My Overprotective Brothers

Epilogue

Amber's P.O.V

5 Months Later...

"Grey shut the f*** up! I can't hear Dylan screaming at his models backstage!" Isaac seethes at Grey with irritation.

Currently, my family and I are seated with front row tickets to Dylan's first ever fashion show! I haven't slept at all last night because I was so excited to see him do the thing he loves and watching his successful career blossom in front of my very eyes.

Everyone in the crowd is talking amongst themselves and flashing to everyone their expensive outfits, practically getting on Dylan's catwalk and modelling themselves, flashing their Gucci and Prada stuff so they feel empowered and confident about themselves because of their wealth.

It's the sad truth.

Seeing all these shallow women cling onto these bulky men with dark shades on, making million-dollar deals just in the ten minutes before the start of the show.

Dylan has now stopped screaming backstage and Isaac has turned bored, not finding any more entertainment to keep him occupied.

"How long does this go on for?" Jason murmurs, taping his feet impatiently and looking around the room aimlessly, probably finding the nearest exits for when it's time to leave.

"Stop it Jason! This is your youngest brother and you are showing no support young man!"

"Young? He's practically thirty!" Isaac scoffs. I look over at Jason to see smoke coming out his ears.

"I AM NOT THIRTY YET YOU DI*K!" Jason roars at Isaac, trying to calm his mild anger issues.

"BOYS!" Dad shouts. Everyone shuts up and looks down nervously. When you mess with dad...you're in deep trouble.

The lights dim and Dylan's fake enthusiastic voice booms through the glittery speakers.

"Ladies and cute gentlemen...I am so glad you have made it today, to view my latest summer collection. Please sit back, sip on your Starbucks iced lattes and enjoy the show people!"

Everyone clapped and stared up at the stage, all waiting for the models to walk through with Dylan's masterpieces on.

The models strut on the stage and walk past us, turning around and posing in weird ways that the guys seemed to go silent too, all with their mouths hung open and their annoying bratty girlfriends, tugging their arms and demanding attention from their men.

While I watch the show, I contemplate the past months that have gone by in a blissful blur.

Isaac has officially put fighting behind him and looking for a better job for himself, he has traded big scary men for punching bags to release his anger at the world instead. As far as dating is concerned...Isaac is trying online dating because our mother and grandmother are demanding babies to call their grandchildren, saying they need more children in the house because they only have one and it isn't enough, whatever the heck that means...

Grey is now a published author of a very successful cookbook, getting on the New York Times bestselling author list.

Grey's dream is to open his own healthy eating restaurant and last time I checked, he has made plans for it to go through and he has spent his sleepless nights perfecting the menu's.

No joke, I walked into the kitchen a few weeks ago, just to grab an apple. When I heard Grey screaming because the font on the menus was too, and I quote, "Girly and the i's were dotted weirdly."

Becky came round our house last week to study for our final exams when she literally, combed Grey's eyebrow hairs because they were "Too messy for her liking." As you can probably tell, it made the evening very awkward after that and the jokes from Dylan and Isaac were never-ending.

As for Jason, he quit his boring job as an accountant and decided to team up with dad and become car mechanics, having their own garage business where they re-model and fix broken cars. Everyone thought it was a great idea to have a family business so we can be much closer to each other.

Jason has been spending a lot of time out the house, giving excuses like... "Oh, I'm picking up some groceries." Or "I'm volunteering at our local care home.". The care home excuse made me laugh so hard when he told us that, its funny because Jason couldn't even care for cat when he had to look after one for his friend on holiday, he lost the cat so many times we lost count and when he gave the cat back to his friend, he found out some of the cat's fur was burnt and shaved, with a fractured ankle and cuts.

After that incident, Jason was never allowed to care for any pet in the future.

Because Jason keeps leaving the house at weirds times, everyone is getting suspicious. Whenever we would question him about it, he would quickly brush it off or give one of those silly excuses. I told him that when he was ready, he can tell me what is going on himself.

And then there's Kitten, Princess, Angel, Cutie, Babydoll or Ambi however you want to call me! I am nearing the end of school and looking at different high schools to go too, always thinking about what I want to do with my short life and how I want to make a difference to the world...

Big words I know.

On a serious note, my life is taking a much better turn. I am attending therapy almost every day and interacting with young people that are similar to me, making real true friends that aren't fake or just using me to get to my brother...

My heroin addiction is almost cracked and out of my life, I hear the occasional voice in my head to go back to the start and inject myself with the poison. But I am getting stronger, mentally and physically.

I am moving on with my life and I haven't felt happier.

My brothers are definitely seeing a change in me, a good change. They comment sometimes about why I'm always smiling or being extra clingy, the truth is that I'm just loving my life without the addiction. Feeling the heavy weight off my shoulders and finally feeling the freedom that I have always craved.

I was wrong seven months ago when I said that I wanted freedom away from my family and to have a reckless lifestyle that I never got to have.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Freedom doesn't mean that I need to be reckless away from my family...

I have learnt that freedom is accepting all the good things I have in my life and staying in a place where I feel most comfortable and free to be myself.

And that place is my family.

It took me a lot of bad choices to realise that they were the key to the freedom I craved, they are the only people that bring out the real me, encourage me to be myself and to be a good person, that are very rare to find these days.

The main thing is that everything is getting better and I finally found my freedom.

It took me and my family on a very emotional rollercoaster.

Making bad decisions after decisions... Letting my family down but more importantly, myself down. My therapist has taught me ways to try and forget the past and move on from it.

Taking my bad experiences as a valuable lesson.

I will never forget the past, it will haunt me forever and it's something I will deal with and get help for.

I have had a real taste of what the world can really be like, and the awful people that lurk in the shadows but put on an innocent façade to trick naive people like me.

Those memories will always stay with me, but you know what they say...

Everything happens for a reason.

The End.