Through the Dark (Sequel to Taking Chances)

Chapter Ten: "Burned"

Brielle

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Brown eyes stared back at me, hard and unmoving. He refused to blink, as did I.

My mother grew tired of this game, simply because we abandoned our chores to spend hours re-matching because either of us cheated or someone lied.

But we played it a lot. More than a lot. It was our game. And we liked to make it known whenever my mother came around to scold us. Which, as it so happens, she was doing now.

"That wretched game again?" she scoffed, shaking her head in disapproval. "Don't you two have anything better to do? And why aren't your chores done?"

"Sorry, Mum," Liam said as he kept his eyes on mine. A stubborn boy that one was. "It was Brielle's idea."

"Was not," I shot back defensively. A rude, arrogant boy he was, too. "Liam said he'd pay me five dollars if I won."

"If he told you to jump off a bridge, would you?"

"That wouldn't happen," he mumbled.

"And I wouldn't," I clarified.

"Yeah, there's a lot of things you would and wouldn't do," my mother murmured, speaking no lower than just above a whisper. It was loud enough, though, that both of us heard her clearly.

The sound of loud, heavy footsteps pounding down the steps caused Liam's unmoving, hollow eyes to go wide. And when we heard my fathers voice, our contest ended.

"You heard your mother," he explained gruffly. "Get your chores done. No games until after. You know that."

Liam smiled triumphantly at me. "I won."

"Did not. Dad said to stop, so we did. Neither of us one."

"But I did," he insisted as he hopped down from the counter seat and trotted to the living room, where he was supposed to straighten up and clean his room.

"Liar. It was me."

Laughter echoed, and then I only saw black.

*

My eyes opened to an empty room. Across from me, I noticed the mirror Niall had been "admiring" me in, and in that, I saw the photos tacked up onto the wall. I squinted at them for a moment, unsure of whether to turn away or to continue staring. But I crawled out of the covers and stood next to the bed stand, sitting just beneath the wall of memories.

Above every photo, above the wall that screamed what was once my life, was a quote I had painted in, a symbol of the importance they held to me.

"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal."

-Unknown

Photos, many of my entire family. The stories I didn't get to enjoy anymore. Things I'd forgotten about below the truth and harsh reality of Liam's actions and decisions. I could see family vacations and family portraits, happy smiles and blissful memories.

Things I could no longer remember without thinking hard enough.

Living with Liam as a child, you could hardly tell he would turn out the way he did. He was always so energetic, filled with jokes and laughter. He didn't take much seriously. It was a surprise when he got suspended one afternoon after slapping a boy across the face. People started annoying him more and more, and he began to watch shows similar to that of Game of Thrones, violence.