Despite his resolve that nothing interesting would come of pressing that small button on the electric speaker inside his door, Alexis still felt a small stab of disappointment when a male voice crackled through the plastic casing. As his brother made his way up the seventeen and a half flights of steps to the apartment door, Alexis threw on a robe and shuffled through to the kitchenette to put the kettle on and hunt down clean cups.  May as well stay civil...

"That Fuc*ing lift!" Daniel Crone crashed through the door breathless and red-faced. "When are they gonna get a decent c**ting electrician out to this place?" As he caught sight of his brother Daniel swallowed what curses he no doubt had lined up about the un-godly state of the apartment building or the quality of living that failed to exist within it.

"What happened?" it was clearly not the reason for his visit, nonetheless Alexis appreciated the sincerity he attempted to inject into his voice.

"Just a rough night." Alexis was vague. Not because he wanted his brother to ask why, or because he craved his brother's affection, but because he knew he would see it as a sign to leave it alone. The two of them had never had the connection he would've liked, infact the two of them had never had any sort of a relationship at all; even sibling rivalry would have been preferable to this, but they understood the boundaries each other held just as Alexis had always accepted that his brother was the handsome one, the succesful one. The distance had always made the acceptance easier to swallow though. So why now was his brother making an effort to involve him in his life?

"Bro I..." 

Bro? Alexis sat down on the sofa, patiently waiting for the rest of the sentence. Daniel was anxious about something, agitated, remaining standing even as Alexis made a half-hearted gesture towards the second battered couch. 

"Sarah left me."

Not what he had expected. 

..."Sorry"

RATE THIS CHAPTER!

Author guidance for This story

Alexis Crone was happily married to a beautiful woman he met several months before.
Happily married....for about two days.
As he lies on the floor of their honeymoon suite he reflects on his life before, how he had met her...and how everything had gone so horribly wrong.

This story is one I intend to come full circle: it starts with the main character dying on the floor of his hooneymoon suite and the rest of the story will explain how he got there.

This is my first post on this site, creative criticism is welcome and praise would be truely appreciated where due.

So just.....Be nice :P

xx

updated Dec 24 '09 by SomebodysAngel