• I hadn't always been this way. My parents were unfit to raise me. So my Aunt and Uncle took me in. I grew up with my older cousin, he was like a brother to me.He was ten years older than me. He taught me to swim. He pushed me on the swings. He traded Pokemon with me. Played Super Smash Bro on rainy days. He was Always better than me , but he would loose on to make me happy. He loved seeing me smile. When i was 7 he bought a game cube. He bought three games to go with it. Super Smash Bros : Melee, Custom Robo, and Baten Kaitos: Origins. We played them every day after school. When i would be sent to bed he would take out the game and put in Baten Kaitos. I never got to watch him play it. The days went on and we grew. One day i got a letter in the mail. It was from my real parents. They had cleaned up their act and were having another child. They wanted me to move back in with them. My aunt and uncle encouraged it. In the end i was forced to move back. As i sat in the back of my parents car looking at the only home i had ever known. My cousin rushed out side with a box. It was another game cube he had bought for me. He gave me Custom Robo, Melee, and Wind Waker. " I'll miss you lil bro." He told me. Then turned and walked back inside. The car pulled away before i could say anything else. The next two years were hell for me. My parents were terrible abusive monsters. After my dad got back from the bar one night and beat me senseless for him gambling away all his money on a football game, I grabbed my back pack grabbed my a few pairs of cloths and my games. I called my cousin told him what had happened and asked him to come get me. Thirty minutes later he pulled up in his truck and i rushed out the door He opened the passenger door and i was greeted by his girlfriend. He drove back to his parents house and my aunt and uncle cleaned me up. Pretty soon they took custody of me. I thought things would be the same between my cousin and I but i was wrong. When we got back from school. He'd leave with his friends or his girlfriend. I was stuck at home playing by myself or with the dog. He'd still play Baten Kaitos when he'd get home. He never had beaten it yet. He refused to let me play it when i asked him. He wouldn't even play Melee or Custom Robo with me. Soon I was ten. He had graduated and became a police officer like he use to dream about. He still pretty much ignored me. He soon moved out and lived with his girlfriend. I sat upstairs mad at him for ignoring me. He walked into the room and tapped me on the shoulder. He handed me a small rectangular package. "Bye little bro" He told me But i ignored him. He sighed turned and left the room. I never opened the package.i didn't want to. Years past i turned 16 and hadn't talked to my cousin. I quit playing video games and got a girlfriend of my own. She came over to my house and saw the game cube and wanted to play Melee with me. I plugged it back in and we played untill it was 11 pm and she needed to leave. I left the room to grab the present i had gotten for her. It was a silver necklace. I came back gave it to her. She kissed me told me she loved me then left. I came home one day from school and checked the mail. It was a wedding invitation from my cousin. He was twenty six and getting married. I didn't want to go. But my Aunt and Uncle made me. We arrived at the church were he was to be wedded. My girlfriend my aunt, Uncle and I walked through the doors. my cousin greeted me with a hug. He looked the same, as Always. He ruffled my hair and asked me one question "Have you beaten the game yet?" I had no clue what he was talking about. I walked away i told my girlfriend i wanted to be alone for a little while and i walked away. i hid in a room not wanting to see the wedding. The wedding soon started. After about 10 minutes I realized how stupid i was being. I remembered what my cousin had done for me. I adjusted my tie and ran for the chapel doors. There was a gun shot. and i stopped dead in my tracks. Then another and five more. There we screams and the doors burst open people running out of the chapel I rushed through the crowd and fell to my knees at what i saw. A man stood over my cousin's body. He had the gun pointed at his own head and pulled the trigger. A flash of light The chapel was painted red. My aunt, my uncle, My girlfriend, My cousin's bride to be, and My cousin lay dead on the floor. Tears ran down my face as rushed over to my cousins body. On the verge of death he turned his head slowly looked into my eyes a single tear rolled down his face. He went to say something. But coughed up blood, and his eyes rolled back in his head. The police arrived shortly and escorted me to the police station. Later i found out that the man who had killed my love and my family, had been my brother's would be wife's ex. He had gone mad after she broke up with him and he became obsessive with her. I attended two funerals. My girlfriends parents knew me well and respected me. I stood beside them as the lowered her casket into the ground. Tears streaming down my face. The patted me on the shoulder turned around and left. A few days later, my familie's funeral. I cried for all four of them. My parents didn't show, Only my aunt and uncles closes friends and neighbors, my brother's coworkers and friends, and My brother's fiance's family. Child care put me back with my real parents. I stood in the room i grew up in. Gathering my personal belonging. The title to the house and everything in it was gifted to me. I was too young to live alone though. I had packed up everything but the stuff on my shelves. On the shelf was a package covered in dust. It had been opened once. But not by me. I removed the wrapping and saw what it was. It was Baten Kaitos. A pale yellow sticky note with my deceased girlfriend's handwriting on it stuck to the case. it read" I'm sorry I opened it. Curiosity got the best of me. I love you En and hope to grow old with you. Sincerely your's Disite." I unpacked the television and game cube. I plugged them in and opened Baten Kaitos. I loaded my cousins file and it said "Errorm Please insert disc two" I sighed opening the Gamecube again putting in disc two. He had saved it right in front of a boss fight. I learned quickly how to play. I realized how my cousin had got stuck. The boss he was at was a pain. After ten failed attempts I opened the case and removed the instruction booklet. I flipped through it looking for something that could help when I encountered an envelope stuck between two pages. It had my name written on it in neat cursive handwriting.
    I opened is and read it aloud. "En, I'm sorry I've been ignoring you. My parents told me to stop being so nice to you so you could experience the world as it truly is. I had to stop being there for you so you could learn to not depend on me all the time. I want you to know I love you like a little brother. If i could change the past i would have spent more time with you. Not a day goes by that i don't wish that.I'm sorry little bro. Love always. Flare."
    I fell to my knees, tears dripping onto the letter. and the picture attached. Of Flare pushing me on the swing. Smiling like we use to. When we were kids.