Siblings and Lovers Ch. 03

Read the previous chapters to get an idea of where we are now. Your comments and votes are appreciated.

As always, my editor MsRoseEvans was an invaluable help.

Trying a few new things here. Experimenting by adding a quote which is related to the events in this chapter and a flash-forward to start with. Let me know if they make the story more appealing.

---

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"- Nietzsche

Dana lay face down on the road. She had numerous injuries all over her body. Her limbs were in excruciating pain. Using all her strength, she lifted her head to see Kyle sprawled unconscious just a few feet away from her. The only thought which came to her mind, was that they would die in this godforsaken place, far away from home.

FOUR MONTHS EARLIER

Kyle Walsh woke up, sweaty and gasping for breath. He had the same nightmare again. Once again, he just stood watching as the two mighty towers collapsed, with his parents inside. It had been just a week since the event, but that was still enough time for him to dream about it again. Almost providentially, he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder. His scream had woken Dana up as well. She had her own demons regarding what had happened, but hid them better.

She knew that he did not need any drugs or booze to tide over his pain. He just needed her, the way that she needed him. She wrapped both arms around his head and held him tightly. He did not cry, just held her back as tightly as he could. Their grief went beyond tears. Their parents had left before they were properly established in life. In the blink of an eye, their two passenger boat was sailing in uncharted waters, rudderless.

"Dana, is today the day?"

"Yes. Today is the day we have to go down to the morgue."

The day Kyle had been dreading was finally here. The rescue workers had finally unearthed all the bodies from under the rubble. Most of them were battered beyond recognition. The identification would have to be done through personal items.

In a dull, robotic haze the Walsh siblings got up and started getting ready for the day. It seemed to take significant effort to do the simplest things. Finally, they mustered up enough strength to change their clothes. The skyline outside the window looked different. The two missing skyscrapers seemed like a yawning gap, a gaping wound in the heart of Manhattan which would never heal.

Outside, the streets were as busy as always, but something was missing. There were people moving from place to place in haste, but the vitality and energy was gone. The collective soul of the citizens would take some time to heal. They took a cab to the morgue.

The morgue was teeming with people from all different walks of life, all unified in mourning. The bodies were laid on the floor and covered, and each body had a number. At the main counter, friends and family would gather to identify a personal item, and then be led to the number it came from.

They walked on past rows of bodies. A gust of wind lifted the shroud off the face of someone. Kyle stopped as he fully digested the sickening sight. The face was smashed beyond recognition. That pulp had once been someone, male judging by the height and clothes. Somebody's husband, boyfriend, brother, son or father; reduced to a number.

"That could be Dad," was their single thought.

Finally they arrived at the main counter. The room behind it had been converted to a grotesque gallery of personal items. A horde of people were shuffling from one item to the next, looking. Their blank expressions told a story. Occasionally, the still air would be punctuated by a cry of anguish.

Someone had been identified.

They joined the group as they saw the items on the shelves. Broken chains, pendants, engagement rings; each item told a story. At the far end of this room, Dana suddenly came to a halt in front of a case. She clutched Kyle's arm tightly as he took a close look.

It was an antique watch. The front glass was shattered, but the hands kept ticking in a hideous rhythm. Trembling, Kyle took it in his hand and turned it over. 'Property of Greg Walsh' was carefully engraved on the reverse side. Also in the same case was their mother's three-gem wedding ring. Numbers 1504 and 1505.

The volunteer tried her best to console them as she led them to the bodies. Dana kept crying hysterically, only stopping intermittently to wipe her eyes. Kyle's grief somehow seemed beyond tears as he moved along mechanically. They passed several other grieving widows, children, friends and more, as they made their way to the two beds.

Number 1504 was their father. They immediately recognized his suit. He had put on his best one to celebrate his daughter's first day at work. His entire body was mangled and destroyed. Just beside him was an equally unrecognizable figure. Their mother still had some parts of her face intact. Still sobbing, Dana put the ring back on her finger, knowing she would have wanted it that way.

