Ari and Dante - alternate story line

A few minutes ago, I've just been sitting at the dining table with my parents, and now I’m in the car with them. Me in the back seat, them in the front. And to be honest, I don't even know where we're heading, the only thing they've told me is, that I should get inside the car.

To be precise, I don't want to go there, wherever we're going, just can't be as important as Dante. I just want to tell him how I feel, even if it sounds very cheesy, but it's just the way it is.

Whatever.

"Mom?" I asked.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Should I be worried? After all, you put me in the car without saying anything. Oh, and I feel like we're heading into the middle of nowhere," I said, looking out of the window and just seeing nothing but desert going by.

"You'll see." she said and turned to me with a smile. But something about the look on her face told me, that she didn't know what to think about this whole situation herself.

"Is it because I beat that one ass-" I stopped myself just on time as she shot me a warning look "because I beat up that one boy? He deserved it. And besides that, I've already learned my lesson."

She just rolled her eyes. "No, don't worry, we won't leave you somewhere stranded in the desert." she said and chuckled.

I just laughed nervously.

After about half an hour later, we stopped in front of a complex with barbed wires. That's when it dawned on me.

"Is that what I think it is?" I asked my parents, a slightly panicked tone in my voice.

"Well, if you think we're going to visit your brother, then yes, it is what you think it is." he said to me as he looked at me through the rearview mirror and let through the security gates.

Still shocked, I went through the different security zones until we were in a room in which the visitors were separated from the prison inmates by a glass pane in the middle with several tables, dividers and chairs on each side.

We waited just a short period of time until a man, who looked a tad bit like an older version of me, came through the doors on the other side of the glass pane.

I turned to my parents who just looked at me for a few seconds and who then walked out of the room without any further notice.

I turned back around and saw him staring at me through the glass, a small smile visible on his face. I swallowed hard and walked towards him with slow steps. I sat down opposite from him on one of the chairs and took the telephone in my hand.

"Wow, Ari." he chuckled. "You've changed so much. It's hard to believe how long I haven't seen you."

A sudden emotion of anger shot through me, and I had to grip the telephone so hard, my knuckles turned white just so that I wouldn’t snap at him.

“Well, a lot can change in a person's appearance when you haven't seen them for fourteen years." I somehow managed to say in a neutral tone.

"Are you angry at me?" he asked.

"Angry?" I chuckled bitterly.

"I'm not angry, I'm disappointed and sad and I feel abandoned. Damn, I feel abandoned by my own brother." I said, the anger slowly fading as the sadness inside of me started to show more and more.

"Look, I'm truly sorry. I really am. I also envisioned my life differently, little one." "Don't call me little one," I said grimly.

"Sorry" he said and looked down "Don’t you want to tell me what has happened in all those years?" he asked me. "Come to think of it, no, not really. And to be honest, I'd like to leave" I said and stood up, the phone still in my hand.

"Already?" he asked, a surprised tone in his voice.

I just nodded.

"Will you come back?"

I nodded again and saw another small smile forming on his face.

I put the phone back in its original place and walked out of the room.

by Tabea