#dantetravers

Stella would normally stay out of her brother’s business. She didn’t want to know where he was most nights or what he was up to. It was easier to pretend he was working a normal job with normal hours. When she was younger and more naïve, she would beg him to stay out of trouble. She wanted her big brother around more. He was everything to her: A parent, a brother, and a best friend. But it was like clockwork; He’d make some extra cash, they’d be happy for a while, and then he’d either come home bloody or not come home at all. And then also like clockwork, she would fall into a deep depression every time he was sent to jail.

Staying at his place for the weekend, Stella knew it was around that time again when he showed up with gauze covering his left eye. “What the hell happened to your face? Dante!” She shot up from the couch and sprinted over to him so he wouldn't shut her out. “Don’t tell me you’re on another job the weekend you asked me to stay here.” She’d been couch surfing for the past year. She wanted to give him more privacy and she needed some as well. It would be too soon if she never hears him railing some random bimbo through the thin walls again. “I swear to God, if you’re up to something, stop. Just stop.”