I.

             There he is. Under the dark skies, standing alone in the middle of the green yard. His face pale, all drenched in rain; his eyes dropped on the earth he stand. His thoughts traveled across months; the past memories flashed into his mind.

             A couple person walked along the deserted shore. Their fingers intertwined, enjoying how the cold wind slapped their skin. Seagulls’ squawking was heard across the purple sky, combined with the sound of waves crashing on the rocks. They occasionally run around in the warm sand of the beach. Laughing, chasing each other, laughing, splashing the water, laughing, like the happiest person ever. They were having fun not long ago. They were. And how the situations change quickly. Silence is all we can hear now. The only crowded place is their mind. The brother with his complicated thought and the sister with her more confusing thought.

             “What makes the situation change so quickly?” thought the guy.

             Another memories creeped into his mind. Where he rode a bicycle, a girl younger than him sat on the passenger seat. She giggled cheerfully and hugged him from her seat. Once they went downhill, the girl would swing her arm, try to catch the wind, and yell like she was the happiest person alive. So did the boy. He chuckled as his sister yelled through the empty road. But deep down, beneath those happy laughs, they wished silently to stop the time, so they didn’t have to return home.

             The scene now changed into something different, with the same figure in it. They sat under the big tree. Just the two of them. Enjoying the sandwich he made for them, enjoying the green scenery happily, and enjoying the breeze on their faces. Until she laid her gaze on the figures across them. A picture-perfect happy family. He noticed as well. Jealous. They feel it. They want it too. A complete figure in their family. Imagine how peaceful it would be if they could sit and have a picnic every weekend. Then the boy carefully wiping the crystal bead escaping from his sister’s eye and patting her head slowly. But fantasy is just fantasy, thought the brother.

             His memory blurred again. The sound of broken glasses was heard from all around the place he called home. He quickly ran from his room with a pair of earphones in his hand. He flashed towards the pink door, his sister’s room. There she is, crouching under her duvet. The boy slowly approached her, trying not to startle her. Once he sat on the bed beside her, the sister quickly reached out to her brother for a tight embrace. Then the brother felt it, his sister trembled with muffled cries. He kept mumbling the words sorry to her as he hugged her tight. The loud noises and the crackling glasses were still heard downstairs. The siblings finally stopped hearing the noise when the brother stuffed earphones into each of their ears. A familiar melody stopped her tears, slowly replaced by a faint smile as she looked at her brother.

             He blinked. The green yards flew back into his sight, but it’s blurry now. A bead of tears slid down his cheek, blending with the rainfall. He clenched his fists, regretting the past. His eyes are straight on the blurry gravestone; he doesn’t know what is written on the stone, but he knows very well who laid beneath.

Another memory flashed through his mind, where he hugged her. Where he protected her as their father slamming his vodka bottle on them, it crashed on the brother’s back. A memory where he protects his only sister from their father’s rage. He did it. Always capable of protecting his little sister from two humans that he won't call parents. He protected her; he saved her. When she tried to harm herself. Or when she tried to chug the drain cleaner. Or all of her attempts to unalive herself, he stopped all of it. He saved her. Always. All over his eighteen years, he always tried to protect her. So did when their father raised a sharp shard of a glass bottle at his sister, threateningly. He protects her. Even when she doesn’t want to be protected. “I can defend myself,” she said. He still always protects his dear little sister, even when she confronts their dad, expresses a sudden burst of anger towards their father. It doesn’t end well, of course. He slapped her hard. She still defies him. The confrontation leads their father to crash the bottle of alcohol he drank and− and− and it went so fast. Her brother suddenly faces her with a smiling face, blocking her vision towards their father. "Sorry." His lips moved, but she heard no voice. Her mind blanks; she can’t process what’s just happened. Behind him, she saw their father running outside the house. “It’s okay, I’m here, I’ll always be here,” said her brother, his voice is so gentle. When the girl lowered her gaze, she realized it. She gasped as she saw the crimson stain on her brother’s shirt. He was stabbed.