What Exactly Happened: Part 13

No matter how painful it may be or how hard it might be to accept, you will push through it. You will move past this and keep on living your life."

"But..." Michael hesitated slightly, his lower lip quivering slightly. "Can you help me remember? Please. For me... please help me remember... I... I…"

Ryan's expression softened, his tears threatening to spill over. "Of course, I will help you, Michael. I promise. This isn't your fault. This never was." He paused briefly, taking a deep breath to steady himself before adding, "Promise me you won't dwell on this anymore. You won't think about what this means for you. This is not your burden to carry. This is not your fault !!"

Michael flinched violently at Ryan's loud outburst, his mouth hanging open slightly. He blinked rapidly several times, trying to get rid of the fresh set of tears that threatened to fall, and nodded again, more hesitantly this time. "I-I promise," he stammered hoarsely, his voice cracking slightly.

Ryan smiled softly, reaching forward to hug Michael tightly, burying his face into the younger man's neck.

"Thank you," he murmured, his voice breaking slightly. He tightened his grip on his brother just as Michael returned the gesture, hugging him fiercely.

"Thank you," Michael whispered back, unable to keep the emotion out of his voice. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you…"

"Yeah yeah. Stop crying already," Ryan scoffed lightly, laughing softly as he wiped away a stray tear from under Michael's eye. Michael huffed out a short laugh in response, pulling away reluctantly from Ryan and wiping his eyes as well. He swallowed loudly. "I should uh," he said, gesturing towards the bathroom with his head in the general direction. "Go take a shower. Change into some clean clothes. I'll get us some food. Sounds good?"

"Yeah. Sounds great," Ryan grinned, nodding in agreement.

After taking a shower and changing into new clothes and sitting down at the kitchen table together, Ryan and Michael ate their dinner quietly, each of them seemingly absorbed in their thoughts. It was weirdly peaceful. Neither one of them dared to bring the conversation up again after having exchanged glances now and then throughout the evening as they finished their meals. Ryan could see how much Michael was struggling to process what had happened, and while he was glad that his brother was finally opening up a bit, he knew that Michael didn't need this burden added to his already heavy load.

When the dishes were done washing and putting away, the two of them sat next to each other on the couch, not exchanging a single word for the rest of the night. Ryan watched absentmindedly as Michael played with the radio, looking like he was desperately trying to distract himself from what he had seen and heard earlier. Eventually, Ryan stood up suddenly.

"I'm going to check on mom," he announced, glancing briefly at Michael before heading into the hallway leading towards the stairs. As soon as he heard the sound of a familiar click, he walked briskly down the hall and into his mother's bedroom, closing the door behind him. She was laying down, her breathing slow and measured. Her eyes were closed, and she appeared completely oblivious to the fact that her son was standing mere feet away from her.

For a moment, Ryan debated whether or not to wake her. However, he couldn't quite shake off the feeling that she wouldn't wake up, that he wouldn't wake her up. So, instead, he took a few steps closer, slowly leaning down slightly, his hands resting on either side of her, staring down at the dark circles underneath her eyes.

To be continued...