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Monday, January 29, 2018

"Nuisance" by Justin R


“Hey, what are you doing?”
It was another one of those nights. I caught him watching TV again. It was stupidly obvious too. I was doing homework in my room when I heard footsteps across the hall, heading away from me, small footsteps at that. I knew what it was, and ignored it at first. Then, a few seconds later, the speakers from the TV downstairs blast whatever nonsense he was watching. I was way too tired to deal with him, but clearly, someone had to, and I was the only other person in the house awake.
I steadily made my way downstairs, weary eyed, and into the family room. He had seated himself around three feet in front of the seventeen inch flat screen. This boy was going to blind himself. I spoke once, twice, three times, each call progressively getting louder and angrier. At the last one, he quickly turned his head, a mixture of surprise and fear dwelling in his expression, and he goes, “What?”
You see, I wouldn’t have a problem with that kind of response if he was anyone else. But this boy is my younger brother, and he’s about a decade younger than me. Society would have us at different generations for all I know. Another thing: I may not remember elementary school very well, but I am certain that a kid should not be awake at two in the morning. Heck, I shouldn’t be awake at two in the morning. I should be asleep, trying to squeeze in four hours of sleep before I have to get ready for the day. Instead, I have to work on a project I have procrastinated on for weeks, and now I’m forcing myself to deal with this nuisance of a brother.
“Why are you awake?” I ask, sternly.
He blinks hard. I notice that his eyes are weary. I point in the direction of his room. “Go to sleep.”
“Fine.” He says lazily. He began to drag himself upstairs. It takes him 10 seconds to go up one step. I tell him to hurry up and he reluctantly picks up his pace.
I returned to my room, and tried to focus on the task at hand: a project. Thankfully, I was almost done. I just needed the finishing touches, the last few details for good points. However, I was already at my limit. I could barely stay awake. The half-dozen cups of coffee I had over the past several hours suggested that I was at the point of the night where coffee wouldn’t help anymore. Come to think of it, I drank quite a bit of coffee, didn’t I? My bladder certainly thought so.
I left my room to head towards the bathroom. Since I was probably going to want a snack before I checked in for the night, I went to the bathroom downstairs, and, lo and behold, who did I happen to find sneaking his way to the TV? The boy hid upon the sound of my footsteps. I used the moment to quickly snatch the remote from its normal resting spot and brought it with me to the bathroom. When that five minute break was over with, I looked back to find my brother searching for the remote under the seats. In spite, I waved the remote in front of him, before using it to point back to his room. I repeated myself with a stern voice: “Go to sleep. You have school tomorrow.”
He begrudgingly complied. I had the feeling he didn’t want to give me a break. However, I have school too, and at this point, can I really say that school is tomorrow? I spent the next hour finishing my project. It was three o’clock when I took a final survey of it. Had I not procrastinated so much, perhaps I wouldn’t have done such a shoddy job. Well, it’s not like it could be helped. My motivation has been dwindling as of late. I turned off my lights and lied on the bed. Not a second had passed before I heard crying. Come on, I was already at my limit here! And of course, it was coming from my brother’s room.
I barged in, ready to yell at him for staying up so late, only to realize he really was asleep. Well then why was he crying? I took a closer look—he was wriggling a little, and whimpers seemed to come from his direction. He also didn’t seem to have a blanket or anything, as if he knocked out right on the bed. I sighed deeply. Didn’t think he’d have nightmares. Was it my fault? Probably. Or maybe it was because of whatever nonsense he was trying to watch. I carefully tucked him into a thick blanket, placed his stuffed toys within his reach and quietly left the room before returning to my own. It was a really good thing he wasn’t still planning on being mischievous. I was well aware that I was his least favorite brother. However, I did not intend on letting him have the “pleasure” of having three hours of sleep, or getting his eyes weakened by the bright glow of a screen, or having a month-long project to complete within three nights. At least, not yet, not while he’s still in grade school.
Then, it was six o’clock. I woke up to the annoying sound of my alarm. I could barely lift myself off the bed. The others in the house were already awake, except for the late watcher. He woke up at my fifth time yelling, whining as I took it to myself to literally drag him off the bed. The,n my little twelve-year-old sister took over the operation, asking which cereal he wants for breakfast, carrying him downstairs, and apologizing for putting too much milk. Honestly, the little guy’s a bit spoiled.

