It's a small house, in a small neighborhood, but it's ours all five of ours.  Even though it's cramped with 3 bedrooms no bigger than a prison cell and 1 bathroom, it's still ours.  I like going outside, the backyard isn't that pretty or anything it's just that it's peaceful.  It helps me get away from the suffocation inside that house.  The grass is uneven and hasn't been mowed for years.  It had 7 trees in it two are dead but they're still lingering.  I liked climbing those trees and looking at the sky.  At those moments I feel the most peaceful.

That day I sat down on the couch watching the news.  It said that there was going to be a storm.  "Yahoo that means no school!", Jake exclaimed, doing a dance.

"Hey if Caleb heard you say that he'd start yelling about how important school is y’know", I told him grinning.

"You got that right", Jake sat down on the couch next to me.  We were twins both 12 years old.  We continued our fantasizing about no school when we heard footsteps.

I turned my head around to see Derrick coming down the stairs.  We both went silent.  Derrick looked at us without saying anything and made himself cereal.  I sighed I didn't hate Derrick at all and I don't think he hated me either he does hate Caleb though, or maybe he doesn't who knows.  At that moment Caleb came downstairs.  He stared at us then at Derrick and made himself a sandwich.  This happened every morning so by now I was used to it, though I knew that once this happens you stayed quiet.

I don’t understand why Derrick still hates Caleb.  Derricks 17 years old, Caleb's 25.  Caleb takes care of us, he's our older brother.  Derrick blames Caleb for our parents death though It wasn't his fault.  There was a fire, Caleb woke up, though by the time he woke up our house was almost completely ablaze. Mom and Dad's room was already on fire.  Caleb got us all outside right before the house came down.  Caleb stopped Derrick from trying to save Mom and Dad and that's why Derrick hates him.  It's already past 3 years though shouldn't he realize by now that it's not Caleb's fault.  He would’ve been dead if not for Caleb.

But whatever it was none of my business, in this house everyone sticks to their own business.  Caleb only talks to us to yell at us. Honestly I was closest to Jake in this house. "Hey where's Jacob", I whispered to Jake.

Jake shrugged, "I think I saw him in the bathroom".  I nodded.

Jacob was 15 years old.  Jacob wasn’t the closest with us  though he wasn’t the farthest either.  Jacob distanced himself a bit but he's not at Derricks level.  After the accident everybody changed, even me.  I mean how could you not.

Jacob came down the stairs and made himself some breakfast.  "Hey Jacob guess what", Jake exclaimed.

"What?”

"There's gonna be a storm, no school!”., I looked at Jake as he said this.  Ugh here it comes. Even though I loved Jake he could sometimes be a bit of an idiot.

"Why the hell would you be excited about getting out of school!", Caleb yelled, glaring at the three of us.  I looked at him yep he was pissed.

"Hey the storm probably won't be that serious. We'll probably still have school plus if we don't we should take that chance to study",  I interjected quickly. I really didn't want to be yelled at right now.  I liked stopping a fight before it started.

"Oh, I guess Jacob shouldn't be excited saying his grades make him look like a moron.", Jake said innocently.  I sighed for real this dude could not read a room.

Jacob opened his mouth as if to defend himself, but closed it.  He probably knew Jake didn't mean any offense when he said that.  "If your grades drop I'm home schooling you", Caleb said before leaving to go to work.  After the accident Caleb got a job and did online college he was smart enough to get scholarships.  Our parents' inheritance helped us get this small house the rest Caleb's saving for when we go to college.  Though it's obviously not enough for all of us, at most two of us can go with that money.  Caleb says that if we don't get a scholarship we're done for.  I sometimes wonder which two of us will go.  

I'm not sure Caleb likes us, I mean if we didn't exist he could've been living a normal life, he wouldn't have to live in a dumpy town like this one.  Caleb doesn't pay attention to Derrick, he always yells at the rest of us though.  I guess I wouldn't like us that much either, I mean we weren't exactly the best kids.

Jake almost always got into trouble at school and Jacob had awful grades.   I stayed out of trouble for the most part.  I’m also always at the top of my class. I'm even in sports.  But even so I still got in trouble, me and Jake always stuck together, if he’s involved with something so am I.  Caleb never forgets.  Even if you just do something once he'll keep reminding you of it till the day you die.

After we ate, we got up to go to school.  Before leaving I looked at Derrick he wasn’t moving at all.  I shrugged well whatever even if he skips school Caleb won't yell at him.  I mean Derrick hung out with kids who took dope and drank. I wouldn't be shocked if he himself did those things too.  Neither would Caleb but he doesn't say anything about it.  He never says anything about it.

