(until it says other name)

A day later

I push my head under the water and lay in the bath tub. I hear some mumbled voices in the background.

Maybe I should take my pills again.

"Soren!" Okay, that is definitely Atila. My younger brother.

I sit up in the bath and wipe the water of my face. I cover my body with bubbles as he brushes his teeth next to me.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" he asks and spits out the toothpaste.

He is only eighteen but I sometimes feel like he's the boss here.

"What? No." I shake my head, "I just needed some ... silence."

"Oh, but there are other ways. Don't do this. You could drown."

"Sorry." I get up from the bath and wrap a towel around me.

"You have a hickey on you." He says and touches on my shoulder. I move away.

"I know, it hurts." I whine.

He laughs. "Wait, I'll give you some cream." He looks for something in his stuffed make up bag. "here."

He gives me a half used sticky cream. "Ehm." I look up to him.

"Don't worry, it's okay. It's very affectionate."

"How many people used it before me?" I frown.

"Don't ask." He puts some on his finger and rubs it on my hickeys.

"Ouch." I whine.

"Stop whining all the time. If it hurts you then leave the place."

The more clients I have, the more I feel used.

"It's quick money, Atila."

"But are you happy?" he looks at me. I shrug.

Right now, me and my younger brother Atila live together in a flat. I'm twenty two and he's eighteen.

One year ago, our mom died of heart attack. It was only us three living together since we never lived with our dad.

My mom never wanted to talk about him so, we never figured out what happened and now we never will.

Suddenly I became a parent to Atila that is still a teenager, while I was also finding myself.

We had to move and ...

"Stop thinking too much." Atila slaps my shoulder, "you're zoning out too much. If you don't want to work there, then don't."

"I can't. I was booked."

"Booked?" he says confused. "By who?"

"I don't know his identity, but he's very nice and very handsome." I smile to myself.

"And he is interested in you."

"Not in this way." I shake my head.

"We will see. Get dressed, I'm cooking dinner."

"No it's okay. I'll cook, you don't have to Ati,"

We both had to give up on college because it was just too much.

*

"Atila, hold the shopping cart still." I scold him in the shopping mall. He is provoking me on purpose and then laughs saying I'm like a mom.

Of course, I'm like a mom. I have to be. We lost our family and had to move together and then ...

I almost faint in my spot. I stop and Atila pushes my back with the cart a bit.

There is no way it's him. I see him and some other man shopping together. No, I'm sure it's someone else.

But then, we both probably live in the same city and he has the exact same face and height as him.

It's sir.