Survival of the richest

Those words played through my head since last night. Mom's eerie smoker voice, raspy as ever. Was it always about money to her? Was Hunter just dollar signs to her all along?

"Rubes, you coming?" Sterling questioned me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I looked toward him, his dull eyes asking me something else. "Yeah, just give me a few minutes to finish packing." A nod was all he left with, not one little noise or word. He had been off since lunch a few days ago. The realization about Mom's plans for me had finally sunk into his brain, soiling the little bit of hope he was holding on to.

With a bag hung on my shoulder and luggage case in my hand, I made my way to the car. Walking through the house and taking in all that was left in there. All our memories, pictures, possessions- not that there was much left. Glass coated the carpeted floors of the stairs, beer stains and blood pooled around the hardwood of the living room. The tv hung from the wall by one mount piece, a hole right through the middle. Shotguns had a real scatter when fired.

It smelled of a gas station, propane layering the walls. A single match laid on the ground, perfectly unused. Had this been the one taken out of the matchbook? "Rubes, now!" Sterling's voice bellows from outside. He wanted to leave, get out as fast as humanly possible. I however, wanted to comeback. How it had started- I couldn't remember, but how it ended was another story.

"I'm here." I pipe up, not being able to look my brother in the eye. I wiggle myself into the car, followed en suit by him. The car roared to life and we took off. I hadn't asked where we were going to but I knew it was far away. I had to stay quiet, I was afraid of what might happen if we talked. Would he tell me what happened?

A slam of the steering wheel startled me, Sterling's grip turning his knuckles ghostly white. "I'm sorry." I can hear the shivering his jaw was doing. How had it gotten this far?  "I didn't mean for it to happen, I hope you can forgive me."

"I do." I whisper, fiddling with my hands.

"We can never go back, or they'll take you away from me." His voice breaks at the last word. I knew what this trip meant, it was a permanent migration. "She just, she pushed me too far. What was I supposed to do? Let her kill you?!"

"No."

"She was going to kill you, Rubes. He just sat there laughing while she was punching you in the face. All that blood, all that blood. I-I panicked." His voice was shaky as he continued. "I never thought I'd hit a woman, until then."

"Sterling, you didn't do anyth-"

His scuff interrupted my sentence, the disbelief apparent in his tone. "I knocked out my own mother. She's in the hospital because of me!" The tears were rolling down his face, this was the first time I've seen him shed a tear for her. "And him-I should've shot him when I took the gun out of his hands! But, I didn't! I let him just go!"

"It's okay." I try to assure him.

"No it isn't. he's a monster, Rubes. You know that better than anyone else, he deserves to die!" He screamed the last few words, causing me to cower in fear- a reaction I've developed over the years. With the realization that he was terrifying me, Sterling pulled over the car and turned to me. "I-I-I'm sorry."

"Please take me back home." I felt my jaw shake as shivers ran through my spine. I just wanted to go home and lay in Hunter's arms, where I felt the safest.

"They'll separate us." His words echoed through my brain, replaying over and over the whole car ride back to the very place he was running away from.

It was quiet on our street, the eerie silence enveloping the sound of the car engine. As I wander out of the vehicle, I come face to face with the house that holds all our childhood memories- good and bad. "Rubes?!" I hear a faint voice call out as a dark figure enters my field of vision. Before I could make out a face, I was being engrossed in a hug so tight, I thought my lungs might collapse.

"Get off of her, you man whore." Sterling's voice bellows from behind me. Hunter holds his middle finger up as he lets me go. Just as his mouth opened to speak, sirens blared from down the street where red and blue illuminated the night. There was no turning back.

"Get in the car, Sterling!" I scream, running to the open door. Hopping in to the passenger seat, I see Hunter's astonished expression. he had no idea what was going on, what had went on. He was clueless and I was just about to leave him in the dust. Sterling turned the key in the ignition quick and backed out of the driveway in the blink of an eye. Looking out my window, I see Hunter wipe his face with his sleeve- was he crying? Leaning out as sterling rolled us down the street i screamed the only words that came to mind. 

I love you!