I Saved My Brother, But He Killed Me Softly Chapter 01

I Saved My Brother, But He Killed Me Softly Chapter 01

The day my college acceptance letter arrived, my brother took me on a trip to Mount Oakhaven to celebrate. That was the day the landslide hit.

To shield him, I took the brunt of the impact. The rocks crushed the back of my skull and left me completely blind.

Both of my legs were shattered beyond repair, confining me to a wheelchair for the rest of my life.

Yet, even after everything, my brother still loved me fiercely.

Our parents had passed away years ago, so he turned down a full scholarship for grad school and worked three separate jobs just to support us.

During our darkest months, he lived entirely on instant ramen just so he could afford a imported, high-end prosthetic and braille books for me.

The guilt of holding him back ate away at me until, one night, I tried to slit my wrists.

When they managed to pull me back, he held me so tight his whole body shook as he sobbed.

“You’re all I have left, Sienna,” he cried. “If you die, I won’t survive a single day without you.”

For his sake, I forced myself to adapt to the endless dark and learned how to take care of myself.

By the fifth year, Ethan finally met the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

But because he refused to leave me alone, he insisted on pushing my wheelchair along even on their dates. Their romantic nights out quickly devolved into a suffocating, awkward trio.

That evening at the restaurant, I was fumbling my way back from the restroom when I heard a muffled, choked sob just around the corner.

“How long are you going to keep dragging her along with us?” Nadia’s voice trembled with suppressed tears. “Are we seriously going to spend our entire married life taking care of a blind cripple?”

I held my breath, waiting for Ethan to defend me the way he always used to.

Instead, there was only a long, agonizing silence.

Right then, my phone vibrated in my lap. It was my primary physician calling to tell me that the blood clot in my brain was rapidly worsening. He asked if I wanted to continue the conservative treatments to buy myself more time.

I stared into the darkness, took a slow breath, and said, “No. Stop the treatments.”

…

“Stop them? Sienna, you need to think this through. If that clot ruptures, it could kill you at any moment,” my doctor’s voice flared with frantic concern through the line.

“I’ve thought it through. Thank you, Doctor.”

I fumbled for the screen and hung up.

Around the corner, Nadia’s tearful interrogation was still going on.

“How long are you going to keep dragging her along with us? Are we seriously going to spend our entire married life taking care of a blind cripple?”

Ethan remained silent for what felt like an eternity. Then, the sharp flick of a lighter cut through the quiet.

“Nadia, she’s all the family I have left,” he said quietly.

“Then why the hell are you marrying me? Go live with her for the rest of your life!”

The sharp click of high heels grew distant as she ran off.

Ethan didn’t chase after her.

I slowly turned my wheelchair, the tires making a faint friction sound against the tile floor.

Heavy footsteps approached.

“Sienna? You done in the restroom? Come on, let’s get you back to the table to eat,” Ethan said.

The overwhelming scent of cigarette smoke clung to his clothes.

“Ethan, where’s Nadia?” I asked, pretending I hadn’t heard a single word.

“Oh, something urgent came up at her office. She had to head out early.”

He was lying.

I didn’t call him out on it, letting him push me back to our table.

The clinking of silverware echoed against the porcelain plate as he held a cut piece of steak to my lips.

“Open up. The ribeye here is incredibly tender.”

I took a bite, but my throat seemed to close up; I couldn’t swallow it. The blood clot in my brain felt like a ticking time bomb, throbbing with sharp, rhythmic stabs of pain.

“Ethan, I’m full,” I whispered.

“You only took one bite. Eat a little more.”

“I really can’t.”

With a sharp clack, Ethan tossed his fork onto the plate.

“Sienna, are you seriously throwing another tantrum right now?”

I froze.

“The second Nadia leaves, you throwing a fit and refuse to eat. What exactly is your problem?” His voice carried a raw, unfiltered layer of exhaustion and irritation.

My hands tightened around the armrests of my wheelchair.

“I’m not throwing a tantrum. My head just hurts.”

“A headache? Convenient how your head always hurts whenever Nadia’s around! Can you please, just for once, grow up?”

I closed my eyes. In the dark, the memory of Ethan from five years ago flashed before me—the brother who had knelt by my hospital bed after my suicide attempt, weeping uncontrollably, begging me not to leave him.

Now, he just thought I was being a burden.

“Okay. I’ll eat.”

Fumbling blindly, I grabbed the fork and forced the meat into my mouth. I couldn’t even chew it properly before swallowing, and my stomach instantly revolted.

Twisting my head to the side, I threw up all over the floor.

Ethan shot out of his seat, his chair screeching violently against the floor.

Waiters rushed over to clean up the mess, and a wave of whispers erupted from the surrounding tables.

“Why would anyone bring someone like that to a restaurant like this?”

“Throwing up everywhere… how disgusting.”

Ethan didn’t say a word as he pushed me out of the restaurant.

The ride home was completely silent. When we got back, he lifted me onto the bed with a grip that was notably rougher than usual.

My back slammed against the wooden headboard, sending a dull ache through my spine.

“Go to sleep,” he said, turning to leave.

“I was wrong, okay?”

“What is it this time?”

“I heard a program on the radio today. They mentioned that Greenwood Care Center on the edge of town is quite nice.”

Ethan’s footsteps abruptly stopped.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I want to move into a care facility. That way, I won’t get in the way of you and Nadia getting married.”

A suffocating silence filled the bedroom.

I half-expected him to snap at me for talking nonsense, to promise me that he would never abandon me. But he didn’t. After a long pause, his voice came out flat.

“A facility like that costs a lot every month. I can’t afford that on my current salary.”

I gripped the bedsheets tight. He wasn’t refusing to let me leave; he was just worried about the price.

“I have my disability allowance,” I said quietly. “And if we add the insurance payout our parents left behind, it’ll cover it.”

Ethan walked back to the edge of the bed.

“Sienna, are you trying to guilt-trip me?”

“No, I’m not.”

“You know damn well I don’t want to just ship you off somewhere. Forcing this topic right now… you’re just doing this to make me feel like a horrible person, aren’t you?”

I forced a faint, invisible smile.

“Ethan, I really just want to go to the care center.”

“Fine! Do whatever the hell you want!”

The door slammed shut with a deafening thud.

I reached down and touched my prosthetic leg. It was an expensive piece of imported engineering. He had survived on nothing but instant ramen for a month just to buy it for me.

The love he had for me was real. But the resentment was real now, too.