KEREN

What am I supposed to do now?

Days passed without the monotony of a typical school day. He sat on the couch, alone without classmates to interrupt his frazzled thoughts, where he played with the scout ship Ethan gave him underneath his desk, while the hologram flickered with the subject's work. The I-Screen showed nothing more than an endless abyss in his own reflection. People came and went, but none of them talked to him. He sat, alone with his schoolbag still tucked between his legs, emptied out of all his holotexts and infopods. Father took away his compearl to sort through it, before giving it back after a cold nod.

He had no friends to ask after him, anyway, and it wasn't like he missed school.

But I promised.

Keren tossed the bag over the arm of the couch and it smacked against the floorboards with an airy thump. A book sat on the coffee table, and he swiped it to flip through the pages to find a point of interest. Oh, it's Ethan's stupid noir literature... He snapped it closed to toss it to the side. His boredom flash fired through his mind as he rolled around the couch.

He stopped at light, confident footsteps from the staircase.

Ethan shuffled with his brown overcoat, hands stuffed in his pockets to toss a couple of knick knacks onto the dinner table. "Ethan?" Keren asked, causing Ethan to turn. "What am I supposed to do?"

With one more pat of his pockets, Ethan sucked in a stone-cold breath. "Well," he said with a roll of his shoulders. "I've been looking all over for my old work from when I was in your quadrum at school. I've already gathered some infopods, just need to make sure my notes aren't corrupted from lack of use." He waddled over to join him in the conversation pit of the living room. "I want you to use it. Try and keep yourself up to date on classes while... I figure stuff out."

"But Father said I wouldn't be going back."

Ethan sucked in his lips and chewed. "I know," he said. "I know. If it was up to me—"

"I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise," Keren whispered and drowned in powerlessness.

A soft scoff left Ethan's mouth. "It wasn't in your control, nor mine, it seems," he pointed out and bounced along to the words before setting a hand on his shoulder. "We will take this one day at a time." Ethan gesticulated with his pointer. Helplessness swallowed his chest when Ethan let him go with a softer sigh. "Just try not stress out over it."

I... I don't even know what to feel right now? I don't miss school, but... Keren sank into his shoulders and slumped against the back of the couch. I wish Mom was here... He didn't let the thought go voiced, the topic always left Ethan off-kilter — until Father flattened him the rest of the way. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, what makes you ask?"

Phantom electricity skittered up his spine, but he shifted to stifle it. "Would you tell me if you weren't?"

Ethan gazed at him. Broken moonlight scattered across a green-tinted lake. Keren frowned when he ruffled his hair. "I have to go to the casino. I probably won't be back until later. I, uh, left some food for you in the cooling unit." He threw his thumb over his shoulder before sending one last hasty pat onto his back. "You can call me, or Jesti, if you need anything—"

Keren hugged his arm to keep his brother in his life. Ethan flinched and stiffened at the simple touch. A noiseless sigh fluttered out of his shoulders, and he came closer when Ethan wrapped his arm around him to poke him in the side of his head. "There's a chance I can swing by between my shifts, if I can get someone else to cover my tables..."

"Is... Is card dealing fun?"

"Why?"

I just... want someone to talk to.

Ethan slumped against the couch. "It's okay. Fun depending on who's playing," Ethan revealed.

"And you do that all the time?"

"For the most part. Just making sure the house always wins."

The family always wins.

His grip slacked on Ethan's arm, and he released him. "At least you have fun."

"You won't be stuck here," Ethan remarked with a squeeze of his shoulders, then checked his wristpad when it beeped an alert. "I gotta head to the casino. You need anything?"

I just want my family...

Keren shook his head against the pain of his thoughts. "No. I'll see you when you get home." He raised his hands to block the incoming affection when Ethan tapped his cheeks with a playful smile. His fingers found his forearm to push him off, scrambling for control when Ethan chuckled and ruffled his hair once more before leaving him there, on the couch, alone. Ethan swiped his prismkeys with a cluck of departure his way with a single, sharp wave before the door shut on him.

Goodbye...

A clock ticked somewhere in the house.

He timed his leg bouncing to the sound.

Ugh. An idea fluttered on the tip of his tongue. Hm.

Off the couch, he crept upstairs to Ethan's room. With him out of the way, he had a chance to snoop for anything interesting, a win-win if he found Ethan's old notes. Lose-lose if he found nothing and Ethan caught him snooping. But he's not home. He won't be home for a while. Where's his deck of cards? Keren overturned his infopods, then peeked into his cupboards. His fingers found a keychain — the one Mother got Ethan. It fell into his palm, and he set it on his desk to take out books from his small bookcase, with the added additions of Mom's books.

Keren stared at the out of place books before taking one into his hands. Is this where he put all of Mom's old stuff? He pressed the hardcover against his chest. He did it all by himself... he wouldn't let me help. Keren put it back to leave his room, bereft of anything to keep him entertained. Back on the first floor, he tucked his hands in his pockets and waited by the front entrance.

