Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ A Better Hell ❯ The Beginning ( Chapter 2 )

Danny wanted to be a cop. That was his dream, the goal he'd worked toward his entire life. Aidan wanted nothing to do with it. Let his brother be a hero - he was proud of the kid, proud that Danny wanted to protect people. All Aidan wanted for himself was to fix cars so he could take care of his little brother and ageing mom. Simple dreams, simple life.

Funny how buying milk can change things.

It wasn't anything so grandiose as the Batman origin story. There was no mysterious, faceless figure materializing out of the darkness to murder his family in front of his eyes. There was no gun, no gang. Not even a homeless guy with a knife. Just a drunk driver.

Danny was getting some milk so he could bake Aidan a birthday cake. He had a box of lemon-cake mix that he'd been saving for a while, just because he knew it was Aidan's favourite. And because it was Aidan's favourite, he figured he'd have it ready for his big brother's nineteenth birthday. Surprise him with a fresh lemon-cake, even though Danny didn't like it. So, to make sure everything would be perfect for Aidan's big day, he figured he'd have everything ready the night before, so he'd be ready.

He'd searched the fridge and scoured the cupboards, and eventually he found the eggs and oil and pulled what he'd need out of their sparse groceries. But they only had one bag of milk left, and it smelled sour.

By then it was eleven-thirty, and the only place he could get anything was the little corner store a few streets over. It wasn't far, maybe a ten minute walk each way, but even if they didn't live in the worst neighbourhood they didn't live in the best one, either. Still, it wasn't far - he must have walked there a thousand times - and he was big for sixteen. Intimidating even, if a person didn't look too close. So he went. After all, who ever got hurt getting milk?

***

Aidan got a call from the hospital around quarter to midnight. He was back at work, halfway through replacing the struts on an old Ford Pinto that he'd gotten an 'emergency call' on. It was strange, but as the woman on the other end told him his baby brother was dying all he could think of was that those struts he was replacing were practically brand-new.

He paced the waiting room alone, because his mom's boss wouldn't let her leave early. Time slowed, stretching minutes into years, until finally it stopped altogether. The doctor came out, and said Danny died.

At exactly 12:01a.m.

Suddenly, there were a lot of things he didn't like anymore.

Like birthdays, cars, lemon-cake. . . and milk.