Chapter 21

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"Yaya don't call anyone, I'm Iron Man Jace remember, we are so close to the finish line," Jace muttered as he slowly lost consciousness his mind no longer working to keep him going as his body let his guard down, obviously feeling safe with his sister.

Yara seeing him pass out could only sigh in distress knowing just what kind of pressure her little brother put on himself. Although she had taken on most of the responsibility for her younger sibling, she was strapped to a chair and didn't help matters. Her little brother seemed to be infected with a twisted sort of hero syndrome she had seen in many of her friends when she attended Crenshaw.

He channelled all his grief and anger at the world for the sole purpose of getting better to the point it became an obsession. Many times, she had considered stopping him as he had come home battered and bruised from training, but she stopped herself. If he wasn't on the field he would be on the streets where death was more likely to occur thus, she took it upon herself to fix him up every time he came home injured or even bruised.

If she couldn't stop him, she would make sure he was as safe as possible but never, did she imagine she would see him come home bleeding. The worst that had happened was a dislocated shoulder, but the doctors had done a good job resting it in time and it healed even stronger than before down the line. Now looking at his limp body on the bathroom floor bleeding brought tears to her eyes as a feeling of uselessness washed over her.

Yara let out a slow, shuddering breath as she stared at Jace's unconscious form. His chest rose and fell in shallow but steady breaths, she should call someone. Maybe Uncle T, maybe Ella—hell, even one of Jace's teammates who could help carry his stubborn ass to a doctor. But he had begged her not to, and she knew him well enough to understand why.

"Why couldn't you just be a mathlete," She muttered under a light sob no longer able to hold back her tears as they streamed down her face. She knew that despite the fact he had just looked in his commitment to UCLA any news of him getting hurt could lead to them revoking their offer. Worse yet other schools who had shown interest would keep their distance not willing to take the risk.

Biting her rosy lips in thought, she bent down from her wheelchair, reached under his shoulders, and tried her best to lift him up. Her upper body strength was quite good, given that, she would be 5'9 "tall if she could stand. Having spent more than three years in a wheelchair, she had built quite the muscle in her arms. However, despite meaning to lift his upper body and place him on her lap she was left with a conundrum of how to move him to the living room.

(creek) the sound of the floorboards breaking was practically defining in the silent home instantly catching her attention. "Since you are already up you might as well help me, Kyra," Yara stated with a helpless smile as she whipped the tears from her face before turning towards the door.

11-year-old Kyra dressed in a pair of cat PJs appeared in her sight as she stepped up from the side of the door walking into the light. From her distressed expression, Yara could clearly tell that she must have overheard most of the commotion and probably knew that Jace was doing too well. "S'sis is he going to be O'okay," She tremblingly stammered as she stepped forward taking a good look at Jace's chest which was still covered in blood and was slowly starting to dry.

"Just pull me towards the living room ladybug," Yara responded not bothering to answer that question. Simply nodding at her sister's words Kyra proceeded to grip the handles of the wheelchair and using all her strength she dragged them to the living room. By the time she reached the living room, she had worked up a sweet as her young limbs trembled in pain and exhaustion.

"Can you lift his legs onto the sofa please?" Yara asked the young girl, who simply completed the request without protest before proceeding to help her sister place his upper body on the sofa.

Seeing her brother like this brought up bad memories from 3 years ago when he had picked her up from school so they could visit her big sister in the hospital.

Now the roles were reversed her big brother was the one in pain lying unconscious on their sofa. It took all she could to not think of that date when she lost her parents which started their nightmare. No one ever talked to her about what happened and why it happened, but she picked it together.

One day she was happy and the next day they were being kicked out of their house, her brother stopped smiling and came home with more bruises. Her elder sister whom she wasn't as close to given their 14-year age gap now hovered over her panicking at the slightest fall and pain she felt. Her elder siblings dealt with the loss by becoming overprotective and trying to over-compensate as she became their legal guardian.

It was only when she found her crying in the bathroom one night that she realised she blamed herself for what had happened. Kyra had never been able to put into words, the way their family shattered like a glass hitting concrete. It wasn't just losing their parents—it was losing the light in their home, losing the warmth that used to exist in the spaces between them.

They made up for it in their own ways, but things weren't the same no matter how much they tried to act normal. It was the little things like how they wouldn't do family game nights or movie nights with everyone usually spending their time in their own world. If she was being honest Covid was the best thing that could have happened to her family as they were forced to spend time together.

They watched movies together, cooked food together, and even started doing game nights again. She had even faked having COVID symptoms just so she could hold onto that feeling much longer as her siblings were forced to quarantine with her. However, now looking at her brother the fantasy she had been living in was once again shattered leaving her once more powerless to stop it.

"Kyra, KYRA!" Yara shouted finally getting her younger sister's attention as she had been spaced out for the past 5 minutes not moving an inch. She stood by the couch, watching her big brother's chest rise rhythmically, the bloody streaks staining the fabric beneath him. "Go get me the first aid kit and the medical alcohol,"

Since Jace had been getting hurt, Yara had made it her mission to stock up on medical supplies just in case they needed something. Kyra blinked away the haze of her memories and quickly nodded, her small feet making light taps against the wooden floor as she rushed toward the cabinet where they kept the first aid supplies. She knew exactly where everything was—Jace got hurt often enough that she could find them blindfolded.

The apartment was quiet except for the faint ticking of the old clock on the wall, but it felt heavy like a storm waiting to break. Kyra bit her lip, willing herself to focus as she grabbed the kit and the bottle of alcohol before hurrying back to the living room. Yara was already assessing Jace's injuries, her fingers pressing lightly against his ribs, checking for anything broken.

She was no doctor, but she had learned over the years how to tell the difference between a bruise and something more serious. When Kyra placed the kit beside her, she reached out, giving her sister's hand a quick squeeze. "Good job, ladybug," she murmured, offering a small, reassuring smile before she got to work.

Kyra watched in silence as Yara opened the bottle of alcohol and poured some onto a clean cloth. The sharp, sterile scent filled the air, making her nose scrunch. "This is gonna sting, but he's out cold, so it's probably for the best," Yara muttered, more to herself than to Kyra. She pressed the cloth against one of the deeper cuts on Jace's side, wincing slightly at the thought of how much it would hurt if he were awake.

Jace groaned slightly in his unconscious state, his body tensing for a second before settling again. Kyra sat on the floor beside the couch, watching Yara work with quiet efficiency. "Why does this keep happening to us," she finally said, her voice barely above a whisper. Yara didn't look up, but she knew exactly what Kyra meant.

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To Be Continued...