"Good morning," Koa said from the kitchen when he saw Kio enter the room.

Kio was acting standoffish as usual holding his arm to his chest. He refused to make eye contact with Koa and placed himself in the farthest chair from his brother. Koa didn't see anything wrong with Kio. Koa didn't understand. He figured his brother was only acting jealous, so he ignored him.

"Did you sleep okay?" Koa asked wanting to break the awkward tension in the room. The silence made his guilt worsen.

Kio just shrugged refusing to answer any questions as he stared off into space. Koa made some scrambled eggs and toast for both him and Kio, gently setting Kio's plate in front of him and taking his seat. Kio looked at the food and stuck his tongue out before pushing it away.

"I'm not hungry," he mumbled before disappearing up the stairs his fuzzy pink slippers making no noise as they carried him away.

Koa let out a long deep sigh as he ran his hands through his tangled hair. The piercing pain in his heart was back once again. The pain stabbed at the pulsing muscle like a million tiny knives making Koa feel sick. But the knives would never actually kill him they would just torture him for the rest of his life. Over time they would either fade away or they'd start to grow bigger and stab harder until he couldn't take it anymore.

Koa tried to ignore, he tried to push his feelings away, he tried to forget.

. . .

Kio refused to talk to Koa even after they left their house. Kio dressed himself in a thick sweater and sweatpants. Though it was particularly warm that October even for Texas. Kio stuck his nose in the air when he saw his brother lifting his heavy backpack over his shoulder. Since their mother was busy the boys were escorted to and from school by Miss Nanny, their nanny.

Miss Nanny was an odd woman who wasn't much of a nanny. But she was the only one willing to stay with such a devilish pair of twins. Miss Nanny wasn't her real name the twins had deducted this years ago. She never gave a first name. When asked what to be called she only answered Miss Nanny.

Miss Nanny was a strong old woman in her late sixties maybe even seventies no one knew. She wore a mean growl on her wrinkled old face her small blue eyes poking out of the folds of her skin like zits. The twin's mother hired her to drive them to and from school, clean up after them on weekdays, and tend to the yard on weekends.

Miss Nanny barely spoke, with her mouth that is. Her angry little eyes communicated all you needed to know. She was not to be messed with. Even the twins who messed with nearly everyone kept their distance from old Miss Nanny. Instead, they made up stories about her. Stories where she was a troll, a mutant octopus villain, a pirate captain, etc. At least they used to. They'd grown out of things like that.

Miss Nanny didn't ask the boys what they were fighting over frankly she couldn't care less. Anyone else would've found it disturbing the way they sat far apart staring out their separate windows. Anyone who cared about them would have noticed right away.

As soon as Miss Nanny pulled up to the school Kio was already out of the car wrestling his backpack onto his back and marching up the stone steps. He left the car door open, but he didn't care. He passed the ornate flower bushes carefully placed around the elegant steps without a second glance.

He didn't even stop to look at the gorgeous fountain. Students sat around its edge like always talking, reading, or just staring into its gorgeous crystal blue water. Hundreds of coins shimmering underneath its translucent surface.

Koa jumped out making sure to shut both doors before quickly following his brother, "Look I'm sorry okay," he practically shouted when he caught up to him, he didn't mean for his words to sound so angry.

Kio simply turned his nose in the air refusing to answer his brother. Why was he so desperate to talk to him right now? If he was trying to ignore him then why wasn't he doing it?

"Look we can hang out together, just you and me whenever you like, please just talk to me?" Koa begged.

He knew he was only making it worse by begging but the agonizing stabbing locked within his rib cage hurt so much more when he felt lonely. And nothing made him feel lonelier than when Kio refused to talk to him. That's why they made a deal to act as if nothing happened.

Kio didn't answer picking up the pace a little as he headed through the large glass doors of Stamford Preparatory School the jewel of their little town. He hurried through the bustling crowd of students towards his locker where he could be away from his brother.

Koa's locker was far from Kio's. Even though he desperately wanted to convince his brother to talk to him he decided it was best to leave him alone, at least for now.

Koa walked to his own locker his head hung so low you could barely see it. He let the fast-moving people run into him not caring to apologize when they did. He dragged his feet along the overused tile floor dirting his perfect white sneakers with long black marks. He practically ran into Sophie who was waiting for him by his locker.

Koa leapt back in surprise, the shock of seeing her waking him out of his zombie-like daze. What was she doing hanging around his locker? This never happened before.

"Are you alright?" She asked in her sweet southern accent reading the clear signs of stress on his tired sun-kissed face, the tan leftover from summer camp.

"I'm fine," he muttered unlocking his locker and shoving his backpack inside trying not to look at the many pictures of him and his brother he taped on the door. They looked so happy.

"You don't look so good did you get enough sleep last night? I hope I didn't keep you out too late?"

"No it's fine, I'm fine," he said awkwardly trying not to look into her soft brown eyes, innocent and sweet like her.

