Brotherhood

Boys

Carter walked into the house to be met by shouting gunfire. "Glen! Glen! Left flank!" William shouted. "Got it!"

*BOOM!*

An explosion sounded from the TV Speakers, as Glen destroyed an enemy tank. "Watch out for the mines!" Glen shouted. "Boys!" Carter's shouting caught the two boy's attention. "Quiet down, that's far too loud." Carter warned them. "Ok." They both muttered before turning back to their game. Carter sat at the table filling out some paperwork. He was going to have to fight his dad in court so he could get custody of the little sister he never knew existed. Their father was an alcoholic, and would abuse him and his brothers. Their parents got divorced and he would spend hours at strip clubs and bars. When Carter was 15, he took his brothers and ran away from home. They lived on the streets for a couple of months, before getting taken by the government and put into an orphanage. When Carter turned 18, he fought for guardianship of his younger brothers and managed to get them from his father. That was years ago, and Carter is now 20, and working to support his four brothers. William and Glen are both 15. They're twins and spend most of their time together. Hector was a bit different from the rest. He was 16 and worked, but he rarely ever talked to anyone and was obsessed with knives. Henry was 18 and helped Carter make money. Both Carter and Henry worke long hours to make ends meet, and throwing a little girl into the mix would complicate things further. But Carter loved his new little sister and after discussing it with the family, they all agreed to welcome her into their home. Carter was broken from his concentration, as he heard someone walk through the front door. It was Henry. He took his shoes off, before wiping his brow and wandering into the kitchen. "How was work, Hen?" Carter called out, while reading through some information on Violet. "Gah, tiresome. As usual." Henry sat next to Carter with a bag of chips. "How's everything going?" He asked, shoving a few potato chips in his mouth. "Eh, not horrible. I'm going to have to appear in court next week." He said, as he filled out another line on the paper. Henry took a deep breath before exhaling heavily. "Everything alright?" Carter placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. He nodded slowly. "We all agreed to let this kid into our house, but five mouths to feed is already a lot." He rubbed his eyes. "And toddlers aren't easy work." "Henry. Everything is going to be alright. Trust me." Carter comforted his brother compassionately. "Hey, Henry." A deep, gruff voice could be heard behind them. They both turned to see Hector raiding the kitchen refrigerator. He grabbed a bottle of Pepsi, before joining his brothers at the table. He opened his bottle, before taking a long, savoring gulp. Hector sat there in silence, glaring at his bottle. "So when's the kid moving in?" Henry tried breaking the awkward silence. "Hopefully by next week. If all goes well in court." Carter answered his brother. "You ready for a little sister?" Carter turned to Hector. He just shrugged. "Well, there's going to be a lot of changes around here that's for sure." Carter said, as he stacked his papers. Hector unsheathed his combat knife, and began running the sharpening iron down the edge. Henry sighed, "I'm going to go take a power nap. I'm exhausted." Henry announced, as he got up and left the table.