choice, Mitch! "

"I didn't have it. " Man came a step closer. "I had to kill them or they would've killed you! They said that if the debt was to go off, I was to kill my parents. They said, "Kill the parents who have few years left anyway. Kill them or we'll kill your brother."

I didn't answer anything, just waited for the rest of the story.

"And you know what is the worst of all this?! " Rapp continued. "That they knew about it... "

"What? " I blinked a few times to ward off tears. "Who knew? "

"Our parents..." Mitch began. "They knew I would've to kill them... They knew I wanted to get into the gang and they knew what I had to do. From where? I told them myself. And they only replied... "Then kill us ..." He said with tears in his eyes. "Save your brother and kill us. Our life is coming to an end anyway, we have our years. Save your brother..." He repeated their words. "When they got out of that damn car then... They looked at me and smiled that one last time... And I killed them... "

I listened to all this and didn't believe what I was hearing.

"Why...? " I asked after a while. "Why did you want to join the gang?"

"It was a payment of the debt..." Rapp replied.

"Payment? " I asked. "For what? "

"For saving our father..." He said. "Remember... Do you remember when someone framed our father for murder? He was facing a life sentence, and we all knew perfectly well that if father went to jail, we would've nothing to live on. Mom was completely broken... She knew the evidence was too strong to prove his innocence. That's why I asked them for help. I knew I might regret it, but I did it anyway. I wanted to protect our family. " He looked into my eyes. "I knew they would want something in return, but I was ready to do anything to protect my family. They wanted to recruit me earlier, and the situation with my father made it easier for them. They wanted to recruit me... And they did it. They needed me... And our parents figured out that thanks to me our father was free... They just let me kill them. " A tear ran down his cheek.

I said nothing. Everything he said shocked me even more. More tears ran down my cheeks, and I wiped them quickly and listened to my brother's further words.

"As our father worked in the prosecutor's office, they needed his help, so he lived where they let him. Only later, when father found out that I was working with them and passing them his materials... " His voice broke for a moment. "He tried to drag me away from them, and when they found out about it, they ordered me to kill them. I didn't know the whole truth then. Only after the fact I guess that I was really only supposed to kill them because they knew too much... "

"Would you change your mind when you knew that father simply wanted to save his own son?"

"I don't know. " He replied, "I was an ordinary, stupid kid who took his older friends' word for it and wanted to save his father and family!" "

"And a moment later he put a bullet in his head himself! You killed Bard's family too! " I added.

"If I had known they were so sneaky..." He interrupted me. "I would never do that. "

"You think I'll believe you? " I asked through my tears. "You lied to me all this time! "

"I'm sorry..." He said, which surprised me. "I'm sorry... "

"It won't return them to me..." I felt a tear run down my cheek. "Your 'sorry', won't return me neither parents nor brother... " I added.

"You're right..." Rapp replied. "It won't. "

"Could I've done something...? " I asked after a while feeling more tears running down my cheeks.

Mitch looked at me in surprise.

"Could I've done something...?" I repeated the question. "I could've done something to save them...? " I asked through my tears.

My brother looked at me for a moment without saying anything. There were tears in his eyes, too, but he wouldn't let them flow out.

"No. " Replied after a long moment. "You couldn't..." Added.

I looked him in the eye a moment longer, then lowered my gun with resignation.

"Tommy..." I heard my brother's voice so I looked at him. "I had no choice..." Said, and after a while there was another boom of the shot.

Only this time the bullet hit me directly. I looked shocked for the last time at my brother, and after a while I fell to my knees and fell into the darkness, in which I heard a voice that I knew well.

"Oh, Tommy..." The voice echoed in my head. "You should've run..."