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Everything was dark.
Nothing was around him, he couldn’t find any signs of walls, furniture, nor could he find any signs of where he was. It was as if his bedroom had the living room had become a void.
MICHAEL!
MICHAEL, HELP US!
WHAT ARE YOU DOING!
THEY’RE KILLING MORE!
WHY AREN’T YOU STOPPING THEM?
WHY DIDN’T YOU ARRIVE IN TIME TO SAVE ME?
MICHAEL!
THEY’RE GOING TO KILL MORE!
WHY AREN’T YOU HELPING US?
“I- I’m sorry!” The blue haired man cried, covering his ears with his shaking hands, cowering on the ground. “I’ll help! I swear! Just, leave me alone! Please! I’ll find them!”
THEY’LL KILL MORE TONIGHT!
WHY AREN’T YOU OUT THERE TO STOP THEM?
PEOPLE ARE DYING BECAUSE YOU’RE REFUSING TO HELP!
THEIR DEATH WILL BE YOUR FAULT!
“Stop…” Michael sobbed, his whole body shaking. “Stop it… Please!”
Michael woke up with a start, his scream dying in his throat before it could come out. He muffled his pained noises, as he was met, upon waking up, with the usual mess of cuts and bruises left by the ghosts, as they bothered him in his sleep.
He rubbed the tears out of his eyes, as he quietly got up from the sofa, where he’d been sleeping, being careful not to step on his sister’s mattress, as the siblings had all finally reunited at home the previous day.
He was thankful for his night vision, as it made it easier to avoid stepping on anything that might wake up his siblings, and meant he didn’t need any light to find his way to the bathroom.
He sighed heavily as he leaned over the sink, looking at the mess that was his shirt. And, it wasn’t just his shirt, mostly destroyed by the ghosts, that was a mess. His face radiated with lack of sleep, he looked terrible.
“The fuck!?” A voice made him jump.
“O- OB?” Michael turned around to look at his older brother, who was standing in the doorway of the bathroom, looking just as shocked as Michael from the state of this one. “I thought you were sleeping.” Michael sighed, trying to calm his racing heart, and avoid another episode of this.
“What the fuck happened to you?” Older Bro demanded, closing the door behind him, in order to not wake up the others. “You have some explaining to do. What the FUCK are THOSE?” He pointed out at Michael’s wounds, approaching him.
“Ah- It’s no-” Michael started nervously, but was cut off by his brother.
“Don’t you dare say that it’s nothing!” OB snapped, anger mixed with obvious concern in his voice. “You’re hurt!”
“It- It’s just…” BB was starting to freak out, he hated being seen like this, and the fact that it was his older brother, of all people, wasn’t helping.
Older Bro stared at Michael, demanding an answer, for a moment, before sighting, when this one didn’t come. He silently stepped forward and pulled his little brother against his chest.
“I’m sorry, man. I didn’t mean to snap at you.” He mumbled, obviously uncomfortable with saying those things.
Michael flinched at the move, already freaking out too much to tell what his brother was doing, until he realized that this one was just hugging him, trying to help him calm down. Then, he proceeded to melt into the embrace, shaking and crying against his brother.
God, did he hate having those attacks, and worrying his siblings for nothing.
OB was obviously very awkward with the situation, has he’d never really been good with comforting his siblings, and had even less experience with Michael’s anxiety attacks, but, he kept holding onto his brother, rubbing his back, and letting him cry onto him, hoping that it would be enough, or that one of his siblings would wake up and come help him.
It took way too long for BB to calm down, than OB liked, he’d never realized how long those episodes could last, and making him worry even more.
“S- Sorry…” BB eventually sighed, as he finally felt his heart and mind settle.
“Are you going to tell me what happened, now?” Older Bro asked tentatively, as they let go of each other.
“I…” Michael trailed off, looking down at the floor as he rubbed his elbow.
“Fine.” OB sighed, not wanting to push his brother too hard after this one’s reaction. “Let me, at least, help you clean this mess.” He motioned for BB to move, so he could take the first aid kit out of the cabinet.
The older brother started cleaning and bandaging the wounds of his little brother silently, trying his best not to hurt him, and to not ask again for an explanation, despite how much he wanted, needed, one. He hated that he’d never noticed the small scars that were barely visible on his brother’s body, the same kind as those he was treating.
