Max flipped through his phone... he now had a presence on social media whereas before all that had been locked out of creating anything more than just an account to view. He apparently liked to talk about random things he liked... it all at once seemed familiar and yet unfamiliar to him--like he had done those things and yet he knew that he hadn't. Likewise he was getting texts from people who he knew at this age were his new friends, but who he couldn't picture their faces immediately or recall any share past history. The more he tried to get a sense of his new 14 year old soon to be High School Freshman life, the more it just seemed to slip through his fingers. The reality alteration must still be rewriting reality as it became pertinent. Bored with looking through his phone, he pocketed it and noticed that Jeff still hadn't returned from the bathroom.
Jeff's been gone an awfully long time... I better check on him.
And so unconsciously, Max leaned into his role as older brother and went to the bathroom and yelled into the stalls: "Did you fall into the toilet, Jeff?"
But there came no answer only a long awkward pause made even more awkward by an old man passing him to enter one of the clearly empty stalls.
Right, no biggie... I probably just passed the squirt.
A quick look back to their towels spread out on the grass outside the pool confirmed for Max that Jeff hadn't returned there, and a quick scan of the pool didn't see Jeff there either.
Crap... crap... where'd he go?!
Max tried to hold his cool, but as he scanned around the pool, he couldn't find Jeff anywhere, and panic started to set in.
God... he's gone. The squirt's gone. He's kidnapped or wandered off... or lost. Fuck. Dad's gonna kill me--no Mom will actually kill me... Is this what Jeff was like that time I decided to hide in the grocery store and he started yelling my name all over the place? Would yelling work? I mean it should... oh God... oh Fuck...
It was then that Max noticed the bored teenager at the main entrance. If Jeff really had left the pool that was the only way out. He approached the beach bottle blond who had been tapping away on her phone, who looked vaguely familiar to Max, and yet not at the same time.
"Hey... have you seen my little brother come through here? His name's Jeff, he's about eight years old. This tall, with black hair and brown eyes," said Max, holding his hand to approximately how tall Jeff now stood compared to him.
The girl looked up over her sunglasses to see Max's reference to height before saying, "Sure... he went out with Trevor and down that path over there."
"Who's Trevor?" asked Max.
"My ex... and a lifeguard."
"Okay... too much information..." said Max awkwardly before heading down the path that led into the woods that the girl had indicated.
Why was a lifeguard taking Jeff out here? This doesn't feel right...
It was a short while later he came to a little shack--from which Max heard screams that sent a bone-tingling chill down his spine. It was Jeff, screaming... begging in pain for someone to stop. Max didn't think... he felt compelled to act. His little brother was in danger, and he'd royally fucked everything up. With a strength he didn't even know he had, Max made two attempts before kicking in the door. The sight that met him a moment later was one which would etch itself into his brain and never leave. That of his little brother being speared by the clearly older and far more mature teen that was Trevor. Jeff was crying, sobbing for Trevor to stop, who seemed lost in a fantasy where Jeff was begging for more, instead of the nearly slumped over mewing that was reality.
"Get off my brother you sicko!" yelled Max ferociously as he body slammed into the half-surprised Trevor before kneeing him in the groin, followed by a few well placed kicks. Max then in a swift action grabbed his crying eight year old little brother and rushed him out of that shack.
Max didn't even stop to think, he just did, carrying Jeff over his shoulder as if he were a little baby. Soon they were back at the pool where instead of going to the public men's bathroom, Max hauled Jeff over to the Family restroom and locked the door behind them. Once the door was locked, Max took a big sigh and began to let his brain catch up with what had just happened.
What the fuck... what the fuck...
It was Jeff's sobs which brought Max temporarily out of his mental spiraling.
"Hey Jeff... it's okay... I got you... big brother Max has got you..." said Max, half believing it and half not. And it apparently was the half not that didn't win Jeff over.
"Max... it hurts..."
"I bet it does... let's get you washed up... and then let's go home..." said Max.
Thankfully the family bathroom had its own handicap accessibly shower with a moveable nozzle that allowed Max to help Jeff clean the mess off of Jeff. There was a bit of blood mixed with semen, and it took Max a bit of time before realizing that maybe a trip to the hospital might be better called for if Jeff didn't stop bleeding soon.
Fuck... I've really messed up. I was a worse older brother than Jeff... at least Jeff never allowed me to get... fuck... this is messed up.
And soon, while showering off the scared and oddly clingy Jeff, who refused to let go of one of Max's arms, even while being showered off, Max couldn't help but cry. He'd fucked up as a big brother... maybe he wasn't really ready to be a big brother just yet.