They went to the main counter and signed for the bodies. Now all that was left was the arrangements for a funeral.

Still in a daze, they made the arrangements for the bodies to be transferred to the funeral home. The owner was a family friend and he promised to take care of all the arrangements. They would have to come upstate to settle the finances afterwards. They made their way downtown to the subway.

Normally, a New York subway station is the epitome of life and vitality, with constant chatter and incessant laughter as people hurried around. In the aftermath, however, there was no liveliness in the crowd of people who waited listlessly to catch their train.

A shrill cry penetrated the uneasy silence. All eyes turned in the direction of the sound. It was an elderly woman desperately pointing towards the tracks. Everybody shifted their gaze to see a young woman lying motionless between the train lines. She was unconscious. Soon, the now familiar feeling of dread washed over everyone in the station. They looked on in horror as she did not move.

Dana looked on fearfully and tried to reach out and hold her brother for support, but all she found was air. Kyle was no longer there beside her. She started scanning the crowd for him, but to no avail. Finally, there was a more pronounced gasp by the entire station which drew her attention back to the rails.

Kyle was standing between the tracks, just a few feet away from the girl. He bent down and tried to wake her, but it was no good. He kept trying but she refused to budge. Onlookers extended their arms, willing him to lift the body and put it within reach. He tried to lift her, but her dead weight was too much. He used all his strength but barely got her off the ground. That was when he heard the oncoming train.

He had never been so scared in his entire life as when he saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Like a monstrous metallic beast, the train thundered towards them. The driver immediately pressed the emergency brakes, but everybody knew that it would be of no use. The momentum of the train would take it over the two bodies on the track.

The onlookers frantically waved and gestured him to get off, but he stayed. Dana stood in front with tears streaming down her face, begging him to climb back up. The train was getting closer by the second. He strained with all his might but it was no use. Finally, he folded her arms across her chest and pressed himself down on top of her as hard as possible. He vaguely remembered the expression on Dana's face before the train covered them.

Dana was numb with shock as the train finally came to a halt with her brother still underneath. Everybody clasped the nearest thing they could find in horror. The driver started the engine again to move the train off the bodies. As the train slowly left, the throng of people looked down, afraid of what they would see.

Kyle was still face down on top of the unfortunate woman. It seemed like an eternity that they lay in that position. Some of the onlookers had a silent prayer on their lips. That was when he stirred.

An audible gasp reverberated around the station as he lifted his head just enough to look at the crowd of people. With the danger gone, a few of the onlookers came down and lifted him and the woman off the tracks. Everybody was clapping in unison and patting him on the back. As he moved through the crowd looking for Dana, people shook his hand. Finally, he found the distraught figure of his elder sister. She wasn't crying any more, but there were wet streaks down her cheeks. She clutched his hand so tightly it hurt, and dragged him away.

He had to walk at quite a pace to keep up. Maintaining her iron grip, she led him to a secluded corner of the station.

"Dana, what..."

He didn't have time to finish his sentence as she landed a resounding slap across his face. The force behind it sent him reeling. He held on to a nearby pillar for support.

"What the hell were you thinking? You could have died down there."

He stood up gingerly rubbing his cheek.

"I lost my parents a few days ago and today I almost lost my brother. Why did you have to go play hero? Couldn't someone else have tried to save her?"

"I just wanted to help her. In the moment, I couldn't see the danger. I had to try."

"Bullshit. You're scared of bees, and suddenly you become brave enough to risk your life? There's more to this. Tell me."

She crossed her hands in front of her chest and demanded an answer. Kyle knew that she was on to him. After all, she knew better than anyone about his fears and insecurities. He heaved a sigh of resignation.

"You want the truth. Okay. I didn't jump down to save that woman. I jumped down to die with her. That way my death would be attributed to a failed rescue attempt. People would remember me as a hero and not the coward I really am."

These words hit Dana hard. She knew that her brother had been severely shaken up by the attacks, but had no idea that it was this bad.

