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Brother's Keeper

Brother's Keeper

Short Story · Emotional Realism
By:  Perfect TimingCompleted
Language: English
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8Chapters
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Synopsis

After Death

Feel-Good Story

Plot Twists

Bias

Mistress

Regret

Face Slapping

After my sister-in-law Lydia had my brother Caleb's kidney removed and spent three years draining his blood, he escaped back to our hometown barely alive. He lay on a bed at the clinic, holding my hand tight as he said, "Noah, don't go after them. You can't afford to cross Lydia's family." Three days later, he died in my arms. I buried him on the hillside behind the town, under the old oak tree he had loved to climb as a child. On the seventh day after I buried him, a black Maybach stopped at the edge of town. Lydia got out with a frail man who looked like he could fall over at any time. She stood outside my house's door and looked at me. "Noah, where's your brother? Tell him to come out. Evan needs bone marrow this time." I wiped the dirt from my hands and raised my head as I smiled. "You want to find Caleb, right? Then start digging."

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Chapter 1

Chapter 1

When I heard a car engine at the edge of the town, I was in the yard feeding the chickens.

I knew that sound.

I didn't look up and simply threw the corn to the ground.

The footsteps came closer. I heard a man's voice, softened on purpose.

"Lydia, are you sure this is the place? It's so remote."

I raised my head and looked up.

A woman stood on the stone tiles outside my yard. The tiles were made higher than the ground itself. She was tall and thin, wearing a dark gray coat. The metal clasps at her cuffs caught the sun. She wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, and her expression was cold.

Lydia, from the Lane family.

My sister-in-law.

A man stood next to her. His skin was very pale, but his cheeks were rosy. He wore a dark blue cashmere coat and polished leather boots with his heels sunk into the mud.

He frowned, as if he had stepped in something filthy.

Evan Jackson.

He was Lydia's first love. I had seen his photo on Caleb's phone.

"Are you Noah Shaw?"

Lydia's voice was lower than I expected, with the tone of someone used to wield authority and condescension.

"Yes," I nodded.

"Where's your brother?" She asked.

I dusted the flakes from the corn from my hands and stood up straight. She was on the tile, and I was in the yard, so I had to raise my head to look at her.

"Dead," I said.

The air went quiet for a moment before Evan let out a soft laugh and nudged Lydia with his elbow. His voice was not loud, but it carried just far enough for me to hear.

"I told you he wouldn't come back willingly, but you didn't believe me."

Lydia frowned. There was no grief there, only impatience.

"Noah, I don't have time for your jokes. Evan needs a bone marrow transplant as soon as possible, and Caleb is the best matching donor. Tell him to come out and come back with me."

"I told you. He's dead," I said.

Evan stepped forward and tilted his head as he looked at me. His eyes held a kind of condescending pity.

"Little Noah, did you get the wrong idea about Caleb?" His voice was gentle, as if he were enticing a child. "Your brother got upset with us and came back here for a few days. We understand that. But my life is at stake. Can you tell him not to be so stubborn, alright?"

"What did you call me?" I asked as I raised my brow.

"Little Noah," he said calmly. "Caleb's my best friend. His little brother is my little brother too."

Best friend.

I almost laughed out loud.

Would a best friend sleep with your wife?

Would a best friend turn your wife against you until she treated you like an enemy?

Would a best friend take one of your kidneys without a shred of guilt?

I looked at Evan's rosy face and suddenly remembered something.

Three months ago, Caleb called me. Halfway through the call, he suddenly took a deep breath, then he said, "It's fine. A cup broke."

Only later did I learn it had not been a cup. It was Lydia smashing the phone into his face because he had refused to sign a consent form to donate blood to Evan.

