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I stared at the books, opening them to find there were study guides explaining my subjects better than my teachers could.
“Thank you,” I offered.
He smiled and tussled my hair. It was warm. While he was in college, I focused on getting my grades up. I started getting As and Bs. It wasn't like my brother's level, but my teachers were impressed with the level of improvement.
My parents had stopped asking for my report cards. But Brian would look at them and tell me that I did a great job. He would let me lay on his thighs and stare at the sky while he read. I worked harder. By nineteen, I was ready to get into medical school. I didn't get a scholarship, and my parents didn't let me hear the end of it. Reminding me of how easy it was for Brian.
Brian covered my tuition through his earnings. I was going to pay him back. He never asked for it, but I was going to pay him back…to show my appreciation at least. I rose to the top. I never missed a class, doing my best to be at the top. And then… she came.
Tabitha ruined everything I had worked for. The future I wanted was right in front of me, and she took it away. Then on graduation day, none of my family members were present.I couldn't help but feel ashamed. Brian would have been so disappointed. I at least expected that he'd show up. But he didn't.
Truth be told, I knew there was something wrong with him. You see, my genotype is AS. Both my parents were AS. Genetic paring would mean that at least the firstborn would be AS. But Brian, who was regarded as the child of luck for both my parents, wasn't so lucky.
He was born SS, and despite it, he was able to bring luck to the family. My parents had another child, me, and I was AS. They expected another lucky break, but instead, they were given me. I wasn't even informed about my brother’s death by them. I was told by an extended family member who had called to offer condolences.
Staring at my brother's face in the casket, while I had nothing worth offering, was hell.
“You should have been the one in there,” Mother voiced my thoughts.
He didn't get married and focused his strength on saving as many lives as possible. I was able to set up a children's hospital and even changed my name because he loved Batman and the wrestler Chris Jericho. Still, I wasn't able to surpass it.
If only Tabitha never entered the picture, I would have arrived at the destination I had desired. I would have made him proud. His will contained half of his earnings designated for me. I handed it over to my parents. I was going to find my own way.
“And to think my own way was to steal from Tabitha.” I laughed as I placed my hand on the gravestone, “I'm nothing but a loser, aren't I? Big brother?”
I got to my feet and left my flower there.
“Is that you, Philbert?” The grave keeper asked.
“Good afternoon, Gerald,” I responded. “Please, it's Bruce now.”
“Oh hush, you'll always be good old Phil,” he insisted in a southern drawl.
The man had worked there for thirty years and was nearing seventy years of age. He refused to retire. His wife was barren and buried somewhere in the graveyard, which was why he chose to work there.
“It's the anniversary, isn't it?” he asked as he approached the gravestone. “Yer brother was amazing. He attended every funeral of patients he ain't save. Bless his soul.”
“Bless his soul indeed,” I added, eyeing the flowers that were there before I came to the grave.
“Yer folks were here two hours ago,” he informed me. “Going to see them?”
“No,” I said. I adjusted my shirt and wiped my buttocks. “I'll be going to my hospital.”
“Good luck, and welcome back to Maryland,” he said before returning to his duties.
There was no need to see my parents; they didn't want to be seen by me, either.
****
I visited my hospital. It was a children's hospital, but plans were put in place to start a proper hospital. It would require funding and more partnerships. I wasn't like my brother or Tabitha, who could get them with a wave of their fingers. As I stepped through the office doors, all eyes fell on me. I greeted them with a smile.
“Uncle Bruce!” some of the children yelled and those who could run to meet me.
I accepted their embrace, even falling over as the rest of them got on me.
“Okay, okay,” I couldn't stop laughing. “You're going to make the nurses mad.”
“Yeah, hurry up and get off him so we can hug him too,” Mark, one of my nurses, said.
