I was on top of the world! There was a freedom in conquering your fears. It’s not that I was afraid of my brother, not really. It’s that I was afraid to do what made me happy. I was afraid that there would be horrible consequences.

As I sat watching the news on Marcus’s TV, a story of ‘a fire that started in the basement of a local home’, I was bemused. The media and the fire investigators called it a ‘drug related’ fire and there was one fatality.

I heard Wendy snore from the spare bedroom. She sure could saw logs! But she needed the sleep. Marcus had put her body through a lot in a short period of time.

I didn’t even bother visiting Marcus in the hospital. Let him stew. I told the police he shot himself in the leg when he tried to get the safety off, upon seeing that he wouldn’t get his drugs because the house was on fire. Turns out, they believed me simply because they had been looking for him for a while. They have no evidence to keep him, so he’ll be home soon.

And Wendy and I will be here. Waiting.