Grey Clouds On The Horizon

Bystander To Suffering

Christian's POV

Elliot shook his head in disbelief and paced the hospital room. Every few minutes he'd stop, turn to me as if he needed to say something, then think better of it and continue his laps. An hour passed since I'd last spoken, and it was well into the night, when he sat down on the window ledge and put his head in his hands.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Christian?" My brother grumbled, sounding more angry with every word. "Kate isn't exactly thrilled with me for coming here to support you then you just drop this bullshit on me!"

We were back in the sandbox bickering over the technicalities. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't good enough." Elliot grumbled and only looked at the ground. "I don't know if you've noticed but I don't really have many friends. We have that in common. Emilia has been a great friend to both of us then to think you have been taking advantage of that the entire time. It's... it's sickening. I actually might throw up."

"Here." I slid him the small garbage can and he gripped the edges for a second, gagged a time or two and then his stomach rested.

He wiped the spit from the corners of his mouth and shook his head. "That girl was sick, Christian. She needs help and medication, but instead you just gave her your dick. God dammit, she was a child!"

"I know that." I snapped back. "Don't you think I know that?"

"Well clearly it didn't do anything to stop you." Elliot stood up and started pacing again. "My little brother is a pedophile. I could live with you being a kinky bastard but not having sex with a teenage girl. I draw the line at pink and pigtails."

I shook my head. "The age of consent in Washington is sixteen."

He stopped, spun around and was suddenly only inches from my face. Elliot's breath was stale and hot on my skin and his eyes ablaze with a fury I'd never seen before. "I don't give a flying fuck what the law has to say to justify this bullshit. Not that it matters, because you admitted it yourself. You tortured Em. Fuck, you raped Em! You abused your power over a girl who admired you just to get your rocks off. You're disgusting!"

"Elliott, please." The wounds of how much my brother hated me ached and oozed. "I feel horrible about it already."

"Don't make this about you!" He hissed. "Ya know, I could have done what you did. Manipulated and controlled Emmy because she's too sweet of a person not to trust me. That girl sleeps like a rock and doesn't have the word no in her vocabulary because she's loyal to people she cares about. She's been napping in my hotel room or sitting on my bed more times than I can even remember and never once did I ever consider laying a finger on her in these past three years. Definitely never without her permission. Emilia is precious and innocent and pure... but you've been stealing that from her this entire time. My own brother has been abusing one of the few girls I've ever met that I've cared enough about to stay away from. You did it all right under my nose."

I shook my head. "I didn't intend to hurt you, Lelliott."

My brother shifted back on his heels, stood up and grabbed his leather jacket from where he'd thrown it during his fit of rage. "But you did plan on hurting her. That was your goal. You wanted to enjoy seeing her tortured and then force yourself on her. That fucking kills me. Thinking about her being in pain for even a second when I couldn't help her is agony."

"I'm sorry." It came out merely a whisper.

He shrugged. "There's no apology that's going to fix this, Christian. You're a rapist. I want you out of my life and I want you to stay far away from Emilia."