The End Of The World We Once Knew I was woken up by the sound of cutlery clinking amongst each other, and a sudden crash as a plate hit the floor. I long groaning sound loudly followed as i sighed and pulled myself out of bed. 'What's going on down there?' I mumbled sleepily. 'Ben! Are you awake?' My little brother Joe called up to me. 'Am now!' I slowly shuffled my way down the stairs, careful not to fall as i was half asleep anyway and the last thing i needed was a broken neck. I stood in the door frame of the kitchen and watched Joe sweep up pieces of ceramic and dust. 'How many times do i have to tell you? You can't put a plate in the microwave for 10 minutes and not expect to burn your fingers when you pull the damn thing out!' I angrily muttered, as i knew that i would be the one funding a new plate. My Dad passed away in a car crash when i was 10 and Joe was 4. It was hard on all of us - but my Mum took it the worst. She turned to the drink, got boozed up every evening to the point where some times she'd be gone for days, passed out on someones sofa. I had to do a lot of growing up since then, i became the man of the house and had to take on responsibility for my little brother. I even had to get a paper round just so that we could eat for the week, as any money that we had went straight to the pub with my mum to feed her drinking addiction. Now it's 5 years on, i'm 15 and Joe is 9, and all we have is each other. Nothing has changed. Joe has light blue eyes and longish light brown hair with a middle parting. He has our dads eyes. Me on the other hand? I have deep blue eyes, and light blonde hair with a side fringe. I'm kind of the odd one out in our family, i look like neither my mum or my dad. 'Sorry...' Joe said sheepishly. 'It's fine don't worry about it' i replied, i can never be mad at him. 'What were you trying to make anyway?' I took a step closer to examine the orange slime splattered on the floor next to the area where the plate had been dropped. 'Uh... Well i was trying to make eggs' 'Eggs?' 'Yeah?' 'In a microwave?' I was laughing at this point. 'Okay so i don't know a thing about cooking. Can you make me some real breakfast please?' 'Sure. Toast okay?' I said, handing him a dampened cloth to clean up the mess. 'Better than an eggy disaster i guess' he giggled. I handed him a plate of toast and we sat down at the table and ate our breakfast. 'Wheres mum?' He asked with a mouth filled with crumbs. 'Sleeping i guess' i lied. I heard her leave late that night when Joe was asleep, i just assumed that she was off out to buy liquor as usual. 'She's not here is she' He saw easily through any lie anyone told. In a way it was kind of a gift - but extremely unhelpful at the same time. 'No. She's not' With that he looked me directly in the eyes, hesitated for a second and then looked back down. I continued to stare at the plate in front of me, making no eye contact. The entire house was silent at that moment, all that could be heard was the clock in the living room ticking. We said nothing. I finally broke the silence in an upbeat voice and asked him what he wanted to do on this wonderfully rainy Saturday morning. He responded with a mumbled 'i don't know' 'How about you and me have a hardcore game of mud football in the rain. 1v1 may the best man win!' I proposed in attempt to cheer him up. 'your on!' He yelled and smiled back. After we had got dressed, Joe unlocked the back sliding doors throwing his shoes and coat on quicker than ever impatiently whining for me to hurry up. I fought with my coat zipper and told him to go out and find the football, and that i would catch him up once i had fixed the zip. He sighed and grumbled but slid open the doors anyway, stepping into the pouring rain. I should never have let him go first. To Be Continued...