Warning: violence and murder

"I missed hearing your voice little sis" I heard his sinister voice. That voice which had been in all my nightmares where I would wake up panting and sweating.

That voice which I've come to hate.

"Not going to say hi to you beloved brother?"

My eyes were wide open and my jaw had dropped. I felt my throat tight and my eyes well up as my  hand was shaking trying to hold onto the phone.

"Aria what's wrong?" Alexander asked as he touched my face. I flinched and whimpered. "Who is it?" He said more loudly probably getting impatient.

"What do you want?" I asked with a small voice.

"I want my sister back"

"I want my older brother back, but I know you can't go back to that. You're a monster"

"I thought we said we would always have each other's back!" He yelled and I heard something shutter in the background. "I thought you said family is the most important thing to you. That you would never abandon your family!"

"Shut up you abandoned me!" I screamed. Alexander held my hand. He didn't know what was going on and was obviously confused but he comforted my anyway.

"I'm here" He mouthed. It gave me much more strength than I thought it would.

"I will always come back to you Aria, you know this" He chuckled. He just sounded off. Crazy.

"I don't want you to. I don't want you in my life anymore" I said sternly.

"Shut up ungrateful brat!" He yelled again probably breaking something again.

"Oh so now I'm the ungrateful brat. Tell me who supported you financially and emotionally when no one else did. I had faith in you because I was just a little girl who loved her big brother and was willing to do anything to help him. Just so I could get some respect from you" I started ranting not caring if Alexander was listening.

I didn't care about anything at this point.

"And I told you with so much happiness that I had faith in you. You remember what you did? You threw me a cold gaze, an ironic smirk and you said 'I don't give a fuck if you have faith in me'. Remember that?"

He was speechless of course. He didn't know what to answer. I knew he remembered it, but I also knew that if he had to he would deny it till I would even think I'm crazy. He was just so manipulating.

"Not to mention what you made me watch. No child should ever see that!" I yelled at him. I wanted to make him feel bad, I wanted to make him see my pain.

I just wanted him to feel as hurt as me.

"I took all the beatings for you. You used me, abused me and you have no right to talk about family to me. Now get out of my life!" I yelled and hung up. The moment I hung up I broke down crying and sobbing.

Alexander came close to me and took me in his arms.

"You can talk to me or not if you want, but I'm here. You're not alone" He whispered cradling me.

But for once I wanted to talk. I wanted to share my pain. He had already heard so much.

But right now I just couldn't utter a word, only sob.

Tomorrow I would talk to him. I would tell him everything I was too afraid to tell anyone.

-----------

I woke up in the morning in Alexander's bed but he was nowhere in sight. I remember falling asleep in his arms.

But where is he now?

I figured he would be in the kitchen since I could smell the delicious smell of muffins. I quickly got out of the covers and stood up. After I did my morning routine I made my way to the kitchen to find him.

And the muffins.

I found him facing the counter and quietly made my way towards him. I wrapped my arms around his torso and heard him chuckle.

"My sleeping beauty woke up?" He asked turning around with a magnificent smile.

"You made muffins?" I asked.

"Yes, I know my baby likes muffins so I made them" He cooed and kissed my nose. "Sit down and have breakfast" He pulled out a chair for me.

I sat on the chair and started eating. This man couldn't only cook, he could bake too.

Why is he so perfect and why is he with me?

"You like it, my sweet baby?"

These nicknames are attacking me right now.

"Are you kidding? This is so good Alex, I love it" I smiled.

"I'm glad" He said before murmuring something else under his breath with a smile.

"Alex I-I want to talk to you" I said after I had breakfast. "About my brother and everything"

He looked startled as his eyes had gone wide making me question my choice to talk to him.

"You trust me enough?"

"You've already heard enough and for once I want to share"

"Of course, whenever you want, I'll listen to you, I'm all ears let's sit on the couch"

I took a deep breath and prepared myself for all the emotions that were about to come out as I was about to go down the memory lane.

I can't believe I'll tell someone after all these years.

"My family was never a happy one. My mother and my father had a bad divorce when I was seven and my brother was eleven. Our dad wasn't really the best one but he was still our dad. Even if he would leave us from time to time" I started. "My mom tried to find love after the divorce but it ended really badly. Her "boyfriend", even though he was nice at first started to change. He would threaten to kill my mom when she would ask to breakup so she did whatever he said"

Alex was looking at me, giving me all his attention while holding my hand, but I could see the disgust in his eyes.

