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DANNY
BY ALEXI
Art by
Lori Michelle Adams |
A boy named Peter had a little brother named Danny. He loved his little
brother so, and he respected Danny. Danny also treated Peter with respect. They
both would help each other in need and would cheer each other up.
Danny was often scared at night, always saying he saw a man in his closet
and heard whispers that he cannot understand. Danny always woke up from
nightmares and went to his brother’s room. But to Peter, that wasn’t a problem.
Peter waved goodbye to his parents before they left to a party. Danny
followed beside him and also waved. Their parents waved back as they entered
the car, holding hands with each other. To Peter, it was kind of nice. They
had been married for eighteen years and they still did that.
Danny ran back inside. “So, what do you want to do?” he asked when
he bounced onto the couch. Danny leaned his head on his arm, staring at
the television even though it was not on.
Peter walked up and sat down on the armchair next to the couch. “I
don’t know,” he said, “Wait, I know! I’ll ask you what to do. That’s
something you can do.” Danny giggled. He laughs mostly at whatever Peter
says.
“How about we go for a walk?” said Danny. He jumped up from the
couch and plopped back down laying on his stomach. He hung his hand off
the couch and let it swing back and forth.
Peter didn’t think that was a god idea because first of all, it
was getting late. Peter looked at the clock in the kitchen and managed
to make out the clock hands pointing to five ‘o clock. And second of all,
he didn’t want to be given a hard time with those three ‘verbal yet
physical bullies’ he calls them, named Robert, Pat and Nigel. They always
hung out at the park. But his brother had a big passion for the park. He
loved running in the park and playing, but for Peter, it was disaster.
To Peter, it was like those kids were always there, waiting to give him
a hard time, while his brother watched in shock. Peter thought about it
for a moment and then came up with a solution.
“Alright, but since it’s getting late, we’ll only be there for a
little bit,” he said.
Danny jumped from the couch. “Hooray!” he shouted as he shot his arms
up in the air. He ran to the door. Peter followed behind. They were allowed
to go to the park alone because it was very close by; a short three blocks.
Peter already was thinking about the kids when he first walked out of
the house. What will they do if they’re there? He thought. Will they beat me
up? Will they take my hat away? Or worse, will they hurt Danny?
As Peter thought, He noticed that he was at the end of the first block.
They had to cross the street now.
Peter nearly dozed off in his thinking, when he noticed that Danny was
trying to pull his hand. Peter immediately woke up. “Oh, sorry,” he said.
Danny didn’t answer. They crossed the street without seeing any cars
pass by.
* * *
Peter slowly walked up to the park. Peter saw them. They were under one
of the play houses. Just talking.
Danny sped up to one of the houses and climbed on. Okay, thought Peter.
Just be cool.
He decided to just wait for his brother near the parking lot. Peter kept
watching Robert, Pat and Nigel. Peter couldn’t stop thinking about them. His
mother always told him to drop the subject and have fun, but he could not.
He froze. Peter thought Nigel had seen him. And just as he thought, he
started to think that he hadn’t seen him, Nigel pointed at Peter. Pat and Robert
looked at Peter and smiled. They started walking towards him. Oh shoot, Peter
thought. As they got nearer, Peter felt worse and worse. He didn’t want any
trouble.
“Hey, Peter!” shouted Pat. “What are you doing here?”
Peter didn’t answer. He just waited until they finally got to him.
“Hey dip face, nice hat,” said Robert. “Mind if I have it?”
Peter stayed put, staring at the three.
Nigel immediately snatched it from Peter’s head. He held it up higher than
Peter could reach. “Give it back!” said Peter. He jumped up, trying to get his
hat back.
“Awe, isn’t that too bad?” said Pat, putting on a sad face. Nigel and
Robert smiled.
“Give me a break!” shouted Peter.
“We’ll give you a break!” shouted Nigel. He walked up to Peter and punched
him in the stomach, really hard. Peter bent forward tucking his stomach. Nigel
had knocked the air out of him.
Peter looked up at the play area where Danny was. He hoped that he wasn’t
watching. Peter always kept the bullying thing a secret from his brother Danny
because it would make him feel bad. But Danny was watching. Peter saw his
horrified face staring back at him. Peter’s heart sank.
Nigel pushed him to a nearby fence and held him up. “Awe, what’s the
matter?” asked Robert. Nigel threw the hat he had taken from Peter on the grass.
