JESSIE
WHAT CAN I say about my brother. He's narcissistic, he's emo, he's a pain in my ass. That about sums him up. Ever since he turned fourteen he's been even more. . . what's the word I'm looking for. . . teenager-ish. Of course, most of that is probably because he's now in high school, and to be honest he never was the most mentally innocent. Especially with that music he listens to. I don't get why he likes that stuff. It's all depression! Death! Suicide! Loud guitar and guys with high pitched voices! Bleh. I just don't understand. Someday he's gonna get out of it. Same way someday he's gonna hit puberty, and hard. I can hardly wait for that day. He's always going around the house, bragging about 'oh, I have muscles and I'm only fourteen. Oh, I've sounded like this since I was twelve, I guess puberty likes me.' I swear someday, I'm gonna kill him for his bragging. (Not really, but he gets really sassy at me and it's annoying.) Hey, I'm his big brother. It's my job to hate him. Plus, he sounds like a girl. Not even joking. His voice is so high-pitched that he sounds female. Sad thing is though, he's most likely going to be one of those guys that look like they didn't go through puberty. Lucky him.
   Now, I can't always be angry at him though, because of his stupid mental thingy. Hyperactive brain, I think is what it was. When Vee was three, he'd have these random times when he's super upset and Mom and Dad had no idea what was wrong, so they took him to this brain doctor guy and the guy tested him. He came back and told my parents that nothing was really wrong with Vee, he just had a hyperactive brain. Meaning, if he didn't have anything to focus his mind on, he'll get upset, and that he could learn and comprehend things quicker than others his age. Apparently languages are the only exception, though. Maybe learning a whole new language confuses his brain or something, but he was the last one of us to learn English.
   He looks the most human out of our family, after Mom. Mom's half Choronus, but Dad's full, so we are pretty much two-thirds Choronus. Gwen and I got the full Choronus appearance, but Vee skipped out on the ears. He still has a tail and teeth and the eyes and senses, but he doesn't have cat ears.
I walked out into the kitchen after everybody had gotten home to find something to eat. I opened the fridge to search for the chicken I had stored earlier today and found that it was nowhere to be seen. I growled to myself and shouted, "OCTAVEUS."
"What do you need?" He shouted back, an annoyed tone in his voice. "I'm currently busy."
"What did you do with the plate of chicken in the fridge?" I yelled.
"I ate it, what else would I do?" He replied. "You really should have tried some, it was delicious."
   I sighed angrily. "That was MINE."
"Well, maybe you should have labeled it."
"I did."
"Well, label it better."
I followed the sound of his voice to his room and slammed open the door. He was sitting on his bed shirtless with his guitar in his lap, tuning the strings. "Wow, just barge right in, why don't you." He said, glaring at me. "I could've been doing naughty things in here."
"Why did you eat my chicken?" I asked.
"Because I was hungry and couldn't see your name on it." Vee replied, tuning the highest string on his guitar.
I sighed angrily, clenching my teeth to refrain from yelling at him. He acted so annoyingly calm, at the same time taunting me to try him. I was tempted to. "Are you trying to get yourself a broken nose, or are you just that dumb?"
"Well, that depends," he replied in a calm tone, testing the string. A high-pitched ring came out of the guitar, a sound that I found extremely agonizing, but my brother seemed to be satisfied and moved on to tuning the string just below it. "If you're dumb enough to take the bait."
I was about to respond when Gwen's friend Anna walked over. "Hey, Vee-- and you're not wearing a shirt." She began then changed her sentence after she saw him, stopping in the doorway beside me. Her face was pink. I rolled my eyes at her. It was obvious that she liked Vee; it was also obvious that her face was red, not because she was embarrassed at seeing Vee shirtless. She may act innocent, at least around us, but she's thirteen. Only just over a year younger than Vee. Her mind is not innocent. Besides, Vee walks around the den shirtless literally every day (until Mom yells at him to put a shirt on). It's not like she hasn't seen him without a shirt before.
Vee looked up at her casually from tuning his guitar, his fingers still on the strings. "Yes?"
"Uh," She stuttered, staring very not-discreetly at my brother's muscular upper body. "Your dad asked me to get you. He wants to talk to you."
Vee curled his lip and put his guitar away, stretching, then limping out of the room. I gave Anna a glare that she didn't see as she watched Vee walk down the hall. 'Stop staring at my brother's butt, pervert,' I thought. His jeans were low-waisted and tight, which probably wasn't good for him if he didn't want her staring at him. Or any girl, for that matter.
