Make Believe

Forty One.

The footsteps behind us were getting louder. We were being chased. I caught up with Cara and panted to her. "Who the fuck is that?" She was too focused on running to even acknowledge me.

"Cara!" The male voice called. "Cara come back!"

"Who is that?" I hissed at her.

She breathed a name that I could hardly hear. Just as I was about to ask her to repeat it, my feet buckled beneath me and I fell. My face hit the damp concrete and I felt a crack in my nose...

Blood filled my mouth and dripped over my face. Slowly, my brain was spinning and I felt distant...

Footsteps became silent. Someone crouched over me and mumbled. "Holy crap, kid. That's a broken nose if I ever saw one."

I didn't say anything. I couldn't.

"Kid? Hello? Are you knocked out?" A sigh breathed against the back of my head and two hands picked me up and leant me against the cold brick wall behind me.

My eyes were half open, and I squinted to see through the blurred world and identify the person. From what I could see, it was a boy around the same age as my brother with red hair and freckles. He looked just like Cara.

"Hello. You're not fully passed out are you? You're in there."

"Cara..." I mumbled.

The figure turned to look to his left. "She's at the end of the street. I'm sure she'd be over here looking after you if I wasn't here to."

"Her sister's boyfriend?" I grumbled. "I don't like you."

"I am not dating her sister. I'm her brother, so that would be pretty weird." He said. "You should probably explain to me who the hell you are, since my sister has gone missing and I've found her here in a different city with you."

I felt myself slip against the wall as I started to lose consciousness. "Hey, hey hey hey." Cara's brother held me up. "Let's worry about your name later. I'll call you an ambulance."

My nose was stinging, causing salted water to flow out of my eyes. Everything else was numb. "Don't call an ambulance... I'm okay."

"You've managed to break your nose and half knock yourself out by falling over your own feet. You're not okay." He said.

Someone approached, and I heard sniffing. "Why are you here?" Cara asked.

"I'm here to find you. I wasn't just going to let you disappear. You're my baby sis. I may do some pretty illegal shit sometimes but that doesn't stop me caring about my sister." Her brother told her. "Don't worry about me now, worry about your friend."

"Ross?" Cara crouched next to me and winced. "You look awful."

"Thank you." I tried to smile. I wanted to make her laugh.

She giggled quietly and shook her head. After a moment, she went quiet. "I'm sorry for causing this."

"You could ask me to do a bank heist with you and I'd do it, as long as I could see you have fun." I told her.

There was a moment of silence and I tried to smile at her, instead looking more in pain that I did before. I took a quick glance down at my shirt to see it stained completely red. Quickly, I snapped my head straight back up. "Holy shit." I panicked.

"It's going to be fine." Cara didn't sound too sure.

The sound of Cara's brother on the phone started to sound distant and I leant my head more against the wall.

"Hello? Hi. Ambulance please. There's been an accident."