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I’ care of him as if he were my own child I cleaned the house andhe needed We ame of who could cooods We’d add stale goldfish to a tuna noodle casserole or garlic to buttered noodles and call it gourmet It wasn’t until after our mom left that I realized ere the definition of poverty

My only priority was to get Johnny out of this life I repeated it like aaround h this part of our lives

Once we grew up this was all supposed to end

And then we grew up Dad’s still ain his footsteps

I felt like a disappointment

I ushered h and heavily bruised brother into h my head

I’m the only person he has, and I still can’t help hiether

But I also can’t help but beme into this mess

“You never calledhim to the couch

“I’

I face him “I just wanted to know you were okay” I take in his appearance His face has so, his body looks skinnier, and he’s babying his right arainst his chest

“What did they do to you?”

“You don’t want to know” He tellsdeeper into my sofa

I rub the aching ree, if he tells me how badly Frank beat him up there's a chance I’ll take it out on Gio and that won’t help either of us

“I’m okay” He adds