Misfortune

Chapter 53

"What are you on about now?" His voice grows stern as he sighs.

"No I'm certain about this, that sweater. Its sleeve has a hole in it on the back right elbow, doesn't?"

His small smile drops into a frown," Why does it matter? When we first got here you gave me his clothes to wear, these must've been thrown in the pile."

"Three years back I hand knitted that sweater and gave it to Angus as a Christmas present so I know that I wouldn't have given it to you, now tell me what is going on!"

My adrenaline begins pumping through me as I walk over to him, rolling up his sleeve. I gasp, taking a few steps back at the sight in front of me.

He's quick to roll back down the sleeves, hiding away the almost fresh cuts on his arms.

"No, no, no," I mumble, shaking my head in disbelief. "James please. P-Please tell me that you didn't do anything to my b-brother," my voice cracks as tears flood my eyes.

"Calm down, I didn't do anything to your brother. It's as I said, he hasn't been back here since your argument."

He stares down at me with a blank expression. My breathing quickens as I brush past him.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't believe you!" I quickly run into the hall, stopping at the top of the stairs as I flick on the lights.

Nothing.

There's nothing there, not even a sign of struggle. I slowly stride downstairs, gently grazing the railing as I do. 'We were just here on this staircase. I thought I was going to fall down them with the way Angus was dragging me down. We...we're just here. '

A cloudy image of us talking things through appears in front of me as I stare at the door. "We were talking about letting each other go, finally living without the worry of being alone. I was here with him, just a few seconds ago, right? I was...it was an hour ago? Or two?"

"It never happened," James's deep voice resounds through the hall as he walks downstairs.

"It did though," I mumble, voice carrying my uneasiness. His warm presence embraces me from behind as he kisses my neck," It's okay, I know you're scared. I promise you that this was all in your head August. You're just scared of Angus not coming back because of the argument earlier, I promise you if you come back to bed he'll be here in the morning. He's not going to leave you here, not with me after all."

'My head spins as I try to figure out what's real and what's not. This happened, I know it did. Me and Angus were just now, fighting James to get off him. Not only that but we made up, everything was perfect. Everything was...back to normal. '

"August, everything you want to happen only happened in your mind. You're stuck on the idea of making up with Angus that can't see you've created a whole twist on reality, trust me everything will work out in the end," he buries his head onto my shoulder whispering," Don't force yourself to have a perfect ending, let it happen."

As if he read my mind, he somehow knew what I was thinking, what I needed to hear. I let out a long deep breath.

"I've never been so confused in my life, James," I pull out of his embrace, turning back to him. He looks down at me, gently caressing my shoulder as I continue," Please help me. I don't know what's real anymore."

The corners of his lips raise into a warm smile," That's fine August, you're just tired. Let's go back to bed, okay? We'll figure this all out tomorrow."

His soothing voice instantly makes my worries down, it always does. Whenever I feel anxious or scared, I no longer have to worry about dealing with it on my own, I have him now. And he's right, we can figure this all out tomorrow. Knowing Angus, I know that he won't leave me here with James without a fight. That's why the dream felt so real, because I portrayed my brother perfectly, he would never back down without a fight.