Dr. Jekell and Mr. Hyde

Augy set his tray on the table, carefully sliding onto the bench after it.  He glanced around the cafeteria; at people who gathered together like iron shavings; all away from him.

“Hey, where’s Mr. Hyde?”

Augy glanced up at his grinning friend, trying to look irritated at him, but failing, due to the upwards twitch of his mouth.  “My brother’s at home sick today.”

The blonde flopped down backwards onto the bench, shaking the entire, rickety piece of furniture, then swung his legs underneath the table.  “He’s been getting sick a lot lately.  You’d think, being your twin, he’d have your ridiculously amazing immune system.”

“He’s just unlucky like that.”  Augy stabbed at his watery mac and cheese with the white plastic fork.  “Or maybe he’s just skipping.”

“I don’t blame him, this school sucks balls.”

“Oh, it’s not so bad.”

“Are you kidding me?  Even I’m bored, and I have the IQ of a turnip compared to you. And then there’s the food, which sucks, and way too many jocks, which also sucks." 

Augy carefully tucked strands of his longish hair behind his ears.  His eyes stared past his friend towards the clumps of color around him.  He knew the names of most of the people gathered there, chatted with them in class, but when his brother was around, no one would touch him.  Except Kyle.  And Kyle touched him a lot.

“You know, you’re dumb for following your brother every time he gets expelled from a school.”

“Shut up, Kyle.”  Augustine’s voice was flat, but he was most definitely glaring at his tray.

“No.  I don’t get it.  It would seem like it would be better for the both of you if you went to different schools.  You could have friends, and your brother…well, he’d probably hit less people.”

Augy sighed, thumb running over the silver cross held at his throat by his black choker.  His eyes consciously roving over all the places his friend was not occupying.  “I have friends.  You’re my friend.”

“Yeah, but I’m a masochistic fuck, so I don’t count.”  Kyle was grinning; Augy stuck his tongue out at him.

There was a long, awkward pause.  Augy drew in a deep breath.  “I know it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I can’t leave him behind like that, it’s partially me fault.”

“What? How?”

“I just feel like, well, if I’d never been born, he wouldn’t be like that.  Like somehow my presence makes him so…angry.”

“You’re right, that doesn’t make any sense.”

Augy frowned, grasping at memories to try and put the feeling into tangible words.  “I remember the first time he got expelled; we were in the 3^rd grade. Back then, I wouldn’t let him play with me ‘cause he scared everybody off.  He was kind of a bully.”

“No shit, I would have never thought-”

“Don’t be an ass, Kyle.”

Kyle waved vaguely in Augy’s direction, “Whatever.  You were saying…”

Augy paused, trying to gauge whether or not it was even worth trying to explain anything to his friend, but he decided he was just as interested in understanding that strong, irrational feeling.  All he knew was that when he had to choose between staying with his brother, or freedom, he would get cold, and couldn’t stop crying.

Kyle was staring at him, uncharacteristically patient.  The world around him was a noisy, anonymous blanket, no one thread of conversation able to be plucked from the whole.  It was like being alone, but very loudly.

“I…was playing four-square with some other kids.  And you know how there’s always that one, really aggressive kid?”

Kyle snorted, “Yeah, he grows up to join the football team.”

“Well, I was playing with one of those kids.  I got hit in the face with the ball and my nose started bleeding. It wouldn’t have been such a big deal if he hadn’t of stood over me, laughing. Cause all of a sudden-

“Now, you gotta understand, my brother was nowhere near us when this happened, in fact he was probably sulking on the other side of the building or something,

“But suddenly he was there, running full force into that kid.  He broke his nose, and I think he knocked out a few teeth too.  It didn’t seem like he would have stopped at that either, but-”

“Jesus…”

“I started yelling at him.  I don’t know what I said, but I grabbed his arm, and suddenly he just stopped. When he looked up at me…”  Augustine swallowed, his hands bunching up the fabric of his jeans.  “When he looked at me, he looked…terrified.  He looked like he was going to cry.  He didn’t, because he never does.  And then suddenly the school nurse and the recess lady were there, and Ephy got dragged to the office.  When my Madre showed up, he wouldn’t even talk about it.”

“Your brother is psycho.”

Augy’s eyes narrowed, and his jaw tightened slightly, “You can leave now,” his voice was low, sharp.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

Augy scrubbed his face with his hands, smudging his eyeliner a bit.  “It’s ok.  Forget it.”

“But I still don’t understand.”

“Don’t you get it?  It didn’t seem like he knew what he was doing, like he was just responding to me.  He was terrified of what he’d done, Kyle.  Somehow I made him do it.”

“That’s ridiculous.  I don’t think-”

“It doesn’t matter; you weren’t there for that time, or the other time.”

“Yeah, I heard about that one in the 9^th grade, before you got here.  You guys are quite famous,” Kyle smirked, “or is it infamous?”

“Oh God, really?”  Augy’s face suddenly felt hot.  He poked vigorously at the noodles on his tray; shoving a few into his mouth.

“Yeah.  We had a game with you guys the day after your brother took out six members of the football team.”

Augy choked.  “That’s a lie!”  He glanced away, “two of them were in a car accident.”

“Oh, I’m sorry; your brother took out four members of your own football team. What the fuck where they doing to you?”

“Um,” Augy brushed out the nonexistent creases in his pants, “nothing. They were just… uh…teasing me. Kinda.”

Kyle leaned forward, frowning.  His voice lowered, “What did they do to you?”

Augy scratched the back of his head, looking away.  “What does it matter, it happened three years ago.”

“Did they…you know…”

“No, no, God no!  They didn’t have time t-” Augy clamped a hand over his mouth, shaking his head.  “Doesn’t matter.”

“Ok, that time, totally justified.  Hell, if I was as bad-ass as your brother, I’d of fucked them up too.”

“But he takes it too far.  I mean, I’ve seen him in his own fights, but with me…he just…loses it.”

“Augy, you’re his twin, his brother.   So he’s totally overprotective of you, that’s nobody’s fault.  You didn’t make him that way.”  Kyle smirked.  “I think you’re giving yourself entirely too much credit.”

“I didn’t mean-” Augy began to stammer, but then he stopped.  He smiled, shaking his head.  “You’re right, I’m totally over-thinking this.”

“Good.  Now that that’s settled,” Kyle leaned in, voice dropping low, “I think you promised me a date under the bleachers.”

Augy laughed.  “Jesus, Kyle, do you think about anything else?”

“Not really.”

~Onwari