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8 Chapters
Chapter 1
When I heard a car engine at the edge of the town, I was in the yard feeding the chickens.I knew that sound. I didn't look up and simply threw the corn to the ground.The footsteps came closer. I heard a man's voice, softened on purpose. "Lydia, are you sure this is the place? It's so remote."I raised my head and looked up.A woman stood on the stone tiles outside my yard. The tiles were made higher than the ground itself. She was tall and thin, wearing a dark gray coat. The metal clasps at her cuffs caught the sun. She wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, and her expression was cold.Lydia, from the Lane family.My sister-in-law.A man stood next to her. His skin was very pale, but his cheeks were rosy. He wore a dark blue cashmere coat and polished leather boots with his heels sunk into the mud. He frowned, as if he had stepped in something filthy.Evan Jackson.He was Lydia's first love. I had seen his photo on Caleb's phone."Are you Noah Shaw?"Lydia's voice was
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Chapter 2
"You should leave." I turned and headed back inside. "Caleb is already gone."Lydia came into the yard in two steps and grabbed my arm. Her manicure was long, and her nails dug into my flesh hard enough to make me wince. She asked, "I'll ask you one more time. Where is he?""Let go," I told her."I'm not leaving today unless you tell me," she said with a growl.I stared at her hand. It was the same hand that had once held Caleb's arm in their wedding photos. And with that same hand, she had ordered her men to choke him and pin him against a wall.Caleb had told me what that suffocation felt like. "Noah, when she had them choke me, I saw black spots dancing on the ceiling.""Let. Go." I slowly forced out each word.Evan tugged at Lydia's sleeve from behind. "Lydia, don't do this. He's still a kid. Why don't we go inside and sit down? Can we talk to him properly?"Lydia let go and took a deep breath, as if she were holding back her anger."Caleb really is dead," I said.L
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Chapter 3
Evan left.Meanwhile, Lydia sat on the couch in the living room and lit a cigarette. Then, she asked, "Alright. Tell me where Caleb is hiding."I did not answer.My eyes went through the half-closed door and landed on the black Maybach outside the yard. Evan was leaning back in the seat, scrolling through his phone. He was the picture of health.What about Caleb?The last time he appeared in front of me, his skin was pale, his lips were gray, and his eyes were sunken. He looked like a walking bag of skin.They had been draining his blood for three years.It wasn't some ordinary blood donation. They drew blood from him every few days, four hundred cc each time.The nurse said that could kill someone, but Lydia simply said, "He's fine. Give him something sugary and he'll recover."Every time Evan had an episode, Caleb had to give blood to him. When Evan's kidney function declined, Caleb had to give him his kidney. When Evan needed a bone marrow transplant, Lydia locked Caleb in
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Chapter 4
Lydia didn't come the next day. She didn't come on the third day, either. I thought she had given up. Before dawn on the fourth day, a violent pounding woke me.Not knocking, pounding.The gate clanged, and I almost felt the whole house shaking. Before I could open the door, someone kicked it in from outside.The door crashed to the floor and sent up a cloud of dust.Lydia stood in the doorway with four men in black behind her. Her flashlight shone straight into my face, stinging my eyes so badly I could not open them."Three days." Her voice was hoarse, and her eyes were red, as if she hadn't slept in days."I gave you three days. Where's Caleb?!" Evan poked his head out from behind her. This time, he wasn't smiling. He looked worse today, and his lips were a little pale. It looked like he was having another episode.But when he looked at me, his eyes held certainty. He knew Lydia would do anything for him."He's dead," I said.Lydia walked in, but I didn't move. She
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Chapter 5
Lydia stood there as if she had been nailed in place. Her eyes were fixed on the name painted on the wooden board. Her lips moved a few times, but no sound came out.The flashlight slipped from her hand and fell to the ground, its beam slanting crookedly across the trunk of the old oak tree."This…can't be..." When she finally spoke, her voice was so hoarse it did not sound like hers. "You're lying to me.""Why would I?" I raised an eyebrow."He..." Lydia took a step forward, then stopped. "He can't be dead. If he really died, my family would have heard. The police station would have notified me, because I'm his wife.""When have you ever been his wife?" I said. "You used him as a tool for three years, and now you want to call yourself his wife?"Lydia went pale. She crouched down and reached out to touch the wooden board, but the moment her fingers met the rough wood, she jerked back as if she had been burned.Evan stood behind her and finally spoke. "Lydia, why don't we go
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Chapter 6
Lydia lowered her hands from her face, revealing a tear-stained face."He hated me," she said."He didn't hate you," I said.She froze.Then, I crouched until our eyes were at the same level. "Caleb didn't hate you. Even while he was dying, he was still making excuses for you. He said you weren't like this before. He said Evan turned you into this. "He said that on rainy days, you held the umbrella entirely over his head while you got soaked. He said you once drove across half the city to buy him some toasted pine nuts because he said he wanted them despite not being in season."He said he missed that person so much. "But that person died, and she died with Caleb."Lydia's tears fell harder. She opened her mouth, and a sound like an animal's wail came from her throat. "I didn't know... I didn't know he would...""What didn't you know? You didn't know you could kill someone after drawing too much blood from someone? You didn't know what removing a kidney could do to a body?
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Chapter 7
And then, that smile was gone.When Caleb called me after that, his voice became softer and exhausted. I asked him what was wrong, and he said it was nothing. He was just tired.After that, he began telling me, "Noah, study hard, and don't become like me."After that, he barely called anymore.When the sky was almost bright, Lydia finally moved. She pressed her hands against the ground and stood up. Her legs were weak, and she swayed twice before she found her balance. Mud and tear streaks covered her face. Her gold-rimmed glasses sat crooked on her nose, and grass clung to her hair.She turned and looked at me."I want to take him back to the city," she said. "I want to bury him again, properly.""No," I said."Why?" Lydia growled."He said he wanted to come home. This is his home." I looked at the small grave. "He's already home. Don't disturb him again."Lydia was silent for a long time."Then let me put up a tombstone for him," she said. "A real tombstone, with his nam
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Chapter 8
I spent an entire day at the Oceanton Police Department.They showed me Lydia's statement. It was a thick stack of pages covered in dense handwriting.She began with the first time she arranged for Caleb to be tested for compatibility. Then she wrote about the whole process of the kidney removal surgery, every blood transfusion Evan received, every time Caleb's marrow was taken, and Caleb's three escapes, and the two times he was caught and brought back.At the end, she wrote this.[I admit that I intentionally harmed Caleb Shaw. I illegally removed his left kidney, repeatedly forced him to give blood and bone marrow, which severely damaged his body. I ultimately caused his death from multiple organ failure. I am willing to bear all legal responsibility.]I held the statement, and my hands trembled. Not because I was afraid, but because every word she wrote was something Caleb had lived through.The officer handling the case asked me, "Did Caleb mention any of this to you while
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