Let's just get one thing straight: I don't despise showing affection; I just don't like it. Especially after high school. It wasn't surprising that it happened; Fleur males sort of have a reputation for being good-looking. Which is why I feel. . . I guess I could say overprotective of Octaveus. But that doesn't mean I don't hate him. I've seen how girls look at him like he's a meal, and he doesn't even notice. It doesn't help that he's muscular either. That just contributes to the teenage girl's vision of a hot guy. Sometimes I think he got two upsides to being a dessie; or maybe just one big upside. He is literally the perfect image of a male emo angel for teenage girls, just minus the wings. And it doesn't help that he acts so friendly to nice people. Girls take it as flirting and flirt back, even if he doesn't like them that way. And don't even get me started on his clothing.
The same thing goes for Anna. She and Vee have known each other for almost ten years; it was natural for them to feel something for each other. But Vee sees her as a sister, he's told me himself. Anna, on the other hand, is the opposite, as I partially explained earlier. And it does not help that Vee lets her spend the night with him, either. I mean, I sort of understand it. When he was younger, he was always afraid of storms; whether it was a thunderstorm or just heavy rain, he was scared. I think he's still scared of storms; whenever it's storming he sits in his room with headphones listening to music and doing something on his phone until the storm is over. Anyways, normally the times that Anna ends up sleeping in his room with him is usually when he's scared (though he never admits it) or when he has nightmares.
   Ever since he was eleven he'd been having nightmares, some of which are recurring, but each time he has one he wakes up screaming. Now, though, it's downgraded to him waking up sobbing instead of screaming. No one can go in his room to comfort him when he wakes up crying, though, because he'll get angry; well, no one but Anna, if she's already in there.
I was about to go follow Vee down the hall when he came back, holding his phone, going back into his room and plopping back down on his bed. He picked up his guitar again and finished tuning the lowest string, then tested it; a low rumble came out of the guitar.
"That was quick," I commented.
"Yeah, apparently I left my phone in the bathroom," he responded.
Anna gave him an odd look. "Why was your phone in the bathroom with you in the first place?"
"What, a guy's not allowed to guard his property?" Vee said defensively. Anna shrugged. Vee got up again.
"Well, I should probably shower now, before Gwen uses all the hot water." He said, and I rolled my eyes.
"You use all of the hot water, Oc." I sighed. "You're so obsessed with your hair, you have to get it just right."
He glared at me. "Just because I want to keep my hair healthy and looking good is not anything against you," he said, walking out of his room and across the hall to the bathroom. "Even if you don't."
I was about to charge at him but he slammed the bathroom door before I could. "Stupid, annoying little--" I cussed him out as I stalked away.

OCTAVEUS DREAM
I was walking down a deserted path through the woods alone. Trees were on either side of the trail, and sunlight dappled the green undergrowth through the canopy. 'This is nice,' I thought. I came across a clear blue lake and went up to the water for a drink. When my hands touched the water, the surface turned black. I jumped back in surprise.
   The black spread over the lake and ground, consuming all color and making everything dead and shades of grey and black and white. Except me. I already was. The lake dried out in a matter of seconds, revealing a deep chasm.
   Voices called out to me.
   "Why don't you jump?" A horribly familiar voice taunted me. "No one will miss you. You're just a worthless waste of space. No one needs you." I tried to shake the thoughts out of my head, but they just got worse, agreeing with the voice. 'Get away. What is the point of staying if I'm not needed? If I'm not wanted? Why don't I just end their suffering? Maybe they'll be happier after I'm gone.
   'One move is all it takes.' I picked up a sharp rock. 'Don't worry; dying isn't painful. Give yourself and everyone else peace.
   'They won't miss me.'

OCTAVEUS
I woke suddenly, the thoughts ringing in my head. 'They won't miss me.' Anna rubbed my back with one hand comfortingly. She was half asleep on my bed, her eyes closed. I rolled over, wrapping my arms around her waist and laying my head on her shoulder, glad for her comfort. I tried to ignore it. 'Waste of space. No one will miss you. Worthless.' I started shaking. Anna felt me shaking and held me tighter, stroking my hair. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep again, but I couldn't. I waited until Anna got up and left before grabbing my pocket knife and flicking it open.