I woke up to find Youngmin snuggling up to me and holding my arm. He snuck into my bed again, but I didn’t mind. Even though he was the older of us twins, he was much frailer than I was. He got sick very easily, and I liked when he was close to me so I could take care of him. I put my hands on his face like I did every morning to check his temperature. He was very cold. I gasped and hugged him tightly. I figured it was the best way to keep him warm.

“Kwangmin…”

I had woke him up with the hug.

“Hush. I think you’re sick again. Just stay here and I’ll warm you up, okay?”

He nodded and put his head on my chest. I just hugged him tighter.

                Being ten years old and having to take care of my older twin was not easy. Our parents always fought. My dad got… Angry a lot. My mom was too afraid of what he would do to her, so she often stood by and let him do whatever he wanted. My mother was weak, and I hated that she never tried to defend us. What usually happened would go something like this: My dad would come home from work and yell at my mom. They would yell back and forth while breaking things. Youngmin and I would hide in our secret fort we made in my closet. It was the only safe place we had away from the world. But sometimes there wasn’t enough time to get to our fort, and…

                I didn’t want to think about it anymore. I looked over to see Youngmin was fast asleep again. I pushed some hair out of his face. I saw the bruise from last time. I felt myself starting to cry. I hated my dad. I hated him. I would never forgive him for hurting us and our mother, even though she didn’t even try to stop it. My body shook with sobs, and I felt Youngmin wake up again. He sat up and wiped away my tears.

“Kwangminnie, what’s wrong?”

He was very concerned. I pulled him back down to lay next to me, and I wrapped my arms around him again.

“I hate dad for hurting us. I’m just so glad I have you, Youngminnie. Make sure you stay with me forever, okay? I love you. Now don’t sit up again, you need to get better.”

I pulled myself together and stopped crying. I needed to be strong for him now. Youngmin looked up at me.

“I love you too, Kwangminnie. I promise, too. And you better never ever leave me by myself, either.”

I smiled and closed my eyes. I wanted to stay like this forever.

---

               I opened my eyes again after what I believed was a few hours, this time to see sunlight shining through the window. It was really time for us to get up. I sat up in bed, but immediately lied back down in fear. I heard my parents arguing again. It wasn’t one of the normal everyday fights. This was a big one. I felt Youngmin’s face again, and it felt warmer than before. I lightly shook him awake. He was well enough to get out of bed.

“Youngmin! We have to get up and go to the fort right now!”

He drowsily opened his eyes, but understood what I was saying. He sat up and grabbed my hand. We silently got out of bed and ran to my closet. I opened the door and pushed my clothes out of the way. Without letting go of Youngmin’s hand, I led us past all the clutter and into the back. I grabbed the flashlight we kept there and turned it on. I sat on the blanket, and he sat next to me. We pushed ourselves up against the wall and stayed close together.

I could hear the yelling get louder. I was scared, but I didn’t show it. I put Youngmin’s head against my chest and held it there. I felt his tears drop onto my hand.

“Youngminnie, don’t cry. It’ll all be over soon. They always stop eventually.”

He sniffed and nodded. He started to hiccup, like he always did when he cried too much. I rubbed his back to soothe him. He would make himself sicker if he kept crying like this.

                I heard footsteps stomping quickly up the stairs. Someone was going to come into our room. Youngmin whimpered and I held him closer. Our door was thrown open. It was my dad, for sure.

“BOYS? GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW! Where are you hiding?!”

I closed my eyes and rocked us back and forth. He would not find us. He would not hurt Youngmin.

The closet door opened. We held our breath. He never came into our room like this before. I didn’t know what to do.  He threw and pushed things out of the way. I just squished myself against the wall as much as I could, still holding Youngmin tight.

I opened one of my eyes to find my dad staring straight at my face. I whimpered and shielded Youngmin.

“Dad… Please don’t…”

He reached out his hand towards us to grab me, I figured, but he didn’t. He grabbed the sleeve of Youngmin’s shirt. I screamed and held onto him tighter. We were both eventually dragged out and back into the room. My dad stood Youngmin up only to slap him across the face.

“YOU COME TO ME RIGHT WHEN I CALL YOUR NAME? UNDERSTAND?!”

 Anger boiled inside me. He was attacking Youngmin because he knew he was weaker. I couldn’t stand it any longer. I hit and yelled at my dad as much as I could while holding onto Youngmin’s hand. Youngmin was crying hysterically and I pushed him behind me for safety. He put his head on my back and continued crying.

With no thought at all, I looked my dad in the face and glared with all my might. I took all the strength I could find in myself and punched him straight in the stomach. He flinched a little, but not enough to stop. He grabbed my entire head with both hands and threw me against the nearest wall. I slid down onto the floor, unable tocontinue fighting for Youngmin. The last thing I saw before I closed my eyes was my dad dragging Youngmin out of the room. The last thing I heard was Youngmin yell,

“DAD, PLEASE! I promised I would stay with him! LET GO OF ME! KWANGMIN!”

He kept crying. I tried to reach towards him with no success. All I saw after that was the blackness behind my eyelids.

“MOM! WHERE’S YOUNGMIN?! WHERE IS HE?!”

She didn’t look up when she spoke.

“Kwang—Kwangmin… You shouldn’t be up…”

Tears were streaming down my face.

“TELL ME! WHERE IS HE?!”

She looked up, but couldn’t look me in the eye.

“Your father—Youngmin—He--… They’re gone. He took Youngmin away from us.”

I fell on my knees and stared blankly at my mother. They’re gone. And they’re not coming back.

---I'm sorry. That was totally depressing. Part 2? Nah. Well, I don't know. I think I'll just let it hang like this. I kinda wanted it to be a oneshot. Thanks for reading. :P If you want a part 2, let me know, I might consider it. Thanks <3