Sin

Chapter 26

This isn't happening. What are we going to do now?

-"Anna, open the door!"- It's Eve. Thank God. She'll be easier to handle. "Are you okay!? Is Jared there?" she knocks again.

I run to the door and open it. There's nothing I can do. I have to face her. If I don't open the door she'll go find someone to help her open it, and we don't need anymore fuss.

-Hey, I'm fine. Jared is here." She looks confused as she steps inside the room. She walks to the nightstand and picks the lamp up. I don't know what we'll say. But we have to come up with something.

She looks around the room, picks my pillows up  and throws them on the bed. I didn't realize they fell off the bed, until now. She's so quiet, it's weird. Jared walks to the windows and sits on the bench. He puts his head between his hands. He won't be of any help. I can tell.

-"What is going on?" She asks looking at Jared. He doesn't even look up at her. I think he's still shocked and angry. "Well, one of you will have to tell me what is going on before I start making theories of my own." She waves her hands up in the air. "Why are you crying!?" she asks me. She then turns to Jared. "And why are you so angry and shaking?."

I can't breathe. What am I going to tell her. Jared is still in his own anger bubble. And I don't  know what to do.

"I can explain." Jared says, but he still has his head buried in his hands.

-"Well?" Eve pressures.

-"I have anger issues Eve. I saw a shrink last year and he said I need to do some therapy shit. We were talking about that. Anna Was trying to help and I blew up on her. I'm so sorry." He won't look up though. That's not completely a lie. After tonight, I think he does have some anger management to do. But I don't buy the shrink thing.

-"Why didn't you say something before? How can we help?" Eve bought it. Thank heavens.

-"I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'm going to bed. Goodnight  and I'm so sorry Anna." he stands up and leaves the room. I stare at the door. And I hear him going down the stairs.

Eve starts crying and sits on my bed. She loves her brother so much, and I know she's hurting, she's probably imagining the worst. "Did he... did he hurt you?" she asks me. I close the door and slide down to the floor with my back still on the door.

"What?"-he hurt me, badly, and this was worse than any other fight we had before. But I can't tell her he did. she'd be devastated, and I can't do that to her. "Of course he didn't. He wouldn't do that. He just blew me off. It scared me a little, but he didn't hurt me. Not physically at least. Don't worry about me." She looks a little bit relieved, but she's still crying like a baby.

"I hate my dad so much! this is his fault. My brother is not the same since the divorce. It is his fault."- She cries.

-"Look, I know you're angry, but this can't be entirely his fault." I really can't blame him for Jared's behavior. Not completely at least.

"Of course it is his fault." she stops and stands up. "Look, you don't know this, but after what happened tonight I think you should hear everything. My dad cheated on mom, and not only that, he hurt her, physically and emotionally. He hit her and pushed her all of the time  in front of us. Mom  begged for us not to do anything about it, and not to tell anyone." I didn't know any of this. And I don't think my mom knew either. "Before the divorce Jared blew up once, and my father hit him, hard. He was unconscious for a couple of minutes, and my mom finally called the police that day. That's when Everything started going downhill." This isn't fair. They have gone through so much, and I didn't know it. "My dad yelled at him one day, and said he was going to ruin him, for messing our family up. he was blaming Jared for his mistakes, for speaking up. He then put up a great act in front of the judge, and they gave him Jared's custody basically. That's why he was always with dad. He would hit my brother every time he could, and he yelled at him a lot." Poor Jared. I start crying again. "Jared forgave him  though. He says he's finally changing. But now he has all of these issues we don't know anything about, and I think it is my father's fault, he hurt him so much when we were younger." She sits again and starts sobbing. I run to her and  hug her.

-"I wish I knew all of this before, Eve. I'm so sorry. I won't say anything. But thanks for trusting me." -I tell her. I wouldn't tell anyone about this.

I need to talk to him soon. I understand him so much better now. I can't justify his behavior tonight, but I understand now why he's the way he is. He needs me, more than ever. And he needed me before, and I wasn't there for him. I was being so self centered, and I'm so sorry.