Pictures on the Wall

“Don’t worry about taking off your shoes,” Callum said when Sady began to toe off her sneaker.

“Oh. Right.” She wiggled her foot back into her shoe and smiled faintly. Sure, her friendship with Callum was tenuous, but she liked him, and it was high time they did normal things like study together at each other’s houses and things.

“My mum and dad are probably still at work.” Callum started toward the door at the far end of the hallway.

Sady followed, curious. He said little about his family; all she knew was that both his parents worked and his brother had died last year before he transferred in. The walls were lined with artistic photos - woodlands, hills, even a castle. Was someone in the family a photographer? Sady asked.

“My brother,” he said, and he smiled, small, sad.

“Right.” Sady had to stop opening her mouth and inserting her foot. “So...which subject is giving you the most trouble?” They had chemistry, biology, and maths in common for their GCSEs, and Callum had expressed worry about one of his classes.

“Bio, mostly,” Callum said. “The whole citric acid cycle is doing my head in. The whole phosphorylation procedure is...”

Sady glanced up at a photo of a palm tree on a beach. Beside it was a photo of actual people for once. It must have been Callum’s family. Only besides Callum and the man and woman who must have been his parents, there was another boy: blond, classically handsome, blue-eyed, aloof. Sady knew his face - it was Vaughn.

Vaughn had died a year ago, sacrificed himself for his little brother, the one who was more brilliant and loving and was going to save the world. He’d shielded his brother from the world, from Sady’s wrath when she found out; he’d given everything for the brother Sady never knew.

Callum’s brother had died a year ago, right after Callum was released from a long stay in the hospital. How could she not have known? They had blue eyes - the same blue eyes - and the same quirky smile, and -

“...Sady?” Callum stood in the doorway to the kitchen, looking at her oddly.

“Is this Vaughn?” Sady asked.

“Yes. It’s the only one Mum keeps.” Callum’s brow furrowed. “How do you know his name?”

“I met him,” Sady said.

Surprise flared in Callum’s eyes. “What?”

Sady nodded. “At the hospital. About - about a year ago. When my gran was in. He was there whenever I was, and he’d play cards with me and Gran, and...”

“And?”

“And then Gran died, and I left, and I never came back. He told me to stay away, because I got angry with him when he told me -”

“What did he tell you?”

“That he was going to save his baby brother.”

Callum closed his eyes. “So this whole time, you knew?”

“Not at all. He never said your name, never let me see you.” Sady tried to smile. “I was in love with him.”

(500 words)