Long live the brotherhood

I had been an orphan for the last twenty-seven and a half hours. Twenty-seven and a half hours ago a bomb went off at the bank downtown where my mother worked. My father was an other thing that had been believed to slayed a few years ago, but no one knew for sure, and we didn't care. Mom and me never needed him. As mother and daughter, we always had each other. Until we didn't twenty-seven and a half hours ago.

I walked by the river thinking what to do. I had a hideout at the very end of the city limit. We had made that little place back in freshmen year and spent all of our sophomore and junior years there after school. Now with our senior year ending in less than a month, I wondered what would happen to it. Maybe some other delinquents would find it and our treasure trove of things we shouldn’t have had. Maybe we would continue to use it in our college years. Unlikely. Not after twenty-seven and a half hours ago.

I heard footsteps and stopped to look up. He was walking from the other direction. Staring down he continued walking towards me until he noticed me and looked up.

“Susan,” Daniel said. I could feel a wave of tears coming. I could see guilt in his eye.

I balled my fists trying to hold my tears back. “There was… a bombing yesterday. At the bank. The Brotherhood of Mutants.”

“Yeah,” he muttered, “they were robbing it.”

“So you knew about it?” I shouted. “You knew what was going to happen? What was going to happen to my mom?”

“Your mom?” He looked shocked, “What happened to her?”

I wanted to yell. To scream at him. Even run to him and punch him in the face. But instead, I just broke into tears and muttered, “She’s dead.”

I broke into sobs. Letting the tears stream down until I heard him whisper, “What?”

I exploded in rage, “She dead! She died. They killed her! The Brotherhood of fucking Mutants!” I marched to him and grabbed his shirt trying to shake him, “You killed her! I killed my mom!”

“What! No! Susan! No!” He grabbed me, “No, I didn’t. I wasn’t involved.”

I sucked in air and looked at him, “You weren’t?”

“No. Not directly.”

“So you were involved! You lied!” I was slamming my fists on him wildly.

“No! I wasn’t in the attack.” He stumbled out, “I just helped with the preparation.”

“Why? Why would you do that?”

“I had to. It was for the Brotherhood.”

“The Brotherhood!” I spat back at him, “A bunch of terrorists and criminals. All of you!”

“We are not criminals!” He grabbed me again and squeezed. His mutant strength was par with mine, but he was also half a foot taller. I could only struggle. “We are fighting for our rights. Our right to live our lives and be happy and have families of our own.”

“Oh, that's rich!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, “As if animals like you understand family!”

Daniel's face turned to fury and he shoved me away. “So,” his eyes were watering, “that's what you think of me. Just an animal. You think I don't understand family.”

“Daniel, please I didn't…” I tried to reign my anger in. This was still Daniel. My best friend since freshman year. I went to apologize, “Daniel, I’m sorry. I didn’t-”

“Well, you’re right.” He choked back a sob. “I don't understand that family stuff. You should be grateful.”

“What?” I was in disbelief as he pointed a finger at me.

“At least your mother loved you. Didn't think you were a monster just for existing.” He stomped a foot cracking ground under him, “Didn’t look at you like she wanted you dead. No. You had a place where you never had to even think if others cared about you. But me? The Brotherhood is all I have.”

I was so mad. I just wanted to punch him. To break his face in half, but I also wanted to just break down. So I screamed, “My mother is dead-”

“Other people died too!” He barked, “Don’t be so selfish!”

I slapped him. A moment later he slapped me. Then we fought. It wasn’t proper for boys and girls to fight, but propriety was the last thing on our minds as we swung at each other. His fists were like hammers and his skin like plate mail. With my demonkin nature, I grew my nails into claws to swipe at him. I managed to draw blood and he cracked my rib, but the bout ended when after he overswung a punch. I stepped in to go for his side and got hit by a back-handed hammer swing that sent me flying.

The fight was knocked out of me as I landed. All I could do was heave for air. Daniel was also done. I heard him trudge over and fall next to me.

“Listen,” he huffed, “I have connections. My uncles and cousins in The Brotherhood. Maybe she’s not dead. Maybe she’s a Jane Doe in a hospital. It’s possible. I’ve heard crazier stories.”

“No.” I shook my head, “The bank called me. It’s confirmed.”

Daniel sighed and sunk his head into his hands. “Susan. I’m so sorry.”

I didn’t say anything back. I was going numb as the last of the adrenaline wore off. I could feel myself about to cry again.

“We could just leave.” Daniel said, “You and me. We could just leave this town. Go somewhere. Leave all this behind. Do whatever we want. Work wouldn’t be hard to find.”

“What about The Brotherhood?” I asked. The Brotherhood of Mutants wasn’t a social club, and calling it a gang didn’t measure up to what they were. “They’re everywhere, Daniel. We can’t escape.”

“We don’t have to.” Daniel ensured, “The Brotherhood doesn’t force us to do stuff. They’re… We are a family. And family supports each other. If we wanted to hike out of here and live in the woods they’ll just wish us luck. If we wanted to travel the world they would give us safe houses we could stay at along the way. I have a cousin who could teleport us across the ocean if you want. She’s a Chinese gal who doesn’t speak a word of English, but that won’t be a problem. Come on. What do you say?”

He sounded so hopeful, and I was believing him. I imagined us going around the world. England, Italy, Egypt, India, Japan. All the places my mom wanted to go with me. I wanted nothing more than to take him up on his offer and just go, but I knew better. I wasn’t naive.

I was quiet for a moment before I asked, “Daniel, what did you do? In the robbery. How did you help?”

His face sunk into a frown, “Nothing really. I’m strong. Really strong. I can lift cars with only a bit of effort, but I don’t have a good head. So I just moved stuff. Supply. And also helped the unloading, but I don’t know how much it was.”

“Supply?” I focused in, “Like explosives?”

He sunk even deeper, “I don’t know. I don’t ask questions. I just do what Mother and my older siblings ask of me. I’m sorry.”

I couldn’t help by laugh. A soft chuckle as I stood myself up, “I’m staying. The bank told me they would pay out my mom’s life insurance to me and would continue the full benefits until the end of the year. They also offered a full scholarship and internship with them. After all, that was always the plan. For me to work there to deal with non-mundane clients. So that’s what I’m doing. Goodbye, Daniel.”

I turned to walk away, and he called out to me, “Susan! Are we still friends?”

I stopped. I didn’t know the answer to that. I didn’t know what the future held anymore. Things looked like this whole tragedy was just a mild upset. The same plan as before minus one person. One very important person. Could I just continue on like before?

“I don’t know, Daniel.” I said before looking back at him, “But I hope so. After all, you’re the only family I have left.”

With that, I left and headed to what was for the last twenty-eight hours the last place I wanted to be. Home.