Blood Money

They say blood is thicker than water – but is it always?

It’s been 10 years now. Been living with my brother since then. We share a small house. Can’t afford anything. We were living with almost nothing in our hands, but at least I had him. He was like a dad, that doesn’t exist. It wouldn’t matter if we had food or not, as long as my brother was there. But surprisingly, one day, something amazing happened. My brother came home, burst through the door, and rushed into the living room. He had good news. A stack of cash came out of his pockets like nothing. This was amazing. I didn’t know what that meant, but supposedly, he had found a new job, and he was making bank. I was really proud of him. And happy at the same time, we could live a much better life now. As I’m the younger one, my brother doesn’t let me work, he wants me to be safe and sound at home. He’s been looking for work for a long time now, but this is the first time that he actually got accepted. I gave him a big hug that day.

From that day forth, we were living like millionaires. Seemed like he had a real good job. He came home every day, with something new. We finally had a TV, we ate well, it was unbelievable. This kept on going for a few months, but everything nice has an end, doesn’t it?

My brother came home with bruises on his face, wounds on his body. I didn’t know what happened, but it was terrible. He didn’t tell me the actual story, to not make me worry. Kept on saying, that it was just a small misunderstanding on the sidewalk. Although this “misunderstanding” occurred for a number of days, weeks and months. I kept on asking and asking what actually happened to him, but he wouldn’t answer. “Just stay at home and don’t worry. Your brother will take care of it”.

Very nice. I have to sit down and let my brother get beaten by punks on the street. Yet I soon came to realize, that that wasn’t the actual deal. Something way more interesting was going on. With interesting, I mean horrifying.

It was a Friday night, he should be at home at eight, but he was nowhere to be seen. Then the doorbell rang. No one was there, but as soon as I looked down, I saw him. My brother. He was bleeding way more than ever. Left on the floor with life-lasting injuries. Who could’ve done this?

Loan sharks. Exactly. There was an end to his mystery, so my brother told me everything. He was working with a loan shark, or a group of them to be exact, for the past months. That’s where the money was coming in from. Surely, he didn’t land a job, but he also didn’t want to see me like this, so he thought this was a good idea. Yet he dug himself a bigger hole. And potentially me. He was supposed to get back the money to them, which was a huge sum. A sum of a million dollars to be exact. I was shocked. Why did my brother want that much money, and how didn’t he think about the consequences? This was already illegal, but he had to gain some money to give it back. Again, through illegal means. Luckily, I didn’t find him dead, that would be the worst outcome.

The loan sharks gave him some time, a long time actually, which was unexpected. And what better way to gain money than selling drugs. “Great idea, brother”. How stupid was he? Unfortunately, he actually did that. Mother would not be proud right now. I thought he had morals, but he seems like he would do anything at this point. I mean, this is a life-and-death situation. Understandable, at one point, but would he actually go this far? So now, my brother became a drug dealer. Don’t know where he got the goods from, but he did. And sold them for huge prices. He was paying back the loan money, penny by penny.

We were approaching the million dollars very soon, but we still had a long way to go. My brother insisted and told me to sell drugs as well. This way, we could earn more at the same time. Did he lose his mind? A few months ago, he wanted me to be safe, and didn’t let me do “normal” work, and now he wants me to sell drugs? I would never accept such a thing and said no. He was upset, very upset. “I thought you would help me out, as a brother”. This is not the place and time to say that. It has nothing to do with that. I wouldn’t sell drugs, just to clear up the fact that you owe a million to some loan sharks. It was your fault to begin with. He got out and said that he will take care of this alone. Emphasizing the word “alone”. Am I not his brother anymore? Because of this? It was a stupid, and sad time to be in. I wish that this would’ve never happened.

He didn’t answer my calls, nor did he come back home. He doesn’t have money for himself, so where does he live? However, I didn’t need to worry about him. I had to worry about myself.

One day, somebody knocked on the door, I opened, and three muscular men came in. They got hold of me, and I couldn’t move. They checked every corner, and picked up everything that was worth something. From money to electronics. Then they gave me a big punch to the face. The cherry on top. And my face was a cherry at that moment, I was bleeding a lot. One guy pushed me to the wall. Then I saw him. I couldn’t believe it.

It was my brother.

Getting rid of me, would clear the money that he owes them. He chose them, over me. Wow, just wow. He slowly raised a gun to my head. My brother actually wanted to kill me?

“I’m sorry, buddy, I have to do this”. That’s when I realized.

Blood isn’t thicker than water, money is.