Nigel held Peter against the fence and lifted up his fist. He punched Peter
in the stomach again. A pain of nausea swept over his body. He couldn’t breath.
He heard general giggles from Pat and Robert. Nigel didn’t say anything. He
punched Peter three more times in his stomach holding him up. Danny
covered his eyes. He couldn’t bear to watch.
Nigel pulled him away from the fence. He punched Peter in the stomach
which caused him to fall on his knees. So much punching, Peter thought. Nigel
punched him in the eye then. Then he felt it again at another place. Then
another.
They were hitting him now. That went on for about two minutes and it
finally stopped. They started walking away. Peter saw Pat step on his hat and
smush it to the ground with his shoe. That was the most brutal moment, thought
Peter. They aren’t like this. Not this brutal.
Danny cried and cried as they walked down the first block. Peter could not
help him that much since most of his body was sore. “I never want to go to the
park again!” shouted Danny. Tears went down his cheeks and his face was red. He
made loud crying sounds like sirens you would hear from fire trucks that pass
by your neighborhood. He covered his eyes with his hands and tucked his
chin down to his chest. He was in complete agony.
They reached the end of the block. They had to cross the street. “Stop,
Danny,” instructed Peter. But Danny did not listen. He kept going onto the middle
of the street. “Danny!” Peter shouted as loud as he could, but not as loud due
to the stomach injuries.
Danny opened his eyes and saw a truck coming. “Danny!” Peter shouted. But
Danny ignored him once more. He turned facing the truck as he got nearer. Danny’s
eyes were blank. He just stayed put.
“No!” shouted Peter. He started running as fast as he could, but the truck
was too close. Peter stopped and fell back, and then saw his brother get run over.
It was a windy day. There were slight cold breezes that passed by and
stopped, and were expected to blow again. Trees were bending in the distance. It
was a beautiful day. It was just right; not to hot. The heat was cooled by the
wind. On days like this, Peter and Danny would go to the park or run in the
backyard. But now, he was an only child.
“How could he?” said mother crying, standing next to his burial place at
the funeral. Peter too, was crying. His father had a very sad expression on his
face. Peter was too scared to talk to his family right now. Whatever he might
say will get them into frustration because of it not having to do with his little
brother.
The preacher spoke. Relatives surrounded the funeral. Many of the women
were crying like mother, too. Everything else was silent, except for the preacher
preaching and the people crying.
They lowered the coffin in the hole.
* * *
Mother cried for hours after they got home. She couldn’t get her mind out
of it. Peter remembered her telling him to forget the bullying thing. Maybe I
should tell her to try and forget about it, he thought. But he’s my little
brother, who got hit by a truck, and since he’s gone, he pretty much changed
my life. Now I’m an only child.
An only child… Peter walked up to his mother. But he stopped for a
moment. Should I tell her to forget about him? All that he’s been through? All
the memories? He thought. Peter backed away from the room and headed upstairs,
to his brother’s room.
Once Peter got to Danny’s room, he started walking around. What do I do
with his stuff? He thought. I shouldn’t keep it, I shouldn’t sell it. But then
Peter remembered something else. Danny’s highest possession: his pocket knife.
Peter remembered how he got the knife at that age. On Christmas Eve, when Peter
was two years younger, at age nine, his father bought him a knife for camping
trips. Peter always hated camping trips, and thought that for Christmas day,
he would make that as a gift for Danny, since Peter hadn’t bought anything for
him yet. So Peter got to work on wrapping. After the gift was opened, Danny got
so excited. He even named it Holly. Peter’s father felt bad for a couple of days
due to Peter not liking it, but then he thought maybe Peter did the right thing,
giving it to Danny. He thought maybe Danny needed to be more responsible.
Peter went through his nightstand where the knife was at and grabbed it.
He went downstairs. “I’m going out really quick –”
“No you’re not,” shouted his father strictly across the house. “Not after
what just happened.”
“It’ll only be a second,” said Peter. “Besides, why would I get run over
by a truck? I tried to save Danny. I jumped for him and I called his name. It
seemed he did it on purpose.”
He heard his mother cry harder in the living room. His father turned and
looked at her, then looked back at Peter. They paused for a while and then his
father said, “No.” He shook his head, looking at the floor. His expression turned
back into sadness.
