Love Thy Brother

Unravel

Tamryn’s phone was ringing. Was it a dream or was it real? She
opened her eyes. One look at her phone showed it was Ryan trying to
reach her. She had six missed calls from him. She looked at the time
and saw it was almost 1 o’clock at night. Did something happen to
Lydia. She quickly answered when the phone rang again: “Ryan?”
“Oh, thank heavens, Sis! You must come quick!” he was out of breath.
She knew something was very wrong. She could hear it in his voice.
“Ryan, what’s wrong? Is it Lydia?” she asked frightened.
“Lydia?” he asked confused. “Oh! No! Tamryn, it’s Liam.”
Her breath got stuck in her throat: “Liam? What’s wrong with Liam? Did
he get hurt? Was he in an accident?” Her head was spinning. She was
frantic now.
“Tamryn, Liam got into Dad’s whiskey. He has been drinking all night!”
Ryan said.
“Oh!” she let out a relieved breath.
“No!” Ryan intervened: “That’s not all.
Tamryn tensed up again. “What is it, Ryan?” she asked nervously.
“He also got into Dad’s safe. He took Dad’s gun!” Tamryn took in a
sharp breath. This was certainly not the Liam she knew. But then,
thinking of what happened earlier today, did she really know Liam? But
even though, Liam never drank. It didn’t matter how he acted or how he
lied, he never ever drank! And taking Dad’s gun? That was so out of
character for him. Whose to say what he will do when he is full of
whiskey?
“Are you still there?” Ryan cut into Tamryn’s thoughts.
“Yes! What is he doing with the gun?” she asked urgently.
“He is walking up and down in front of the house. We cannot get near
him. He threatens to shoot us if we do. I’m scared that he will hurt himself, Sis. You better come down here.” Ryan was not one to easily
scare. If he was this frantic, he surely must have a reason.
Tamryn jumped out of bed and pulled on sweatpants and a t-shirt. She
ran downstairs, jumped into her car and sped to the main house at a
dangerous speed. When she got there, she saw Lydia and Ryan
standing outside, waiting for her.
“Where is he?” she asked as she jumped out of the car. Ryan pointed to
the other side of the garden where Liam was pacing up and down. In
one hand he had a whiskey bottle and in the other hand she could
clearly see Dad’s gun dangling from his fingers. She has never seen
him like this!
Without thinking, she said to Ryan and Lydia: “You two, stay here! I’ll go
and talk to him.”
“No!” Ryan grabbed her by the arm. “It’s too dangerous!”
Tamryn pulled her arm from Ryan’s grip and look at him annoyed: “Liam
will never hurt me! When I give you the signal, come and get the gun
from me.”
She walked slowly to where Liam was still pacing. A few feet away she
stopped. He was not aware of her being there. She could see he was
deep in thoughts.
“Liam,” she said softly as to not scare him. Liam stopped abruptly and
turned to her.
“Tammy?” he said surprised. “What are you doing here?” He looked
around to see who else was there with her. He saw Ryan and Lydia
standing at the other side of the garden, watching him.
“I came to get you,” Tamryn gave a slow step towards him. “I want you to
come home with me, please Liam.”
“No!” he said and started pacing again. She could sense he was tensing
up again. The gun was hanging dangerously loose in his hand. She
kept her eye on it.

“Please Liam,” she tried once more, “we can talk here if you want to.”
She went over to the bench under the tree and sat down. Liam just
ignored her and kept doing what he was doing: working himself into a
state.
“Liam please!” Tamryn was begging now. He stopped and looked at
her. She could see his eyes softening. He turned his head down and
wiped his eyes with his one arm. He walked slowly towards her and sat
down next to her. Tamryn sighed with relief. Now she just had to get
the gun from him.
“Why are you drinking?” she asked carefully. She didn’t want him to
tense up again. “And why do you have Dad’s gun?”
He looked at the objects in his hands as if he saw it for the first time. He
ignored her questions.
“This is not you! What is going on? Talk to me!” she begged again.
He looked at the whiskey bottle and the gun again and laughed softly.
“You know what?” he said and looked at her: “Take this!” He gave her
the whiskey. “It’s not even opened. I was going to drink myself into a
stupor, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
She looked at the whiskey. It was still sealed. “And for this,” Liam said
and held the gun out to her: “It’s not even loaded! I just wanted
everyone to leave me the hell alone!” He was getting worked up again.
“May I have that, please?” she asked carefully and gestured to the gun.
Liam shook his head and gave it to her. As soon as the gun was in her
hands, she stood up and walked over to Ryan. He saw she had it and
met her halfway.
“Take this damn thing and get rid of it, please!” she said in disgust. “And
here is the whiskey. He didn’t drink a drop.” Ryan took it from her
without a word. “I’m taking Liam with me. You and Lydia must also call
it a night” she just said and walked away to where Liam was still sitting
on the bench.

He was hunched over, and his head was in his hands. She knelt in front
of him and took him in her arms. She just held him. They stayed like
that for a long time.
“Let’s go home” she said softly. She got up, took his hand and pulled
him up too. “You and I are going to have a long talk” she promised.
Liam said nothing and just followed her to her car. At home she made
them each a strong cup of coffee and they went to the living room and
sat down.
“Liam, I want you to tell me everything that’s been going on. I don’t want
you to leave out anything. Even if you think it will hurt me. You tell me
everything. You hear me? No more secrets!” She put her hand against
his cheek and then she took hold of his hands.
Liam just took a deep breath. He looked into her eyes, and she saw the
new lines on his face. He was tired. It was very clear. He just nodded.
He sighed and then he started talking. He talked and talked and Tamryn
just listened. Not saying a word.
They talked until morning and then she did for him what he once did for
her. She put him to bed, gave him a sleeping pill and sat with him until
he fell asleep. She looked at the time and saw it was 7 o’clock in the
morning. It was too early to get the family together. She decided to take
a shower and get dressed. Then she would phone Ryan….