The Cole Brothers

The Cole House

Travis: 22

Dylan: 19

Brad: 16

Alex: 14

    "Come on, Travis, let up just this once!" I was sitting in the living room, listening to Brad beg Travis to go out tonight. Travis likes to have fun too, but when it comes to his rules, he's steadfast. 

  "No, Brad, you know the rules. No going out on a school night especially if you haven't finished your fucking chores and I haven't even gotten you for that, so I suggest you stay out of my way for now." Travis is a stickler for chores, ever since mom and dad passed several years back he makes sure to keep the house tidy, in case of a CPS visit. Travis is our legal guardian and to ensure that we all get to stay together, they will come and check up on us every now and again just to make sure our "wellbeing" is still intact or whatever that means. His voice gave me a chill down my spine, he must not be having a good day. I can understand, Brad knows how to push buttons. "Come on ple-" Brad gets cut off and then a loud thud. I turn around towards the kitchen to see what's going on and Travis has Brad pinned against the wall with his hand smushing his face into it. From there, he grabs Brad by his neck and throws him on the ground, climbs on top of him, and delivers a sharp punch to his arm. I can hear Brad's winces, he's struggling, but there's no way he's gonna win against Travis' grip. 

     "I told you to shut up about it!" With every word, Travis punches Brad all over, but his face. "And that's for you not doing your chores! Now, I told you stay out of my fucking way or you won't be able to walk straight for a week, got it?" Brad just nods his head and Travis climbs off of him and walks toward the stair in the back of the kitchen, up to his room. Brad lets out a series of groans and rolls over on his stomach and puts his face in his hands. I know he's feeling those hits still. I can't help, but to stare, it's always nice to see him get put in his place after all the shit he puts me through. Once he starts to push himself up, I quickly turn back around in my seat on the couch, careful not to make eye contact with him, because I can assure you he's not in a good mood. Thankfully he turns to the stairs and walks up to our room. I can never tell exactly what's going through my brothers minds, which bothers me. I know that Travis is the scariest and the most serious, but I can still never tell if he's gonna get mad at something random or brush it off. 

   After the whole debacle between Brad and Travis, I finished watching TV and then headed up to mine and Brad's shared room to do some homework that I've been pushing off for too long. On the way up, I pass my brother, Dylan, and at the last minute he sticks his foot out to trip me. I trip up the stairs catching myself, but letting out an "oof!" 

     "Watch where you're going, dweeb." He chuckles and saunters off. Dylan is definitely the most laid back of my brothers, but he likes to have his fun. I just roll my eyes and keep going, it's better not to encourage them. I walk into my room and Brad is glued to the Xbox. He barely turns around, just to tell me "Get out." 

    "No way, I gotta do homework." He must still be in a bad mood, Brad has the worst temper out of all of us and he tends to take it out on me. I really don't wanna push him, but I gotta get this project done, it's due tomorrow and I concentrate best at my desk. 

  "I don't care, go do it at the kitchen table." His eyes stay stuck to the TV. 

  "No." I stand firm, hoping that he'll just back off. It's my room too and I know that we have had that conversation with Travis at least a million times. 

"Alright, dickhead I'll give you to the count of five." He turns around and I know that he's not kidding. "Brad, quit, I didn't even do anything." I start to get a lump in my throat, sitting down at my desk, and digging through my backpack trying to ignore him. "1, 2" He starts counting and I almost want to call Travis or Dylan "3, 4" He gets up from his gaming chair and starts to walk over to me, I look up from my backpack and my desk. My heart starts beating faster the closer he gets. Screw it, I don't care if I look like a pussy.