Caleb knew Derrick hated him. I don’t think he cared; he didn't say anything when Derrick told him it was all his fault. He didn't try to convince him otherwise either, he just found a house, applied for a job and kept us alive.  We all knew it wasn’t Caleb's fault, Derrick just wanted someone to blame.  Though it's been three years he needs to grow up.  I'll admit even I blamed Caleb for their deaths in the beginning because I wanted to blame someone, needed it, but as time went by I realized deep down it wasn’t anyone's fault it was a fire which no one knew what caused.

None of us really bared any hate or bad feelings towards each other besides Derrick.  We just weren’t the closest.  We weren’t as close as brothers, but not as far apart as strangers.  I'm not sure we're even acquaintances.  We're somewhere in between, None of us cared about each other's lives.  I mean Caleb cared if we made a mistake but when it came to personal issues he could care less.  I suppose me and Jake cared about each other.

While it was school it rained hard, I could hear the rain pellets, plopping and hitting the school roof.  I could barely focus.  School passed by quickly that day and unlike I predicted the teachers said that we wouldn't have school because of the storm.  Maybe it was more serious than I thought.  I shrugged the thought off.  By the time school was over the rain stopped.

"Are you fucking kidding me", I heard Caleb scream as I opened the door.  Well that doesn't sound good.  Though I don't remember doing anything wrong so I don't think it's me.  I ran to the back yard so I wouldn't have to deal with whatever Caleb was angry about.  I liked our backyard.  I'm the only one who did though, nobody came out here.  Besides me everyone else pretty much hated the outdoors.  Though that's why I like it so much I can get away from everything.  I feel at peace when I'm here I like climbing the trees and chasing some of the animals away who occasionally come by.  Our house isn't peaceful but it's not chaotic. It's just sometimes you can feel as if you're suffocating.  I don't think we've ever had an argument.  Caleb screams at us one sidedly we just stand there and took it because we knew that we owed him.  We had no other relatives that could take care of us.

I let out a sigh, Caleb seemed pretty pissed I wondered what happened.  I looked up at the sky. It wasn't clear at all.  Maybe the storm will be serious.  I heard the faint sound of the front door opening.  I guess Jake and Jacob came home.  I heard my brother coming downstairs yelling curse words.  My heartbeat quickened.  Damn he seems really mad what happened.  I heard my brother yell my name.  Shit.

"Coming", I yelled my body on edge.  Once I did I saw Caleb, his pants were soaked up to his knees.  Well that didn’t look good.  

"Where were you?", Caleb asked.

"I was outside'', I answered almost systematically.  I looked over at Jake trying to tell him to give me a clue about what happened he shrugged.  and pointed at the ground.  It was soaked and the water was up to my ankles.  I was so panicked I didn't even notice.  Well that's a first I thought to myself.  I knew this was gonna be a bad day once I saw the news. Ugh why couldn’t my life be easier. 

I looked over at Caleb and he looked pissed.  Wait a minute but this was obviously none of our faults why on earth was he mad at us.  I shrugged off my annoyance.  At that moment Derrick came through the door.  "What the fuck are you kidding me", he yelled as his shoes were completely submerged in water.  Caleb looked over at the three of us and left Derrick alone.  "Why were you guys home so late", he asked angrily.  "If you had gotten here sooner this could've been avoided".  I was annoyed by that statement but shrugged it off. It wasn't like me to get so annoyed.

"I had sports", I said quietly,"Jake had them too."  Caleb still looked angry.  At that moment the lights flickered off and I could hear thunder roaring outside.

"Ugh let's go outside", Caleb muttered trudging through the water to the back door.

We went behind the trees and I heard Jake giggling to himself.  "Why are you laughing", I asked wondering what about this situation would make him want to laugh.

"Oh I was just thinking about how when Caleb was yelling at us he didn't think to get out of the water before and yell at us outside '', he said grinning and continued his giggling.  I started looking at Jake and burst out laughing honestly Jake was the only person in this house keeping me sane.  We all sat down and that's when it happened.

Even though Jake was a nice person to be around he still lacked common sense and maybe sometimes a brain.  "Why aren't we sitting under the trees", Jake asked questioningly.  We all looked at him as if he was the dumbest person on earth.  Ah Jake please just stay quiet right now i pleaded.

Derrick started laughing and said, "Wow I knew you were stupid but how could you be so dumb do you lack a brain.  How do you even have average grades honestly, you sleeping with your teacher or something because you're barely smarter than a kindergartner yet you get all those A's? How am I even related to you?"  I looked at Derrick in shock. Was he serious right now even though Jake wasn't always the smartest? Did he really have to go that far?