"I should have known. Why didn't I see the signs? The recurring nightmares, the fits of paranoia, that blank expressionless look into the abyss."

He was hurting more than she had imagined. She had almost lost him to her ignorance. Of all the people in this world, she was the only one who could read his behavior and she had missed something this big.

"No more. I will not let anything else happen to him," said a powerful voice from the back of her head.

"You have me to live for. Even when our parents were around, I needed you. Now I need you infinitely more. How can you even think of leaving me?"

He didn't reply, just processed the information in his mind. The cruel dichotomy of his life hit hard. He had lost the will to live in the aftermath of the tragedy, and yet now he had to live for Dana.

"Remember when I tried to kill myself, how you saved me? You told me never to think you could live without me. Now I am just asking for the same in return. I really don't know what I would do without you."

Still shaken from the incident, they made their way home. He tried to shake it off and concentrate on work, but it kept coming back to him in flashbacks. Dana took a job as a financial consultant with a private firm. Neither of them was at ease.

"The funeral is set for day after," Dana said one day during breakfast. "Closed casket, just as you wanted. The funeral home has picked two adjacent spaces in War Brook Cemetery."

Kyle stopped eating for a moment.

"I am sorry to bring this up, but we have to go home tomorrow. The sooner we finish this, the better."

He slowly nodded. The part he was actually afraid of was returning to the house they grew up in. All those memories of their parents resided there. They had a happy life within those four walls. It seemed ages since that time.

The next day, they drove down to their old home in the suburbs. The house suddenly seemed so big and empty, and did not have the warmth of old. Inside, they passed the familiar kitchen and dining room, and walked to the sofa. Over twenty years of memories flooded back as they realized it would never be the same again.

Kyle was upstairs in his old room. Most of his stuff was in his apartment, but he could still see the big double-bed and all the shelves which were once lined with books. A soft sob told him that Dana was reminiscing in her room. He went to console her.

She gently held him while she continued crying. He could sense that the flood of memories was too much for her. He gently held her head in his hands and kissed her full lips. She responded passionately and held him close. Without disengaging the kiss, he took off his shirt and dropped it by the bedside. She was now grappling with his pants. Soon the belt came off and the zipper followed. They parted lips just long enough for her to slide her dress over her head, and he pulled off his pant in this brief window.

They fell onto the bed, kissing hard. Dana rolled over on top of him and clamped her lips down on his. He reciprocated just as hard. She kissed him over and over again, all over his face and neck, and then lowered her face to his chest. His chest was clean and hairless like a pre-pubescent boy. She delicately ran her tongue over each nipple before biting down hard.

Kyle whimpered slightly, but did not resist. She eventually snaked her way down to his organ and engulfed its entirety in one gulp. He softly moaned with ecstasy as she wrapped her tongue around the head. After a few minutes, she moved down to his shaft and continued her gentle ministrations with her tongue. Then she got up, parted her legs and ushered him over seductively. Kyle did not need a second invitation as he dived between her legs and went straight for her pussy lips.

She held his head in place as he lapped at her crotch. His tongue explored her crevices and finally reached her delicate labia. Parting the lips with two hands, he thrust his tongue inside as far as it would go. This elicited a soft moan from Dana. He pressed his lips against the skin to get better access. After licking her like this for some time, he raised his head to see her clitoris.

At first, he just tickled the mound with the tip of his tongue. The moans increased considerably as he flicked his tongue over her clit repeatedly. Eventually, he brought his mouth over the clit and delicately grazed his teeth over it. This seemed to drive her wild as she bucked and thrashed against his face. He kept it up, gradually increasing the tempo as she reached the throes of orgasm. Soon a wave of wet, sticky fluid drenched his face as she clamped it down firmly between her thighs.

He raised his wet face to see her panting for breath, overwhelmed by the last orgasm. He slowly crawled towards her face until it was level with his. Then he tentatively prodded her pussy with the tip of his member. This was too much for her; she wrapped her arms around him tightly and forced it in. She flipped him over so that she was on top and started humping with exceptional ferocity.

