Carl's attention was only drawn away from his little sister for a moment, but it was long enough for her to be attacked. How will Carl choose to react, and what will be the repercussions of that choice?

Brianna's Big Brother - Chapter 4
Copyright 2008 by Heather Rose Brown
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Sitting beside my best friend on the fluffy beach blanket she had brought with her, I watched my sister playing in the shallow end of the lake with Cori. At the moment, they were roaring and growling as they kicked water up onto the beach, flooding the tiny sandcastle town they had been building. While they weren't doing anything really girlish, neither of them seemed to be anything but a girl, which had me wondering how I had ever thought of Brianna as my brother.

I'd been deep in thought, trying to make sense of things, which is probably why I didn't realize Terri was trying to get my attention until she poked me in the ribs. I squirmed when she found my one ticklish spot. "Hey, no fair!"

She gave me a devilish grin. "I thought that'd get your attention."

I considered retaliating, but I'd never found where she was ticklish in all the time I'd known her, and I doubted I could now while she was expecting it. Besides, I wasn't all that sure about where the off-limit zones would be on this stranger who looked a lot like my old friend. "Sorry about that. I kinda got a lot on my mind."

"I pretty much figured that. Thinking about your sister?"

I nodded. "How'd you guess?"

"Oh, woman's intuition."

Hearing something like that coming from someone I'd assumed was a boy when I first met her surprised me. "When'd you become a woman?" I regretted my words when I saw pain flash in her eyes. "Oh god," I said, trying to back-pedal, "I'm so sorry. That just came out all wrong."

She patted my arm, which made my skin tingle for a moment. "It's okay, Carl. I've kinda been asking myself the same question too."

The invisible wall between us faded. Instead of a stranger, I saw my friend, and she was hurting. "You still wish you could be," I lowered my voice, "you know, what'd you said you wished you could be when I'd first found out you were a girl?"

Terri ran her fingers against the grain of the terrycloth in the small space between us. "I don't know ... maybe." She looked out across the lake. At first I thought she was going to say more, but instead her eyes seemed to bulge and her mouth dropped open. I turned to see what had caused such a reaction and saw two boys where our sisters had been playing. One of the boys was holding back Cori, while the other seemed to be busy holding someone under the murky lake water.

My heart froze when I saw Bri's head pop out of the water, gasping for air. The boy next to her laughed as he shoved her back down.

I don't remember getting up or running across the beach, but I do remember slamming into the boy who was holding my sister's head underwater. "You goddam piece of shit!" I was shaking with rage as he fell backwards into the water. "You are SO dead!" I tried kicking him as he crawled away, but the water was too deep and I missed. "Come back here, you little asswipe!" I roared as he got up and began running away.

Just as I was about to run after him and his friend, I felt a tight grip on my arm. "Let 'em go," Terri said from behind me.

I was still seeing red when I turned on my friend, "Let 'em go? Did ya see what he was doing?"

She slowly nodded. I then noticed the smoldering rage behind her calm voice. "The worlds full of little pricks like that, but you've only got one sister, and she really needs you now."

I looked past her and saw my sister kneeling in the water, choking and crying, while Cori whispered to her and held her close.
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It was crowded inside Bri's tent with me sitting on one side of my sister and Cori snuggled under the sleeping bag with her on the other side. It was worse when Mom was in here changing my trembling sister into some dry clothes. I had tried to leave when she was being changed, but she had clung to me ever since I had carried her from the lake and she refused to let go of my hand.

The tent flap behind me unzipped. I turned to see my dad's head peeking through the opening. "She asleep?" he quietly asked.

I turned back to Brianna. Her sobs had turned to slow, deep breaths. Her tear-stained face looked relaxed instead of terrified. When I tried moving my hand, it slipped easily from her loosened grip. "I think so," I whispered back."

"Think you're up to coming outside for a minute?"

"I dunno."

Cori raised her head as she tucked Bri's arm under the sleeping bag. "Go ahead, Carl. You been sitting there like that for like ... like hours. Why don'tcha step outside and stretch a bit? I'll stay with her 'til ya get back."
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"I'm really sorry," I said as I climbed out of the tent.

"What for?" Dad asked as he wrapped an arm across my shoulders.

"I'm sorry for not paying close enough attention to Bri, and for not beating the snot out of those two ... those. ..." Between the lump in my throat and trying to not swear around my parents, nothing else would come out.

"Come here, Son," he said as he pulled me into a powerful bear-hug.

"Daaad! People are gonna see," I said as I scanned the small part of the campground still visable over his muscular shoulder."

"Let 'em. Now are you going to hug your old man back, or is this going to be a one way thing?"

Realizing he probably wasn't planning on letting me go, I gave in and hugged him back. I was so glad I did. The ache I had been holding deep inside seemed to melt away. I hadn't realized I had started crying until he pulled back and brushed a tear from my cheek. "Carl, you've done nothing to be sorry for."

"But those kids--"

Mom hugged me from behind. "They're being dealt with, honey."

I turned in the arms of both my parents until I could look at my mom. "What ya mean they're being dealt with?"

Terri pulled herself up from a camper chair and stood in front of me, looking embarrassed and awkward. "I hope you don't mind me butting my nose into all this, but I called my father when Cori told me those two guys had caused problems before. He's friends with the owner of the campground, and he said he'll make sure their visit here gets cut short."

It took me a second for what she said to start sinking in. "You mean, they're gonna get kicked out of the camp?"

Terri nodded and smiled. There was a certain bit of pride in the way she squared her shoulders. "Yeah. He's pretty well known around here and people usually listen when he's got something important to say."

"Wow. Thank you." Those words didn't seem like enough to say what I was feeling, so I held out my arms to my friend.

"You're welcome," she said as we hugged. "What are best buds for?"

When Terri finally let go, my mom rubbed my back as she asked, "Think you're up to a little talk?"

"I guess so," I answered, tensing up just a little. Mom's 'little talks' usually were about pretty big things.

Dad led me over to one of the huge logs near the dead camp fire. After he sat one one side of me, Terri sat on the other, then Mom pulled up the camper chair and sat in front of me. She stared at her folded hands before looking up at me with a very serious, searching expression. "Carl ... sweetheart, how would you feel about starting at a new school this fall?"