Short Stories 197 — Writing Prompt 30

Big Brother is real. And it’s you.

As usual, your dad came to drop you off at school. A schedule where you are always late to the class, and the teacher then punishes you whereas everyone giggles while hiding their face. You have had multiple conversations with your father, and he has promised the exact same number of times that he will make sure that you reach on time, but it has happened every single time. You know that your father is going through a difficult phase in his life and you don’t want to bother him more, so you stop nagging him.

And you keep checking the clock until it recess. In recess, you go to and met your younger brother at the same spot, where your brother is waiting for you. You share lunch amongst each other and talk about how your day is going. When recess is over, both of you return to your classes.

Your brother is in 6th grade, while you are in 8th. And both of you have been going to the same school as your parents. Mom and dad studied in the same school, found and fell in love with each other here. And now you sit there wondering when the school will be over so that you can go home. Once school is over both of you return to your houses. And meet again the next day.

Both of you are very close to each other, in fact so close that you share everything with each other. Both of you were always very close with each other, but lately, both of you are the only support system for each other. You do have a group of friends that you hang out with, but your brother doesn’t. And a lot of the time he gets extremely sad.

It all started when your parents decided to split up. And since that day both of you came to know about it, things haven’t been the same. The fights between your parents were normal, at least that is what you thought. But now they had made a decision to end it completely. Your mother decided to leave the house and take the youngest son with her. Brothers were getting split and both of you did not understand, that the parents are splitting, but why do both of you have to split.

Brothers that loved each other, that lived under the same roof, were now separated. They lived in different houses. Both of you were inseparable until you were. And since that day, the only time you get to meet each other is during lunch break. And 30 minutes aren’t enough for both of you to share your heart out, and so all you did was listen to the complaints of your brother.

Once in a while, you would get to talk to your mother as she would come to pick your brother up. And most of the time, dad wouldn’t even be home so your mom would take a detour to leave you home and go back. You find it difficult but don’t have anything to talk about and so you did what to did the best, start burying your feelings deep inside your chest. Still to this day, you can sometimes hear your dad sobbing in his room and a tear roll down when she leaves you home.

Lately, your brother has been off. He doesn't talk much during the time both of you meet. And he just seems sad. You tried multiple times to talk to him, but he won’t budge.

Slowly the process of divorce is getting completed. You get to know that both of your parents are fighting for their children's custody. Your mother wants the custody of both the children while your father knows that there is no way he will get the custody of his younger child, as almost 90 percent of the time, the younger you are, the mother is preferred. So your dad is trying his best to keep you. And you can see in his eyes, that is something that he really cares about. You internally know it is a good man, but he did fail as a husband and now he is paying the concequences.

After few days, finally, your brother tells you, that mom is trying to relocate to a new house and he doesn't want to go. You weren’t ready for something so big. You at least hoped that you will get to meet your brother and mother regularly. It took you by surprise and you did not have an answer for it. But now you were truly understanding the gravity of the situation.

At last, you tell your brother, “Don’t worry, we both are brothers and the distance will not break our relationship. We will always be in touch. Don’t worry, brother both of us will be fine. I am always here for you, I will always be watching after you. Don’t worry.”