What do you want, little sister? - a short story

“She doesn’t love you”, Nikolas roared, “So just leave. Go away.”

Of course Sofia had no say. No one else, besides Nikolas did, never mind that he was actually the youngest of her three brothers.

But Nikolas was Nikolas. He always had his way. And she always had listened to him. Dad of course was no more. His demise when they were still youngsters was still a vacuum in the family. And Mum, dear mum had never really had a voice. That probably is the curse of having three sons, and one daughter.

You effectively have competing men. And when one elects himself to be the man of the house, well, depending on how the rest respond, things easily get messy.

Fortunately, Austin, despite being the first born, was just the humblest of the family. He had no interest in being first born, if anything, he could have sold that birth right any time any day.

And then Jepha. He was the second born. And was the closest thing to a leader in the family. But he was never really home. Always away, always travelling. He was drawn to the worlds beyond. To adventure, and travel.

That left Nikolas and Sofia home. Sofia was the last born, and an only girl. Apparently last borns have to remain home to mind family business, to watch over mum and dad. They don’t have to get married.

Nikolas obviously had the same mindset. But Mum disagreed. There were needs, she would tell her those days when they went to the garden, which only a man could satisfy.

Without dad, Sofia had previously felt the same, felt that she needed to be home to mind mum, to be with Nikolas, her sweet elder brother. They were close. Had grown up together. The bond was deep, stronger than with the rest.

He had been the man in her life, had shown her what to do, how to do. Her view of life was his construction. But that was until Anders came into the picture. And somehow, he had shown her something different. For the first time, Sofia was willing to leave home, and be with someone else.

Of course it broke her heart. Not the least because it would separate her from Nikolas. Nikolas wasn’t having it. And now Sofia had made the mistake of inviting Anders for Easter. She had hoped that getting Nikolas and the family to meet Anders would smoothen things a little. If they got to see him as family, it would make it easy when she would finally leave with him.

That was her mistake. Everyone else was okay with it. Austin was. Jepha was. But Nikolas, would never be. And now he was throwing not just tantrums, but ultimatums. Anders needed to leave the house vicinity and return to his Texas, or else!

Austin tried to intervene, albeit reluctantly, “Niko’, he said, “this is Sofia’s decision to make”

Jepha moved, for the first time to give his opinion, but Nikolas had had enough, and would take no more. He swore, cutting off Jepha, and effectively closing the debate, “for heaven’s sake, this is not a democracy!’

His rage was blowing off, when a sound of sobbing stopped him mid outburst. That sob was the only thing that had ever really mattered to him. It evoked a childhood promise, he had sworn to keep.

“I will move any mountain, just to make sure you never have to cry” he had sworn to Sofia, that day at dad’s death bed. He and Sofia had been the first by dad’s bedside. Austin was still at school, and Jepha was away in California visiting.

The sob melted his heart. He reached out to her. Tears flooding down his eyes, his voice cracked, “What do you want little sister?”