A place in the world

[Namira]

"Now guys, we know that you don't always get along, but today is a special day for the both of you. So can you keep the arguments out of it? The family is coming today and we'd like for them to have a nice time," David Joesi was the father of Chris and Don. He was a kindly man given to worrying, and almost as if in testimony his hair was thinning rapidly as he aged. The two brothers, sixteen and fourteen respectively, locked gazes for a moment, there was a strained second of silence then Chris gave his younger brother an almost imperceptible nod. The meaning was clear: I won't start anything if you don't. David smiled, clearly pleased at the acquiescence of his two sons, for father Joesi, family came first, and it broke his heart to see the younger pair of siblings at each other's throats for so much of the time.

The uneasy truce between the Joesi brothers lasted for all of twenty-five minutes: about, or rather, exactly as long as it took for the pair of them to get dressed and head down to the kitchen, where breakfast was about to be served. Their older sister Sophie was already there, and Chris greeted her with a smile on his face. Sophie, twenty-five years old but confined to a wheelchair and sickly almost all of the time, offered her favourite brother a grin and a weak thumbs up. Don watched sullenly, wounded that Sophie would favour Chris over him, but soon cheered up when Sophie flashed him a similar gesture. Sophie's methods were ponderous at best, as she wasn't the fastest of thinkers. She might have liked Chris best, but that didn't mean she neglected her youngest brother. The friction between the pair hurt her too, and mystified her as well; Sophie was an intelligent young woman trapped in a frail body and the mind of a ten year-old. In some ways, she was like a small child, in others, she was the wisest of all the family.

Scarcely thirty seconds (twenty-six point seven, by Sophie's reckoning) after the boys entered the kitchen their silent agreement collapsed like so many matchsticks. Afterwards, brooding on the incident, Chris' mind screamed that it was all Don's fault. Conversely, Don believed that Chris had overreacted. Regardless of whose fault it was, or the reactions of either member of the pair, the upcoming events would have huge implications for both of the Joesi brothers.

As Chris sat down in his chair; the chair that he always sat in, the one with 'Joey' stencilled across the backrest there was a tiny, tiny sound. It was the sound of something sharp puncturing a pair of jeans. Chris' eyes sprang so wide open it looked as though they might have tumbled straight out of their sockets. Don was momentarily puzzled, then was immediately horror-struck as he realised just why Chris had such a terrible expression on his face. Seeing Don's face Chris' suspicions were confirmed.
"You snake!" he snarled. "You put a goddamn tack on my chair you son of a bitch!" Don was about to point out the ironic implications of that statement to his brother when he was suddenly knocked clear off of his chair, tipping the thing over as he fell, Chris having launched himself clear across the table to punch Don in the face. Dazed, Don picked himself up and balled his fists, and the pair of them were at it again.

Since Chris was sprawled across the table, Don didn't hesitate in capitalising on the current awkward posture of his brother. As a horrified Sophie looked on, Don charged at Chris and kicked him in the head, causing him to fall right off of the table.
"Chris, you're the biggest jackass I know, don't you get that this entire thing started with you?" Chris, down on one knee, looked up at his younger brother malevolently and rubbed his jaw.
"Cause and effect Don, you wouldn't feel so neglected if you weren't such an attention seeker," the youngest Joesi roared in anger and tried to kick his kneeling brother again, but this time Chris was ready, catching his brother's foot and sending him smashing to the ground. 'Average' used the time it took for Don to recover to shake off the kick to his face and stand, before long the brothers were confronting each other in a wrecked kitchen, complete with a screaming Sophie. The lull didn't last long.

Chris charged at Don and although the younger brother got a good punch in he was knocked flying by Chris' lowered shoulder. Don went smashing into a kitchen drawer and he winced as his back screamed in pain at the impact then as Chris advanced his hands frantically scrabbled for something to use to help him. Each of his hands alighted on a handle, one plastic and one wooden. Desperately Don brought forward both of his weapons, giving Chris pause for thought.

"Well," the elder brother said thoughtfully. "That is a spoon, a wooden one at that, and somehow I don't think it'll be a lethal weapon. That on the other hand, is a knife," Chris leered at his brother. "Feel like a jail sentence little brother?" he moved forward and was surprised to look down and see the kitchen knife pricking at the front of his tee-shirt.
"M-m-my life would b-be better w-w-without y-y-y-you in I-it!" Don stammered as he clutched the knife handle like it was an anchor to life.
"Hell little brother, the world would be a marginally better place without you in it!" both Chris and Don froze. Chris at the realisation that he had just gone too far, and Don at the insult itself. The silence lasted for another couple (One point seven four was Sophie's estimate) of seconds before Don burst into tears and fled the scene.


***

Later, and Chris was staring at the ceiling of his room, feeling completely numb inside. At first he had tried to justify what had happened, what had been said, what had been done, but as the time wore on and their co-birthday ticked away, second by second, Chris finally realised that ultimately, it was all his fault. Kids would be kids, Chris shouldn't have treated the younger Don in such a way, to the point of neglection at times. Chris shouldn't have begun to dislike, even hate his brother. The way that Chris had looked upon Don, it was little wonder that his younger brother had started to hate him back. Chris sighed and stared at the ceiling for another terribly slow minute. I'm sorry little brother... Chris' eyes narrowed, determination filling them. I'm not just going to think it, I'm going to do it, man up and apologise, get a fresh slate. Chris 'Average' Joesi got up off his bed, put on his favoured 'cowboy' hat, then quietly left his room.

A world of hate... a world of shame... A world where families are torn apart by a tack... tears brimming in his eyes, Don Joesi lay curled in the centre of his room, the kitchen knife and spoon clutched to his chest like trophies. Yes... a terrible world and one, regretfully, which will be marginally better for me not being in it... Don's occasional fits of depression had always been difficult to handle, and his parents had figured he needed a little time to himself. It was a bad call. Guess you were right Chris... Nobody needs me, least of all you and the others... Mom and Dad should have stuck to just a couple of kids, it would have saved a lot of hassle and more than a little blood... thoughts flashed through Don's mind, coming and going at the speed of light, or fluttering elusively like butterflies, to be reached out for but never grasped. Will it hurt? A click, the door swung open, Don paused with the knife at his throat.

"Hey Don I wanted to..." the apology was never finished, and Don never found out what Chris had been about to say. Quick as a flash he sprung up a lashed out with the knife at Chris' face. YOU RUINED MY LIFE!!! WERE YOU PLANNING ON RUINING MY DEATH TOO!?!? the silent thought screamed through Don's mind as the knife cut deeply into Chris' face, almost splitting his lower lip in two and scraping horribly at his jawbone. Blood burst from the wound and Don fell back with a scream, sending the knife clattering to the floor, trailing blood from its blade.
"Don... I'm sorry..." those simple words cut straight through the fog clouding Don's mind and all at once the tears returned, spilling freely down his cheeks, the younger Joesi almost failing to see matching streams on Chris' face, mingling with the blood from his injury. Don collapsed and begun to sob and Chris murmured to him soothingly.
"It's okay little brother... everything's going to be just fine," and miraculously, for a time, Chris' prediction proved true. Life began running smoothly from awhile longer, but for the Joesi family, and Chris most of all, there's was to be another story entwined with that of Survival of the Fittest...