Painkiller

4

Tears rolled down the girls cheeks as she saw her brother. He stood frozen, with one hand on the door handle and the other hanging loosely by his side. His eyes were wide and he seemed lost before he composed himself and rushed to his sisters side.

    "Hey! Hey!" Luke cooed. "You're okay. You're alright. Everything's gonna be fine."

    Elena buried her head into her brothers shoulder. Her salty tears soaked through the blue fabric of Luke's t-shirt. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed and the t-shirt muffled the sounds escaping from her mouth, as she clutched at the bottom of it with her hands in fists. Luke rubbed circles on her back with one hand, and clutched her tight with the other, whilst also trying to hold back tears of his own.

"You're safe now. I'll look after you. You're okay."

Time seemed to stop as the two siblings stayed in one another's embrace, each one of them broken. Elena's sobbing finally ceased, yet her breathing was still in short, rapid breaths.

"You good?" Luke asked, although how could he expect her to be good? They'd just lost their parents, and both siblings were far from good.

Elena nodded, lifting her head away from Luke's shoulder and wiping her eyes.

    "Where's Mom and Dad?"

    Luke's heart almost stopped. She doesn't know. She didn't know that their parents were dead. He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.

    "Please, Luke. I wanna know. Nobody's telling me anything."

    Elena's begging was enough to snap Like out of his daze. "God, Elena, I'm so sorry-" The man began, but he stopped as Elena's eyes began to fill with tears once again.

    Luke gently pulled Elena in for a hug, and tear streamed down her face as she buried her head into his shoulder. Luke continuously rubbed circles on her back, in hopes of comforting the girl. But how do you comfort someone whose just lost their parents when you're still grieving yourself?

When Elena's sobs died down, she sniffed before mumbling into her brothers shoulder, "Whats going to happen to me?" Her voice was quiet, timid, and it broke Luke's heart to hear her sounding so broken.

"I've already sorted that." He spoke softly. "You're coming to live with me."

"Are-are you sure? I mean, you've got work, and-" Luke cut off Elena's rushed talk.

"And you come first, Lena. Besides, I can still work. Calum's already said we can take a break for the next two weeks."

    "I'm gonna see Calum?" Elena had missed the rest of the 5 Seconds Of Summer band, and her most beloved memories mostly consisted of the boys. Yet, they'd moved away, and a FaceTime every once in a while was her only form of contact with her brother and his best friends.

    Luke grinned. "You'll be living with him! And the rest of us!"

    Elena crinkled her nose in confusion. Huh? Her mind was still slightly hazy from the pain medication, and it took her a few moments for everything to click.

    "Oh!" She spoke, drawing out the syllable.

    Luke chuckled in response, before ruffling her hair. "I'm gonna go talk to a nurse, okay? I'll find out when you can leave."

    His sister nodded in response, a small grin on her face as she thought about seeing her brothers bandmates again. They were more then friends to her, they were her older brothers, and she'd known them for years.