"My brother was only eighteen when he-when he killed him"  I whispered the last part expecting Alex to be shocked, but he remained calm. "He had tried to hit him and my brother wasn't having it. He even tried to hit me sometimes. That's when my brother went all snap mode and killed him as if it was nothing. He burnt the body and acted as if he was innocent. Our mother and everyone else thought he had gone missing, but I knew what had happened. I had seen all of it" I said bitterly.

"Our mother was silent for days. That's when she started getting drunk and blaming us for ruining her life. She said it was our fault that she had lost her chance for love, because no one wanted us. She started with just slapping me and then say she was sorry about everything but I would say it was okay. She slowly stopped saying sorry and she would be mean to me even when she was sober"

I felt my eyes well up and I had some difficulty speaking without breaking down.

"My brother was never home, he would come back really late and go straight into his room. I didn't want my mom to hit him for being late and not bringing any money home so I took all the beatings for him and I started working to bring her money"

"And you were fourteen?"

"Yes"

"Where did you work?" He asked with a clenched jaw.

"Wherever. Coffee shops, clubs anywhere. Sometimes they tried to force themselves on me so I would quit" I said ashamed of myself. He shut his eyes tightly before opening them wide. He seemed really really angry.

"Continue"

"One day my brother came back when she was beating me. He kicked her away from me and started kicking her as she was begging him to stop. I remember almost seeing tears in his eyes"

Flashback

"You like this? How does it feel now bitch?!"  He yelled kicking her like a madman.

"No! Stop please stop!" She screamed. I almost got up to help.

Almost.

He kneeled down and held her by the neck choking her.

"I'll go to hell because of you and your stupid decisions. You will die with the thought that you ruined yours and your children's life. The two humans you were supposed to love to death. How does that feel?" He spat.

"Please no, I made some mistakes but I'm you mother, I love-"

"Don't say that word!" He yelled  tightening his hands around her neck. "See you in hell. Mother" He spat the word and shot her in the head. He took out his phone and dialed a number.

I just stayed there on the floor with my blood all around me.

"I need you to come here and clean up. You know what to do" he hung up and turned to me with a soft smile.

But that soft smile wasn't my brother's smile anymore. He was a killer not my brother.

"Let's go Ari" He whispered. I stood up with all my might. He gestured for me to come to him. I collapsed once again but he caught me. "Let's go"

End of flashback

"Where did he take you?" Alex asked. I could see he was keeping in his anger and he was really angry and frustrated. His hands were slightly shaking but his leg was shaking violently.

"A weird house. It was depressing and he was never home. He would come back full of blood, cuts, bruises. Even with bullet wounds sometimes. He thought I didn't notice. I waited till I had fully recovered and escaped. It was a large trip to my uncle's house. I had to steal one of his cars when he wasn't home and I didn't really know how to drive that well. I didn't have money for fuel so most of the trip was on foot"

"How far was it?"

"Miles away. I met some really cool people on the road. Some were kind enough to give me money or food and water and a ride, but there were some bad creepy and sick people that I had to escape from. Sometimes I had to steal in order to live. I didn't want to do it but I didn't have a choice"

"I understand"

"When I arrived to his house I collapsed. I was exhausted, but he treated me as if I was his own child. I never found my dad, uncle Rob didn't know where his brother was" I shivered thinking my dad was somewhere out there.

Where was he? Why would he leave?

"What about Sarah and her brother?"

Oh I forgot about that.

"Caleb is my brother's best friend. They are loyal to each other whatever happens. They've been together since diapers just like me and Sarah. Caleb is a better person of course but I still can't trust him right now. I was scared his arrival could mean my brother was back too. I was right after all" I shook my head. I was surprised I had managed to say all of that without breaking down.

After a long pause Alex suddenly embraced me and buried his face into my neck inhaling.

"You're so strong, you're the strongest woman I know and I was wrong to think you couldn't stand up for yourself, I'm sorry. Thank you for telling me all this. I won't let your brother or anyone hurt you, you're not alone now Aria. You'll never be alone again. I'll keep you safe at any cost I promise" he vowed his voice thick with emotion.