HER BROTHER 2

      She quivered in bed and clutched her blanket tight to herself. She had heard a lot of stories about what brothers do to their sisters. Thinking of that now, she wondered if she had ever trusted her brother, why had she thought the worst of him, when all he did was protect her? Her father had so trained them that her sensitivity was alarming. 

But he had walked to her reading table. "If you are scared, I could turn on your reading lamp, is just that I don't want to see your face, I'm scared of your reaction." 

       "What is it?" she had asked, still facing the wall. 

      He had sat on her reading chair. "I don't know what to do. I have been carrying this for so long now. I can't tell anyone because this little religious town we live in, not everyone would understand me." 

        She had not said anything. She had kept her mouth shut and her ears open to hear a confession that would either get her really upset, extremely worried or overly happy. She thought of many things that night, but homosexuality was not one of them and she felt her heart thumping fast. 

       "I'm confused. I can't...I can't...oh, my God, this is more difficult than I thought." 

      She had turned to face him. "Josh, what is it? Did you get involved in any bad thing?" 

     He had chuckled. "If I have gotten involved, I wouldn't be this worried." 

       "Did you like a girl?" 

        "That's the problem, I can't like a girl."

      She had missed that point. "Did you pregnant a girl?" 

      "Angel, stop asking weird questions." 

       "Because you are acting weird." 

  He had kept quiet for some time. "The problem is that I can't like girls, I only like boys, I'm attracted to boys." He had been talking in low tones since he came in, but this particular statement his voice was almost a whisper. 

      She had jumped up from bed, she had not seen his face and he had not seen hers. "You are gay!" 

        "Shhh," he hushed her. "Don't be loud." 

        "Don't hush me, Josh! That is an abomination, you are an abomination! The Bible is against that!" 

        He had remained quiet for some time. She didn't even know if he was looking at her or not. Then he had sniffed. "Angel, I'm confused." She could detect the tears in his voice. "I don't know what to do." 

       "Let me tell you. Go to the church and ask God for forgiveness, confess to Father Bernard and get rid of this abomination." 

       That was the mistake she had made, she had pushed him away. All the questions she wanted their answers now, she should have asked him then. She should have asked him how long he had had that feeling, when he had discovered, if he had told any other person. She hadn't known that he had been scared. 

      It was her biggest regret. She knows now what she should have done then. She should have told him it was okay, she should have been there for him, she should have held his hand, hugged him and let him know that she was there for him. But she had not done any of those. If only she could take back the hands of time. 

      Someone had snapped a finger over her face. "Come back, Faith," Charlotte said. 

      Faith looked up and saw that they were staring at her. 

       "You are always fund of this, Faith. Snapping out of reality," Charlotte said and poured her a drink.