Peter did not know what to do. He decided to put the knife back in Danny’s
room. “Fine.” He walked back upstairs and looked around in Danny’s room.
Somehow, Peter felt a strange energy. He looked around. He felt it becoming
stronger. Peter soon felt fear. He did not know what was happening. He then felt
it strike his heart and then fell to the ground. He started rolling around on the
floor, thinking he was having a heart attack. Peter grabbed the floor and shut his
eyes. He let out a faint cry of pain. Then he heard a voice, calling him from the
bathroom. It sounded like a child. Then he heard laughter.
He opened his eyes and looked at the bathroom door. Right then, faster than
a blink of an eye, the pain stopped. He smiled a little and let out a sigh of
relief, but was still in fear. He got up slowly. His heart started pumping harder
as he slowly walked to the bathroom door. Once he got there, he paused. He then
heard whispers. Whispers he could not make out or understand.
Once he gripped the knob, he started feeling dizzy. He let go and backed
away. His head leaned to one side, then the other. His body somehow automatically
fell onto the floor without knowing it. He noticed that he began to feel sleepy,
then even more tired. His eyes rolled upward and then shut. He fell into a painful,
deep, dreamless slumber.
He had a dream. His dream was much unexpected. He was floating in space, but
with no color, no feeling. If he were to describe it, he wouldn’t even be able to
tell how he could feel, if he even remembered. He had no feeling at all, whatsoever.
There was no color on his surroundings. Everything was just as if you were closing
your eyes.
He stayed put for a moment, then saw Danny. He was laughing and running like
he always does. Then Peter himself appeared in the image. In his dream, Peter saw
that he and Danny were playing a game that Danny made up. It was called Bear. The
‘Bear’ was supposed to tag the one who was ‘it’ before they could get to their
destination. Normally, their destination would always be from the backyard to the
front, where they would normally put a doll or some toy they had to tag and
automatically Danny would be chased by the ‘Bear.’
Soon, other images appeared. The ones that were most remembered: The time
Peter and Danny had an Easter egg hunt, the time they had Christmas together, etc.
Then the most emotional one of all: the time Danny got hit by the truck. Worst of
all, it was a hit and run. Peter did not see who was driving it; he only saw a
shadow.
Then he saw his brother, staring back at him. He said something, but it
echoed through the darkness. Peter could not hear him, nor see him as well. But
it all stopped as soon as he felt water leak onto his head with great pressure.
Peter immediately shot up and found his parents sitting around him. They were
both staring at him in shock. Peter rubbed his head. “What happened?” he asked, then
coughed.
“You fainted,” said his father in a firm, serious voice. He tightened his lips
and looked hard at Peter’s face. “What were you doing in here?”
“Well, I was returning the knife -”
“Danny’s pocket knife?” asked his mother.
His father looked at Peter harder with his eyes squinting. “He loves that
knife. Don’t mess with it and don’t come back to his room.”
“But -”
“No buts,” said his mother. “His belongings aren’t yours. You should know
better.”
Peter sighed. He wiped the water from his face and got up. “Fine. I just wanted
to go to his grave and put the knife there. I thought it would show some respect.”
His mother looked at his father. His father looked at her, too. They both
thought for a moment. “We’ll visit the cemetery next weekend,” said mother.
“Yes!” shouted Peter. He ran out of the room, leaving his parents, the pocket
knife and the bucket in the room.
Danny had truly changed Peter’s personal life. He now had a different
personality. He was more mature and serious in a way, but he was also been noticing
something. He hadn’t seen Nigel, Pat or Robert at school. He wondered where they
were most of the time.
Right now, Peter walked up to Danny’s grave. He looked at it, having an
emotional moment. All the times they had together and how much fun. But now, his
parents were bugging only him.
Peter pulled out the knife and flicked it open. He stuck it deep down near
Danny’s name. But next too Danny’s name, he noticed something very strange. At the
corner of his eye, he thought he had seen Nigel’s name on one of the tablets. Peter
looked back and read. Nigel’s dead? He thought in a sudden fear. How did he die?
What happened? When?
But his fierce thoughts were interrupted by another site. Next to Nigel’s
gravestone was Pat and Robert’s grave. Peter’s heart chilled in deep emotion.
Once he saw their graves, he feared his little brother’s presence.
The End
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