“Do you think he’s okay?” I whispered as my cousin and I watched Tyler slowly trudge down the middle of the street. The darkness made him difficult to see, but with the streetlights we could barely make out his outline. I didn’t want Tyler to leave, but I knew his life would be safer and happier if he no longer lived under our roof. Maddie and I had grown close after we moved in with Maddie and her parents. Maddie was the sister I never had. I finally had someone to tell secrets to and share clothes with.
Tyler had had a harder time adjusting to live with my aunt and uncle. At sixteen, he was more angry at our father than I was. I had never expected much out of our father and never thought he had treated any of us well in the first place. He had never been emotionally available for my mother after Tyler and I were born and spent most of his time at work. Tyler wanted him to come to his baseball and soccer games, but work always came first.
“Maybe he is just deciding on whether or not he’s going to actually stay gone?” We both stopped breathing as Tyler suddenly stopped underneath the farthest streetlight. That was the moment that changed everything. The moment our uncle pulled out the gun and stood on the porch next to us. Maddie shrieked and I fainted. No one would ever tell me what happened next.
Standing Room Only 