"Ugh, he is the most unreliable person known to man!" I complained to my phone when his phone sent me to voicemail. It was a Saturday afternoon and my brother Torrence was supposed to have picked me up by now to go to the movies. He was probably asleep, despite the fact that it was six pm. However Torrence never sleeps at night, strictly during the day.

"Hey, I'm leaving," I called to my other brother Cameron who was sitting in the living room playing his guitar.

He nodded in recognition that he had heard me. I grabbed the keys to my Mustang and headed out of the house. I opened the glossy yellow door of the '66 and slid onto the soft leather seat.

The Mustang was my mom's. This is, before she died. She killed herself by swallowing the barrel of a shotgun. This was seven months after Cameron was born, two months after my dad started his affair. She became depressed. At first, she hated my dad. Then she began hating us; me, Cameron, and Torrence. Eventually she just hated life in general and ostracized herself from reality. I was three and Torrence was ten.

I always admired the Mustang and so on my sixteenth birthday, my dad gave me it. I drove down the busy streets of Miami.

The iphone in my pocket buzzed and I answered it. It was my dad.

"Charlotte?"

"Yes, dad…"

"Where are you?"

"I just left home; I'm going to Torrence's house."

"I'm going to be home late. I… err… have a… meeting…" I could hear a young woman's laugh in the background. "And tell Torrence not to be late to work again or else…"

"Will do," I said with a little venom. I hung up without saying bye. Lately dad hasn't been coming home on time. He's been caught up in rendezvous with the cute secretary.

Torrence and dad have never gotten along. Dad has always pressured Torrence, a struggling artist, to settle down and work at his law firm. Torrence tried his best to use any option other than that but eventually bills piled up and he seemed to have no choice.

Working at the firm, Torrence became depressed. Most of the depression was the constant nagging and recognitions of failure from dad and seeing dad making out with the secretary when he thought no one was able to see. This started around a month ago and I've been trying to convince him to get out of his house. He finally agreed to see Paranormal Activity 2 with me.

I drove up to his apartment building. Torrence has always been like a father instead of a brother to me. It was forced from the death in the family. Torrence stayed up numerous nights helping me with homework, teaching me how to paint and play the guitar, waiting for me in the living room after dates. Torrence is my best friend. Whenever I first walked in on my dad kissing another woman, it was Torrence who tucked me into bed and sang me to sleep. He promised me that he would always be there for me, unlike mom and dad.

I reached the second floor of the apartment building. I knocked. No answer.

"Torrence..." I said in sing-song.

Still no answer.

I took the key from the chain around my neck and unlocked his door. The apartment was silent. I called his name two times and still no answer. His 'living room' consisted of a rugged burgundy couch and numerous incomplete paintings. There his black guitar in the corner and several paint splatters all over the busted wooden floor.

There was a piece of paper in the middle of the floor. I walked over and picked it up. Ever since I was little I always snuck into Torrence's room and read his lyrics that he wrote. But these were no lyrics.

Charlotte,

My heart hurts as I am writing this, thinking about what you will see. Remember when I told you I was always going to be there for you?

I'm so sorry…

I'll be waiting for you.

With all of my heart and soul,

My tears and pain,

Torrence

There were tear drop stains on the crumpled paper. What did this mean? I read it over and over. Goosebumps covered my arms.

"Torrence?" I called out in a less confident voice. His bedroom door was closed. I slowly opened it.

The breath was knocked out of me as I collapsed onto the ground. I looked up to see my brother, my beautiful older brother hanging from the ceiling fan.

"Torrence?" I sobbed. I staggered to my feet. I wrapped my arms around his thighs and lifted him off of the fan. His body fell onto of me. I pummeled to the ground. I put his head in my lap. I placed my hand to his pale face. His blue, glazed eyes looked straight forward, unseeing.

"Wake up!" I screamed. I leaned into his broad chest.

I screamed. I screamed with all of the pain and sadness weighing down my soul. Please wake up.

"Is everything okay?" someone yelled from the hallway. "I'm calling 911!"

"Damn it, Torrence! Wake up!"

The ambulance showed up. A paramedic dragged me, kicking and screaming from my brother. They made me wait in his living room. I bit the back of my hand, trying to control the sobs. Torrence…Please wake up…

A paramedic walked into the room. I could tell by his face that my older brother was gone.

"No!" I screamed. I sprinted to his room with enough force that the paramedic couldn't catch me. I took off the cover and looked into his eyes. I pushed back his brown hair. He was cold.

There I realized that he was truly gone. I cried and screamed and clutched his clothes. As the paramedics dragged me away from his lifeless body I replayed the moment when Torrence was tucking me into my Little Mermaid blankets saying, "I'll always be there for you, Charlotte. Us rejects have to stay together…"

He was the last person I would have thought that would lie to me…