Jake sat there dumbfounded. He just looked confused. Me and Jake always studied together every night and Jake was pretty grade smart. It's just he doesn't know some things.  He's a very honest and open person.  "Jake it's because a tree can get struck by lightning and the lightning will get to you.", I said, trying to explain it in the quickest manner possible. 

Jake nodded his head in understanding. "Wow thanks Ren I didn't know that".  Jake grinned ignoring Derrick's words. But I couldn't let it go.

As I was about to open my mouth to yell at Derrick Jacob said,"Are you serious how the heck could you be so immature he's 12 years old dude honestly stop trying to take out your misery on everyone else."

I stared at Jacob in awe. Wow, I almost forgot he could talk.  Well that might've been an overstatement Jacob talked to us from time to time just not that often and probably no more than 20 words at most a day.

Derrick glared at him but didn't say anything.  "Hey don't take it to heart ok Jake," I said trying to find out if he was ok.  He grinned at me.  Honestly Jake is the best brother you could have.

"Can you please shut up", Caleb groaned in annoyance.  Derrick glared at him.

"Why don't you shut up huh, you think you're all high and mighty but you're really just a coward!", Derrick yelled.  We all froze oh no this doesn't look too good I thought.  Caleb stared at him for a second and sighed.

"Oh shut up, how old are you? You're not a child anymore, grow up!", Caleb raised his voice this time.  This really didn’t look good, everyone was in a bad mood, ugh.

Derrick suddenly lunged towards Caleb and punched him.  I just sat there in awe. I could feel Jake's body turn rigid next to me.  When I looked over at him he looked upset.  Jake never got upset.  Caleb fell down, cursed and punched Derrick ten times harder.  What should I do in this situation?

I just left it. That's what I decided as Derrick and Caleb continued to hurl punches at each other. I left it and started thinking.  Wow and here I was thinking that our house wasn't chaotic. I suppose I was just ignoring it.  I wonder which home I prefer this one or our old one with the seven of us.  I loved mom and dad. We all did, though now that they're gone I'm starting to think we didn't love each other.  This new house was breaking down just a little bit of rain could cause a huge flood and I'm sure parts of the house were rotting.  How on earth were we going to afford fixing it.

Caleb and Derrick were still continuing their fist fight when Jacob yelled at them to just stop.  Derrick punched Jacob.  "Hey calm down guys why are you so angry!", yelled Jake desperately.  The three of them continued to yell as Jake stood there not knowing what to do.  I just went back to thinking.  That's all I could do.  I'm not sure what we were.  Not strangers but definitely not at the relationship of brothers.  Were we acquaintances that hated each other, or felt nothing about each other.  I really didn't know I'll ask Jake what he thinks about it later.

I looked back up at the fight and was in shock.  Derrick took out a knife and was lunging towards Caleb about to stab him.  Caleb just stared in shock. He was going to get stabbed, what happens then?  My heart beat quickened.  I got up trying to stop him but it was too late.  Jake lunged in front of Caleb and the knife hit him.

There was blood, there was screaming and crying too.  Which I was doing when that happened, I don’t really remember Caleb quickly took off his shirt and pushed it against the wound.  It looked like the knife went somewhere in his chest.

"What do we do?", Derrick said quietly.  "Should we take the knife out or not.", Derrick looked panicked. I'm not sure if it was because he was worried for Jake's life or his own.  I heard thunder, I saw lightning, It looked like it was about to rain.  Jacob was hyperventilating.  Caleb was trying to help Jake.  Derrick just stood there asking what to do in shock.  And me.....Well I was sitting down I wasn't hyperventilating my heart beat quickened I couldn't move.  I couldn't speak.  We couldn't even call anybody to help because of the power outage.  

Jake wasn't breathing anymore, Caleb started trying to give him CER.  Jacob passed out.  Derrick was now sitting down cursing.  A part of me felt like laughing and another part of me felt like crying.  There was another part of me that wanted to beat Derrick to a pulp the other part of me wanted to end my existence.  I sat there not moving.  My eyes were open for my lack of being to close them.  This was real.

Jake died, the storm passed and we lost the house.  Instead of fixing the house Caleb used the money for a funeral.  Derrick left right after the funeral. I wonder how he's doing.  Nobody said a word about the truth of what happened.  Now it's not the 5 of us anymore just like it wasn't the seven of us anymore now we were 3.  Jacob stopped talking.  Caleb stopped yelling.  It's strange when I think of it because soon we went back to that house, the three of us.  I still liked going outside and climbing the trees.  Though now there were 3 alive and four were dead.

When I'm outside I can't help but think about back then, and our relationship. Were we strangers, brothers, or acquaintances. I know we were none of them.  I don't know what we were.   Caleb and Derrick might've been strangers.  Jacob might've been an acquaintance. Though Jake was definitely my brother.