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~
Black.

Screaming.

His parents begging.

It hurt.

His whole body was on fire.

Why was this happening? He hadn't done anything. One of them talked. Their masks scared Eirali, black and covering their faces completely, hiding their identities from him.

"RK! Hurry up, will you?"

One of them spoke. His tone was harsh, commanding, with an annoyed tone to it.

"This one's waking up."

The attacker that had spoken kicked Eirali in the ribs, hard. He screamed in pain as he felt a rib snap with a sickening crack. Despite the pain, a thought came to him.

Wait... RK?

No.

Luelon, his own brother. What was he doing? These were their parents.

"Stop it! Please stop it," Eirali begged, desperate. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening.

Through Eirali's fazed mind, he saw the image of one of the attackers, identity unknwon to him, slit someone's throat.

His mother's.

Eirali threw up, choking and sobbing, he couldn't help it.

How could his brother do this?

"Why?" He whimpered, trying franticlyto make sense of why this was happening.

Another masked person walked out of his parents' room, holding a cloth sack full of coins, clinking with each footstep against each other.

"You need money?! That's what this is all about?" Eirali was disgusted.

Another form approached him, this time he knew without a doubt it was RK. The voice, that familiar voice…

"Shut up," A boot collided with his head.

Everything faded to black.
~~

"You will never understand life. Ever,"

Do I regret saying that?

Yes and no.

In a way...I miss Luelon. He was always there for me, and I for him. That's the way it's supposed to be with brothers. And so it was, we didn't argue and we didn't fight. At least not seriously.

I'm still not completely sure what changed. I felt like Luelon had betrayed me, betrayed my trust. I believed in him and looked up to him as any younger brother would. I trusted him to tell the truth, to be there for me, to look after me, to be one of the few things in my life that remained constant.
Luelon broke that trust.

I used to have faith in everyone. Luelon changed that.

Soon our conversations turned to arguements, and then to yelling matches. Mum and Dad, of course, ignored Luelon and focused their disdain on me. Why was I yelling? Why wasn't I studying? Why was I awake before dawn?

The answer?

Luelon, it was always Luelon. But I couldn't tell my parents that, so I lied.
I used to always tell the truth. Luelon changed that.

Before I knew it my brother became someone I hardly knew, he wasn't my best friend anymore. He had become bitter and cold, even to me. When he asked me to start calling him RK like the others, I refused. Time and time again, I refused. His name was the one things I held on to, the only thing I had left.I was afraid that if I started using RK, I would lose my brother forever. He looked the same and sounded the same, but te person standing in front of me, all those times he told me to lie...it wasn't Luelon.

I used to love him as a brother. Luelon changed that.

Luelon used to talk to me. If he thougt I was being rude, he'd tell me, and I'd respect that. I would do anything he'd tell me to do. He was my hero. But he started growing distant; if I tried to talk to him he would barely talk back. It was like trying to have a conversation with a stone wall. After I while I started yelling at him, treating him badly, doing anything I could just to get him to talk to me, to just acknowledge I existed. I started to miss our yelling matches...at least then he seemed to care, now he just couldn't be bothered.

I used to feel like I mattered to him. Luelon changed that.

Even though it seemed the feeling was one-sided, I still cared for Luelon. I still covered for him. He used to tell me where he was, but soon even that stopped. I suppose I was expecting it, but the day he started lying to me...it felt like he'd taken a dagger and put it through my heart. From then on every lie, every single time he was just twisting the dagger further. I knew that the people in his gang were beginning to like him more and more. They were stealing him from me. My brother, the Luelon I knew, wouldn't have let it happen; he would have fought.
I used to care about my brother. Luelon changed that.

Three years passed, and Luelon wasn't even living at home anymore. He'd stop by every day, just to steal some food and get clothes. I didn't need to cover for him anymore, Mum and Dad just turned a blind eye.

I hated them for it.

I barely saw my brother anymore, I made a point of setting up wards around the door so I'd know when he was coming. Every time he chose to show his face I'd simply close the door to my room and pretend I didn't know he existed. Once I would have raced to the front door, hoping, praying my Luelon was back. I would cling deperately to the thought that maybe my brother was just joking.

I used to be naïve. Luelon changed that.

I refused to let anyone hurt me again. I put up walls that no one was going to get through. I kept living my life without my brother. Luelon had always used to help me, but without them I had no hope. I got into fights more frenquently, but it was generally over so quickly that no one even noticed. I had always been an extremely aggressive fighter, even before Luelon left. After a while, rumours started spreading that I wascrazy, and was going to kill someone.
No one picked fights with me after that.

I used to be so sure about everything. Luelon changed that.

Five years. It was like I didn't have a brother, and never had. I was doing fine on my own.

Six years, seven, eight...
I started to forget the good times I'd had as a kid with Luelon. All I remembered was him betraying me. I was getting ready to move out of my parents' house. The sooner the better, that place only held bad memories.

I used to have a home. Luelon changed that.

I was reading at the time, that day, not really comprehending a single word, though. But that was the relaxing part about it. I rested the book on my chest and stared at the ceiling. Mum and dad were having dinner; I had stopped eating with them several months ago, it would always just end with an arguement.

For some reason or another my thoughts turned to my brother, and it wasn't until I heard a ripping noise that I realised I'd torn the book in half.
I sat up and took some deep breaths.

I didn't hear them. I should have, though, maybe things would have turned out differently if I had.

Before I knew what was going on, I went from relaxing on my bed to being tied up on the floor, suffocating and fighting to breath through a gag as a knife was pressed to my neck. I heard screams from my parents and desperately pulled against my bonds, trying to get to them, to help. I got a broken nose for that.
I heard a voice yell something, and the next thing I knew, everything was black.
I didn't know how much time had passed before I stirred. When I woke I heard a muffled conversation.

And then I heard a name that made me snap back to consciousness.

RK.

My brother was doing this.

And then another sickening thought occurred to me.

I'd done it, I'd really done it. My brother was RK even to me now; it was then I knew I'd lost him forever.

He walked over towards me, and I flinched before he kicked me in the ribs. I struggled not to scream.

I saw another peron walk into the room with a bag of money. I couldn't believe it; he was doing this for money. I coughed up blood and pleaded with him to stop.
That was when he did it.

He slit their throats, and this time I did scream.

I used to be innocent... Luelon changed that.

I can barely remember the days that followed after, that I spent captive, it's all just a blur.

I can remember the colours, though.
The red of blood, the white of pain, and the black of blissful unconsciousness.

I've got more scars than I can possibly count from those days. Our...my...house was stained with my blood. I got broken bones, torn muscles, and shattered ribs from those days.

But then they slipped up; one of their knives severed several strands of the rope binding my hands. When all others were asleep I worked at my bonds, and suddenly my hands were free with my feet soon after.

I got to my feet shakily, but Lady Luck was not on my side on that night. As I took my first hesitant steps, one of them walked in.
I'll never forget that moment, as instinct took over.

I jumped at him and after a few tense moments he lay still, my bare hands, sore and bleeding from my bonds wrapped around his throat.
The effort it had taken was enough to leave my panting, but I forced my numb and shocked mind to take off.

I escaped while I could.

Once I was a safe fistance away I stared at my hands...the same ones that had just killed a man.

I used to be Eirali.

Luelon changed that.