Irritation dug at his heels, and he left the silent house. Wind whispered through his ears, and he smoothed out his flyaway hair. The casino isn't that far... I can walk that distance. Jokes on you, Ethan. He headed for the gate to the small community, where Father knew most, if not all the people within, though Ethan always left to hang out with Jesti instead of Urto, who lived down the street from them.

It was a quiet day in Roxton, but he kept to himself as he crossed streets and kept inside pedestrian barriers. He stopped at an intersection, where the corner into North Park hid the horror which stole both Ethan and Mom's smile. Knives pierced his heart, and his imagination did him no favors, so he continued on, keeping to the edge of the city center, where the crowds and traffic worsened into a roar of activity.

The casino rose above to cast its light through the resting nightlife in its shadows. Clubs. Bars. Keren sniffed and hurried up the sidewalk, but slammed to a stop when a guard at the side entrance glanced at him. One of Father's, the smaller man breathed in a plume of smoke from their cigarette before flicking it to the side with an unheard scoff. "Oi," he said with a point at him, though the burly man close to the door didn't move. "What are you doing here so far from home, Keren?"

"I need to talk to Ethan."

Both of them eyed each other. "He's busy with the boss, kid, sorry," he said with a light shrug. "Why didn't you call him?"

"I did, but he didn't answer, and I got worried," Keren lied, a little white fib in the same vein Ethan used to take the heat of his mistake in pushing him to go to the spaceship museum.

He's with Father? What are they doing? Keren bit on his lip, but the electricity from before didn't return down his spine. "It's important. If you can't get Ethan, can I talk to Chalen at least? Is he busy?"

The small man studied him, then sighed. "Alright, I'll go get Chalen and you can talk to him," he said and went inside. "Boss won't be happy that he wandered over here..." Keren frowned at the mumbled comment.

It left the last hurdle, the burly individual who Keren didn't want to test from the way his gaze remained locked on him. But I need to see Ethan. I need... something. How can he expect me to just stay in the house and do nothing all day? Irritation swallowed his throat, and when he approached the burly man, his back straightened out.

"He'll be right back with Chalen," he said before slipping out his own smoke to stick it between his lips. "Just sit tight."

Keren clenched his fists when he flicked a lighter, over and over underneath the tip. "Celestials damned thing." He tossed it to the ground to crack it underneath the heel of his boot. "You. Stay here." He went through the employee entrance, closing it behind him.

Yeah, right, I don't listen to Ethan when he tells me to stay somewhere. Keren waited the crucial seconds before slipping past the door, checking around the corners. Music rang out with the rattle of slot machines and the ringing of victory, the guard headed to the front counter, his back turned to him. Sprung to action, he kept himself against the wall to follow the maze of the employee corridors.

He ducked around another corner at the sight of card tables, but no Ethan, Jesti took a seat, flicking out cards to the players when they pushed their exal into the center before starting the chain into the winning winch. Where is he? Keren continued on before the guard noticed his disappearing act.

Knees against the ground, he attached himself to the spiraling staircase leading into the basement. Just check down here, I can do this. On the final landing, he hesitated at a distant, too human screech, drowned out by the rattling machines upstairs.

What was that?

He opened the door, where it led into a thin hallway and doused the sounds of chance behind him. Voices ahead spurred him forward, especially when Ethan's soft inflection interrupted a sharp word. Too far away to hear the conversation, he came closer, to shout out his brother's name when he squeezed past the swinging doors blocking out the crimson light.

One insult, one rule broken, with him safe behind a barrier box.

Blood splattered concrete at the lunge of a beast released from a cage.

In a flash of claws, the scream died.

Bile burned his throat when the beast snapped its jaws with a squelch of sinew, and the broken mirror glanced his way.

One step back.

Worlds fell into slow motion when Ethan vaulted over the couch he leaned against as the Gorgot bellowed and lunged at whatever dared to try and crawl away.

... did I just...?

"Keren—" Ethan wrapped his arms around him and brought him closer. His hand rested against the back of his head. Water pricked at the borders of the universe, and he raised his hands to cling to Ethan's back, but crimson splattered against whatever innocence he hid behind. Ethan used his body to move him farther out of reach of the slavering beast, but he slammed to a stop when harder footsteps echoed behind him.

"Ethanius."

Father.

Keren twisted around and Ethan latched his arms around his front.

Father glared down at him. "He snuck in," he observed. "Ethan, take him upstairs to the VIP lounge. I'll come up to have a discussion with him."

"Come," Ethan whispered above his head and pushed him out of the thin corridor.

"Ethan—" Ethan squeezed his bones and tugged him up the staircases, a harried expression twisting his features. "Ethan, I'm sorry—"

Out of the employee corridor, Keren stumbled when Ethan tossed him into a closed off lounge with a circling conversation pit before shutting the door and locking them both in the room.

"Ethan?" Keren rasped, causing his older brother to look at him. "What was that?"

No words justified the tormented crimson splattered against concrete.