I've finished the story! *does an embarrassing victory dance*

This epilogue is emotional, btw.

Epilogue

Skipper and I were in our new room, and we had just finished getting ready for bed. Our bedroom wasn't very big, but it was big enough for us to share. There was a closet and a mirror and two beds-one on each side of the room.

"Skippa?" I said to my brother. "I don't believe you finished answering my question."

He tilted his head. "What question?"

"When I asked you why you hit me. You started answering, but then Officer X came."

"Oh, right." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, I'm not really sure you want the whole answer."

"Skippa, please?" I asked with pleading eyes.

He sat on his bed and patted an area beside him. I sat next to him and noticed that he looked sad. Please, don't start crying, I begged silently. Skipper had shed more tears in those past few days, than I had ever imagined he was capable of doing. It had me more worried than I was the first time I'd seen his scar.

"Are you alright, brotha?" I asked gently.

He nodded. "Now, where did I leave off before?"

"Um, I think you were telling me about the effects of abuse."

"Right. Well, uh," he cleared his throat, "Let's see... There's nightmares, fear, anger, depression-"

"You told me about those ones."

"Oh yeah. Well," he paused, "there's also stuff like self-harm and attempts at suicide-"

I gasped, tears forming in my eyes. "You-you mean you t-tried to k-kill-"

"No!" Skipper exclaimed. "Private, I would never do that!" He looked guilty. "I'll admit...there were times when I considered it. And times when I came close to slicing my arm like a Christmas ham."

"W-what!?" Tears rolled down my cheeks.

Skipper wiped them away with his thumb. "But every time I thought about it, I thought about you. I imagined you standing behind me. I thought about how you would react. You'd be all alone." A tear escaped his eye, and he repeated himself in a whisper. "You'd be all alone..."

I sniffled. "That doesn't explain why you slapped me."

He wiped his eyes. "Through my research, I learned that abused kids will often hurt others, because they have all this built up frustration and anger-"

"So that's why..."

Skipper started crying. He looked like he was trying his best to hold back his tears. "I-I never wanted to-hurt you, B-Bruno," he said between sobs. "I just-I... I'm sorry, little brother... I'm sorry..."

I gave him a sad smile and embraced him. "Please, don't cry, brotha." He wrapped his arms around me, and this time it was my turn to let him cry. "Crying is my job."

He laughed a little at my joke. We let go of each other, and Skipper wiped his eyes. "Guess I shouldn't steal it," he said after composing himself.

I sighed. "So much has happened to us. So much that I could post it on Fictionpress."

He ruffled my hair. "So why don't you? You have an account on that website."

I smiled at him. "That's not a bad idea." I walked over to my bed and got under the covers.

"Goodnight, Bruno," he said.

My smile widened. "Goodnight, Dylan."

So, yeah, Private's putting this on Fictionpress. I hope you enjoyed my first emotional fanfic! And, as always, please review!