The sheer force in her movements took Kyle by surprise at first, but he understood. She was trying to hold on to him as hard as she could. There was no longer the exuberance or joy of their previous encounters, but desperation to hold on to each other. Dana clutched his back so tightly that her nails dug deep furrows into his skin. He did not mind the pain; it was inconsequential compared to what he would feel without her. After half an hour of violent, animalistic sex, they finally reached their orgasms. She held on even tighter as she screamed out his name. This act brought back the memory of the last orgasm she had with him. Once again, she was in that moment, looking out of the window at the spectacle which unfolded in front of them. 9/11 had left them with deep, psychological scars. She pushed those painful memories out.

"We should sell the house,' Kyle said moments later.

She looked at him blankly, unable to say anything as he went on.

"There are too many memories here. Every time we see it, we'll remember the laughter and joy that reverberated inside. It will serve as a constant reminder to what we were. It is time to move on. Mom and Dad would have wanted that."

Dana knew that he was right, as much as she didn't want to acknowledge it. She nodded in reluctant agreement. Their last passionate act had shown how much they needed to move on. Shared grief was a powerful uniting factor. Selling the house would be the first step.

They left the house feeling lighter than they had in days. The burden of sorrows had largely been alleviated. They had finally accepted that their fates were inextricably entwined. Neither could survive without the other.

The funeral passed in a blur as several relatives and family friends came by to pay their last respects. Kyle gave a good eulogy, and their caskets were finally lowered into the ground. As the crowd dispersed, Dana turned to him and made plans on how they should go forward.

"I guess I have to stay with you for a month or so before I can find a place of my own."

"No you won't. Don't you ever think of leaving me! Who will be there when I cry myself to sleep? Who will I confide in? You can't go. Not now, not ever."

Dana looked at him with a quivering smile.

"Just promise me that you won't jump in front of any more trains."

They enjoyed the light moment. Kyle felt much better. He was an emotional wreck at the subway station, but now he wanted to take control of his life once more. The control had been taken away from him recently, and the only way to get it back was to go back to the root cause and take action. Even as he drove back to New York, a plan formulated in his mind. He was going to do something about what happened.

A fortnight or so later, he finally gathered up the courage to tell Dana. She almost dropped what she was holding in shock. After a few moments of awkward silence, she finally found words to yell at him.

"You are going to WHAT!?"

"Yes, I have thought long and hard about this. I am quitting my job and joining the Army. We have scores of troops getting ready to go to war against the terror. I'm going to enlist."

"Have you lost your mind?"

"I know it sounds crazy, but I have to do this. Those images in my head will fully go away only when I feel I am doing something about it."

Suddenly, Dana caught him by his wrist. He tried to free himself but she held on. Almost effortlessly, she pinned him face down on the floor with his arm twisted behind his back. He struggled some more but it was no good.

"Stop it, Dana, you're hurting me."

"Am I? I thought you were going to fight for our country. This is insignificant compared to how much the military will hurt you."

She finally released her grip, allowing him to get up and get circulation back into his arm. Her message was clear.

"I know I am up against it, but I have to do this."

"Do you know who will be listed as your next of kin? Me. With you in Afghanistan, I will be a wreck. I will be afraid of every phone call, in case it's about you. I will be afraid of receiving any mail, in case it's a condolence letter. Then one day, two sharply dressed marines will knock on the door to break the news. I'll have to live in fear of that as well. How can I survive like that? Please, reconsider this madness."

"I won't. I can't. Sorry," was all that came out.

Resolute in his decision, Kyle walked up to the nearest recruitment office and signed up. The man behind the desk looked at him curiously. Someone of his size and build did not exactly belong in a battlefield. He signed in the appropriate places and soon he was told to report to Fort Totten for training.

On the day of his departure, Dana clung on to him like a drowning man holding on to a rope. Tears flowed freely down her eyes, and she sullenly refused to let go.