"Do you want something?" he spat, "I mean is there something you wanted to tell me," he stumbled over his words his cheeks turning a faint pink.

Why couldn't he just act normal? He wanted to kick himself for sounding so stupid. He could feel his body burning up, did he look as guilty as he felt? What did the people who passed him think? Could they tell he was hiding something? Was it that obvious? Those two girls whispering over by the drinking fountain were they whispering about him?

"Yes I do. I was wondering if you were going to the school's Halloween party with anyone," Sophie said mildly regretting her choice to ask him.

There was something wrong with him. Maybe he's nervous. She was the first girl he'd ever been out with. He's probably just shy. Sophie smiled softly telling herself to cut him some slack.

"Would you like to go together?" she asked.

"Yeah sure, sounds like fun," Koa said a little too loudly, a false smile plastered on his guilty face.

"Do you want me to pick you up?"

"Could you," Koa mumbled scratching the back of his head he stared down at her leather boots to avoid making eye contact.

"Yeah, sure I'll pick you up around eight," Sophie said with a smile.

She softly patted his shoulder before skipping off to class. She made sure to hurry so she could meet up with her friends beforehand.

"See you then," Koa said with a smile and a wave but Sophie had already hurried off her textbooks held close to her chest, her cowboy boots echoing through the emptying halls of the school as the other teens rushed off to their classes.

Koa forced the smile to stay put until she turned the corner then he quickly turned to his locker and punched it. A few students jumped at the sudden loud noise, but then they continued on their way as if it were nothing.

Koa rested his head on the hard red metal slowly tracing his his finger over the tiny dent his fist made. His hand hurt. He would probably have bruises on his knuckles in the morning. His heart was pounding like a lion, an injured lion. The little swords of guilt stabbed his very soul. He could feel them grasping at his throat trying to choke him.

Koa began focusing on his breaths and only his breaths. Soon he managed to calm down. The bell rang throughout the halls its loud sound pounding against Koa's skull. He kicked his locker one last time before hurrying off to class. He tried to plan out how he would break the news to his brother that he wasn't going to spend Halloween with him like every other year.

. . .

Kio tried not to cry as he pushed on his overly large backpack trying to force it into his locker. It wouldn't fit because he brought Elliot with him. He just couldn't be alone today. The bandages under his sleeve itched terribly, but he avoided the urge to scratch them.

He was finding it harder to keep his tears in his eyes as the morning progressed, he was worried he would start wailing in front of everyone. He wouldn't be the first high schooler to do so but that wouldn't stop the others from laughing.

He shook his head holding back the tears he pictured a little imaginary wall blocking them from leaving his eyes. He grunted like an animal as he pushed on the backpack. But it refused to go in. He kicked his locker trying not to let his tears escape in front of everyone. People were already staring. 

The worst thing he could do was bring out his big stuffed elephant. But how else was he supposed to get the backpack to fit? What was he supposed to do? He couldn't just haul his backpack to class.

"Here let me help you with that," Alejandro Sanchez a kid from Kio's class offered holding out his well-manicured hand.

Alejandro was incredibly handsome with a smooth dark tan, gelled-over black hair that shimmered from the lights on the ceiling, dark sparkling eyes, and teeth whiter than pearls. He was tall, slim, and very fast. Built for his role as captain of the soccer team.

 He wore expensive clothes and top-notch shoes made for professional athletes. Just about every girl who knew him had some kind of crush on him. You could always see them roaming around the halls trying to get his attention.

"Thank you," Kio said stepping back embarrassingly.

Alejandro pulled the backpack back out of the locker and readjusted it, then with one strong arm, he managed to shove it inside.

"Thank you," Kio muttered again, before nervously shutting the door.

"No problem," Alejandro said flashing a pearly white smile at Kio before tussling his moppy hair. 

He strolled off people gathering around to tell him how kind he was.

Kio flattened his hair he could still feel Alejandro's hand running through it. He quickly locked his locker avoiding the strangely familiar feeling growing in his gut. Fear filled his body as sweat poured down his back. Not again.

The bell rang unexpectedly startling Kio into jumping like a scared deer. Luckily no one was around to see it. He made sure to grab his textbook then ran to class his shoes squeaking on the floor. The brothers were running from opposite halls and almost ran into each other on their way into the classroom. Koa apologized and Kio ignored him pushing his older brother out of the way.

The twins always sat together in every class they took since preschool. They were always given the same class schedule and they always took the same extra-curricular activities. But Kio didn't feel like sitting together today he took his desk and pushed it as far away from Koa as he could until it was butted up against his neighbor's. He grudgingly took a seat upset that he couldn't be any further, then opened his textbook.

Koa sat down feeling like he lost a game. He could reach his brother's desk from where he sat but it felt like they were a thousand miles apart. He let out a sigh as he leaned his head on his hand. He stared past a few heads until he was looking out the window praying that he would fall into a daydream. One that would take him away from this ugly reality.