Trapped in his arms

departed, I wa

ng. Unfortunately, there was nothing in the fridge for him to eat. We were hopeless, young, and

got my younger brother, who was seven at the time, ready and off to school we went

hungry," while gripping his st

w, just give me a few minutes" as I

to die, Alex?" Avery

about what would happen to my brother and me. Perhaps I even feared for

under my breath, annoyed b

, "But what about

ed, hungry, and irritated. I saw the tears start to

ok," I tried to soothe him. I took it as a consoling gesture at the ti

Avery distracted the shopkeeper, I stuffed as many candies as I could into my pockets. The shop's proprie

icious, he inquired. He saw that I was malnouris

to cover up my guilt, but I failed. Unless my bulging p

d, I was dazed and confused for a while. My head hurt so badly that I started to cry. I held back my tears because I needed to be a role mode

d dragged my sluggish self up. Avery, shocked at the wound on my temple, covered his lips. The scrapes and scratches on my knees didn't

ry in my arms, I

so mean?" Tears were fallin

u, not like that" left my mouth. Even when I w

nd produced a bottle of water, I saw a smile spread over his face. He snatched it from my hands and opened it at once, drinking from

dly on a little wall, with our feet still dangling o

rald. My hair and eyes were white and blue. Even though I suspect his biological

rin with one of his own. It took us around 10 mi

ry, trailing after me in bewilderment, ask

I let the truth sink in. When I was nine years old, I had to accept the

l "Oh," his de

was no way for me to tell whether it was still school hours or not

led look and inquired. In a firm nay, Avery shook his head. S

is?" I replied timidly, although I was awa

s too late. Where has your brain gone? When she received no rea

It was too risky for Avery to walk home in the dark, and it would take over an hour. In addition, he has a severe phobia of the dark. I was at

ooked up, I saw that black clouds were gradually covering the sky. As they came closer, I cou

stronghold to protect ourselves from tyrants. It was deep in the woods.

to Avery, "Come on!" One of my buddies used to us

imb under here,"

oks dangerous" as tea

pe that he would hear me and believe me. I had run out of choices. As I squeezed throu

ure there is to chop them down for "clean" environmental reasons, they refuse to do so

could sit in the base under a

e tarp and yanked it up. When Avery spotted all of our comics

As he looked aro

om used it anyhow, so it was plenty for our needs. For what seemed like hours, Avery and I sat and read comics. As the night closed in on

he stared at the com

e leaned his head on my shoulder after some time. I was about to brush him off when I saw that Avery w