the spade brothers' little sister

one

♤ ♤ ♤

"Wake up, bitch!"

I groaned and rolled over in my bed only to be met with the eyes of my most annoying brother.

"What do you want Brady?" I spoke, my voice sounding deep and groggy from my night's sleep.

"Jace says we have to go now. Emergency." Brady threw a pillow at my head before turning to leave my bedroom. He loudly slammed the door behind him, waking me from the sleepy state I was in. I really couldn't tell if Brady was being serious or not; he always would mess around with me and would lie to me on purpose and then make fun of me when I foolishly believed him.

I dragged myself out of bed and tried to pick out what I should wear for the day. Brady didn't give me any information about were we going, so I had to guess what the best thing was to wear. Since it was summer, I went with a pair of cut off jean shorts and a band t-shirt that actually belonged to my brother Larson. In the middle of changing my shirt, my bedroom door flew open.

I screamed and pulled the shirt over my head as fast as I could so that whoever was barging in wouldn't see anything. Even though I was twelve and didn't really have much to cover up.

"Sorry," Jace apologized, seeming not at all fazed with walking in on me changing. I guess he had spent years changing my diapers and giving me baths when I was younger that he was just 100% comfortable around me. But that didn't mean I was comfortable with him barging in. "Just wanted to tell you we need to go like now. Let's go, B." He went to leave my room to let me change, but I need to ask him what was happening.

"Where are we going, Jace?"

"Hospital." He sighed. "Come on, Brenna, I'm not fucking around. Let's go," he spoke harshly. I knew his words weren't out of frustration for me, but recently Jace had been really on edge and very snappy, which was unlike him. I didn't like when he wasn't happy.

"Hospital?" I asked. "Larson?" I knew exactly why we were going to the hospital but I needed to confirm. Jace nodded, affirming what I already knew, and my eyes couldn't help but get misty. Somehow my brothers could always hold it together, but I was always such an emotional mess - probably because I was going through puberty. I read all about it in a book that Jace got me when I turned twelve.

"Hey, B," Jace spoke softly, pulling me into his chest. "He'll be ok, okay? It's the same thing as last time. And after last time, he was fine, right?" I nodded into his shoulder. "We just need to go now, baby."

I nodded once again before pulling away from Jace and wiping my eyes. Jace left my room probably to make sure Brady and my other brother Charlie were getting dressed and ready to go to see Larson in the hospital. I quickly pulled on the cut offs and grabbed random things to put in a tote bag, like a coloring book, a regular book, and my favorite Barbie, just in case we stayed there for a while. I walked downstairs and grabbed a granola bar as my breakfast. I turned around to leave the kitchen only to bump into Charlie who was putting his earbuds in.

"You ok, B?" He asked, probably noticing my red eyes. "He'll be ok, you know. He always is."

I knew Larson was always okay, but every time this happened I worried that this time would be the last time - when his eye socket was too crushed to be repaired, or when his broken nose wouldn't heal properly. Every time he was fine and he promised he wouldn't fight again, but every time he fought again and ended up in the hospital or badly injured a few weeks later.

Charlie was always nice to me. He always would comfort me and make sure I was okay. My other brothers were protective, but they all could snap at me from time to time. But not Charlie. He always protected me but he also always was smiling at me and making me feel better when I was sad. I nodded to acknowledge Charlie and began to walk to the car parked on the curb outside our house. Jace was already in the driver's seat waiting for us to hurry up and join him.