Chapter Text
The first time he’d heard about the crash, Klavier had been mortified.
Mr. Gavin, I’m so sorry about your loss.
A head-on collision, where the door miraculously opened, ensuring that at least one person was saved.
Oh, what a horrible tragedy. I’m so sorry for you.
Kristoph, the driver, had luckily been thrown out of the car before he’d crashed.
What a pity, what a shame.
The resulting fire had made the scene of the crime—the scene of the accident—unrecognizable.
It has to be a closed-casket funeral or a cremation.
Kristoph’s door had been locked, but that wasn’t enough to stop Klavier from checking for something.
I’m so sorry, it shouldn’t have happened this way.
He’d jimmied the door open, forcing his way into his brother’s room, careful not to disturb anything.
What a shame, what a pity, I’m so sorry.
His older brother’s new lighter was missing.
Orphaned at eleven, how horrible.
His first package of cigarettes lay there, only one missing.
What are they going to do?
The rest were laying there, likely to never be used.
At least they’ve got each other.
Klavier took a picture, not sure of what he would do with it, but knowing Kristoph could never see it.
All they have now is each other.
Klavier had locked the door behind him, unable to look back and face what he’d done.
What a terrible accident.
“And I am sure they will be sorely missed. The world is a lesser place without them. I wish the responsibility of raising my brother had not had to fall on me, but I will take it nonetheless. Sometimes, the world plays horrible tricks on us. The accident that took their lives should not have happened. I am grateful every day that I was spared.”
Had Klavier been asked to eulogize his parents, he would have turned it down anyways, but it stung that Kristoph hadn’t even bothered.
He hadn’t let Klavier have any say in the funeral process whatsoever.
He wouldn’t have been surprised if Kristoph had even forgotten that those people were his parents as well.
“And so, to my mother and my father, I say goodbye from your doting sons. You will be missed.”
Klavier watched as his parents were lowered into a joint grave, finding himself unable to so much as shed a tear.
Every time in the past few days that he’d cried over the fate of his parents, he’d been vehemently punished for it. Any emotion he may have wanted to feel at this point had been shattered into an empty dread, a gray enveloping him, protecting him, suffocating him, encasing him, keeping Kristoph from getting to him.
All he wanted to do was hide.
All he could do was grieve.
“We are going to Germany.”
Kristoph hadn’t knocked, though there was nothing left to knock on. He’d removed the hinges from Klavier’s door so that he could see what his brother was doing at all times. Klavier stared up at him, knowing better than to speak out of place.
“My parents left money for me at a bank in Germany. It said so in their will. I believe it would be in our best interest, therefore, to go to Germany. When I’ve collected my inheritance, we will then fly right back. You always said you wanted to visit, and now is your chance. Pack your bags.”
Kristoph made it all the way outside the room before he turned around to face Klavier, and Klavier tensed. A dark smirk appeared on his brother’s face as he examined Klavier with interest. Softly, Klavier heard a haunting melody in a minor key being played somewhere. Kristoph would not break eye contact, and Klavier couldn’t force himself to look away.
“We’re leaving tomorrow morning at 8 AM. Be ready or else you will face the consequences.”
Klavier nodded his head. “Thank you, bruder.”
Something dark flashed in Kristoph’s eyes, and Klavier hurriedly corrected himself.
“Thank you, brother.”
“Much better.”