Alora - My Older Brothers

Chapter 2

Alora's POV

*2 and a half weeks later*

I heard someone knock on my door.

“You ready, Alora? Your brother is here to pick you up”, my case worker told me.

I wiped the sleeve of my shirt over my right cheek and sniffed a little. My hair was a mess, I was wearing clothes that I hadn't bothered to change from in a few days, I probably had eyes as red as tomatoes and I think I might even smell bad.

But the thing is, you couldn't have paid me enough to care. I do not give flying or unflying ducks right now.

I never, ever, in my most frightening nightmares could have imagined that I'd live to be in this day as of now.

My dad, step mom and sister passed away 2 weeks ago in a horrific car accident.

They were on their way to sort my sister's visa process, who was to move to a different country. We were all to have dinner at her favorite sushi place that night, to celebrate her scholarship.

But their car crashed with an over-speeding truck.

The truck driver's head cut off from his body during the accident. It got stuck in a tree branch. He was drunk while driving. His dog was found next to his seat, wailing and whimpering. Apparently the man didn't have any family.

My father and sister died on the spot. Him with glass shattering his skull and her with getting crushed in between seats.

I looked at their bodies. They were barely recognizable.

I remember throwing up at the hospital. The moment I heard the news of the accident, I went running outside my class and to the hospital.

Mia and Jordan, my best friends, followed me. They went with me to the hospital, explaining to the teacher that I needed them. I did. And I cried like never before.

I was screaming and shouting, with anger mostly. At the driver.

I know the man died. But why did he have to kill my family too?

Sarah, my step-mom, was hospitalised. I didn't lose hope. It's okay Alora, she'll be alright, I had told myself repeatedly.

Spoiler alert, she wasn't fucking alright.

She passed away only a week later.

I was by her side at the hospital, the whole time. I held her hand, read her bedtime stories at night like she used to do for me when I was a child.

Everyone around the hospital seemed to pity me.

Ana, the nurse who was assigned to take care of my mother, often bought me homemade food. She knew I didn't have any family left at home. And I think she also knew that I wasn't eating much.

She was so kind to me.

I was thankful, of course. But I couldn't say it. I couldn't bring myself to think about anything other than my lost family.

I remember screaming at Sarah's dead body. Being pissed at her for abandoning me even though it wasn't her fault. I did feel guilty later.

The funeral for all of them was arranged by my step-mother's sister. I didn't attend. I was physically ill to even go to the bathroom.

I was apparently assigned a case worker because I'm a minor. Until I was 18, I would either be put in foster care, or someone has to adopt me.

We knew that I was going to foster homes, until we didn't. About 2 days ago, I found out about my half brothers. The system contacted them before I even knew about it.

“You're now in the custody of your older brothers” My case worker had told me 2 days ago.

I was beyond shocked. “But I don't have any brothers”, I had said.

“You do. Your half brothers, from your mother. And they have agreed to take you in”, she had said.

And that was that, she gave me no more explanation.

I didn't dwell on it too much. I was shocked, obviously, but I couldn't focus on it. I thought about it with a weird sense of detachment and calm. I didn't feel any control over anything anymore and I didn't care.

All I could think of was my father's pancakes and his dad jokes, Sarah's optimism of even the shittiest situations and Lana’s book recommendations that had a highly inappropriate amount of smut (and that's coming from someone who reads wattpad).

“Nothing's as powerful as a person who believes in the universe. It'll be alright, I promise. Even if you don't like it right now, it'll get better. There's always light at the end of a dark tunnel”, I said out loud. These were Sarah's words, she always said this every morning and I'm trying so hard to believe them right now.

“Let's go Caramel, let's get this over with”, I said as I looked at my new friend, the truck driver's golden retriever.

I took him with me after the accident. He lost his family, just like me. It felt like the right thing to do. His collar tag had said Bucky's Caramel. Bucky was the truck driver.

The case worker smiled at me, I didn't smile back.

We went towards the living room.

“Hello Alora”, a man, supposedly my brother, smiled at me.

~

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