“The ghosts…” Michael eventually spoke quietly, making his older brother raise an eyebrow at him. “It’s the ghosts…” He mumbled awkwardly.
“The ghosts are doing this to you?” OB asked, incredulously.
“I- I know it’s hard to believe…” Michael held one of his elbows in his hand, looking very uncomfortable. “There’s been lots of murders around, lately. The ghosts of the victims keep asking for my help…”
“I wouldn’t call ‘this’ asking for help.” Older Bro pointed out as he put balm on the last of the bruises.
“Well…” BB was looking more and more uncomfortable as the conversation continued, not liking the idea of talking about it, but knowing that he owed his brother an explanation. “Some of them say it’s my fault for not finding the guy before he killed them…” He admitted. “They keep bothering me during the night to go out and find him…”
“Those fuckin-” OB started to get angry, but quickly calmed down when he saw his brother tensing up again. “How long have you been dealing with this kind of shit?” He sighed. “And don’t tell me it’s only been tonight! I saw those scars!” He mentioned before BB could try and lie.
“I don’t know… Since I can see them?” Michael gave a forced chuckle.
“Since-” OB stared at him with wide eyes for a moment, before his expression became more serious again. “Why in the world did you never tell any of us?”
“What good would it have done?” Michael let out sourly. “Even if I told all of you, all it would have done would have been to make you worry more about me. It’s already enough that you all have to worry about my heart problems and my depression, you didn’t need to know about this shit.”
“Yes, we can’t see ghosts.” OB started seriously. “If I could, I would be kicking their asses, right now.” He mumbled, more to himself than his brother, before continuing. “But, we are still your family, we can, at least, try to help you when you’re hurt. You don’t have to hide everything under the pretext that you don’t want to hurt us, or that you want to protect us.” He scolded, as he handed another, clean, t-shirt to his brother.
“Beep Bee.” A familiar beeping came from the now opened bathroom door, making both of the man jump in surprise.
“Yeah! OB is right, Michael.” Khole peeked in as well.
“How long have you been up?” OB demanded in a scolding tone, although his expression clearly showed that he was embarrassed at the idea that they’d been hearing it all. “Didn’t our parents taught you that it’s not good to eavesdrop?”
“If you weren’t talking so loud, we could have kept sleeping.” Khole teased, as she made her way in.
“We heard it all.” Keith said with a smirk, before turning to look at BB, who was still silently watching them. “Older bro is right, tho. You can’t just hide it all like that. We already talked about this, too.” He pouted, crossing his arms.
“I- I’m sorry…” Michael looked down again, feeling very ashamed of himself for all this. “It’s just…” Tears started pooling his eyes again, despite how much effort he was putting in holding them back. “It’s hard to talk about these things…”
“It’s okay, bro.” Khole pulled him in a hug again. “We know that you’re trying your best.”
“Beep.” Keith agreed as he joined in the hug.
“Just, don’t wait until we find out by ourselves, next time.” OB sighed as he awkwardly joined the hug.
The siblings kept hugging for a while, until BB’s tears stopped, but even then they didn’t really let go of him, Keith and Khole taking hold of his hands, as OB kept his hand on Michael’s head, comforting, yet less stuffing.
“Thanks guys.” Michael gave a wet smile.
The siblings led him to the living room, where they convinced him to lay with them on Khole’s mattress, this one mentioning with excitement how it had been so long since the last time they’d all slept together, like when they were kids.
Michael wasn’t really sure about the idea, and Older Brother was looking very embarrassed, but still, they agreed to it.
Next thing he knew, Michael was being hugged from all sides again, as his siblings made themselves comfortable around him. When they seemed content enough, all smiling when BB let out a small chuckle, Keith started humming a soft melody.
“Oh- Come on, I’m not a baby.” Michael laughed.
“Shut up and sleep.” OB argued with a smirk.
Soon, both Khole and OB had joined in with their brother’s melody.
It wasn’t long before all of them slowly drifted off to sleep, feeling closer than ever to their BB.
The next day, BB would tease them about how heavy they were on him, and complain about how unfair it was of them to trap him like that and sing him a lullaby. Of course, they didn’t need him to say what he was really thinking to know that he was thankful for it, and that he really cherished these kinds of moments with them.