17 comments:

  1. I loved your story, because it gave me a new view on what being an older brother is like. I'm not sure if this was written from personal experience or pure fiction, but it still was interesting to read. The all-too-familiar anecdote of the procrastinating high schooler made me laugh. The abundance of details of movements and expressions and such really made me see the story. But the main part just showed me that even if you seemed like the bad guy, you still cared for your brother. I, myself, am an only child. Overall, it's pretty great, but there are times when I wish I had a sibling. Though, probably not when it's 3 in the morning and I just want to get some sleep, but my brother is trying to be sneaky...

    Thank you for sharing this great piece!

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  2. As an older sister I know exactly the feeling. At first I thought it was a horror piece where something unexpected or bad would happen. However, the piece was very relatable and showed real life. A high schooler staying up all night to finish their work and an annoying, spoiled younger sibling. I related to the love-hate relationship between the siblings. Especially when he tucks his brother in after he hears him crying in his sleep. No matter how much your sibling drives you nuts, you still love them. Thank you for sharing.

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  3. Amazing! As an older brother who has constant battles with my sister, I related to this piece a lot. I can tell you drew influence from your own experiences and being in high school with you has shown me how much you are able to accomplish in every class. It is nice to know more about what motivates you and I hope to see more of what you have, Justin!

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  4. Seems like you had a tough time. It sorta gives a hint into the kind of lives that parents lead when taking care of any of their children, in this case you are the parent and the younger brother is the kid. The use of questions broke the monotony of the descriptions. The use of second person also inclines the reader to relate with your experience. Nice work :)

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  5. This is one of my favorite blog entries that I have read. I may not have such a younger brother, but I do relate to how spoiled, whiny, and what a nuisance he is. I laughed the second time your brother came downstairs, and the slow reluctant walk of shame that he took going back up. This was written very well and I could picture the whole drawn out night! Great job!

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  6. I loved this story because of how accurate it is for me. I have two younger brothers and i have to tell them to not do things most of the time to help them, even though they don't like what i say. This is a really relatable story and i loved it. Great work!

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  7. Love your story! As an older sister I can relate. My younger sister is only a year younger and even though she’s already in high school, I still have to do some of the things the character did in the story. Every aspect of your piece is relatable, from procrastination to siblings. I love your use of detail. It really adds to the story and it became a little movie playing in my head.

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  8. The characters in this story are so relatable. The narrator, like most of us, is a procrastinating, impatient, brother, but interestingly, he shows a certain amount of regret for being so stern. I relate to the little boy though, since I was always the youngest one in the family. This piece really got me thinking about how much trouble I gave my older brother. The story was simply written and easy to follow. Good job!

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  9. The unnamed narrator is quite an interesting character. The younger brother is clearly the scum of the earth ("a bit spoiled" is "a bit" of an understatement) for interrupting the narrator's productivity, yet the narrator still empathizes with the brother and attempts to correct his horrible sleeping habits. Now I'm interested in what happened to the narrator growing up that would make him do something so seemingly irrational.

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  10. I can totally relate to this story! I have a four year old brother and it definitely isn’t always the easiest taking care of him. I have the same love-hate relationship with him as you have with your brother. No matter how much our younger siblings annoy us, we will still be there for them like when you tucked him in after he pushed your buttons. I really enjoyed the amount of details you used to describe your brother’s actions, I found them hilarious.

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  11. I loved your story. The older brother shows that he deeply cares for his little brother because he doesn't want the little brother to struggle through the day like he has to because he didn't get much sleep. I'm the youngest and so I can only imagine what I put my siblings through when I was younger.

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  12. Well, this is a little different from the usual stories that I tend to read, but it's a good change of pace. I think I can relate to a lot with the narrator's life. I've lost count of how many sleepless nights I've spent procrastinating on work that needed to have been done weeks ago. I know the frustrations and the double standards that come with being the older sibling, but also what it's like to be that bratty at that age with my own older brother. I think you captured that experience well in your story, but I find it odd that there aren't that many stories like your's that deal with this sort of thing. Your's is a well grounded story with a good focus on typical teen life and if this is a real thing you deal with, then I wish you good luck.

    - Justin Presto (Per.1)

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  13. This is incredibly cute. I've been in this same situation, telling my little brother to go to bed and having the responsibility of being his alarm clock in the morning. It's definitely a nuisance, but I feel like without that duty every morning, I would feel like a special part of my life was missing. Awesome piece.

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  14. This story is so adorable and I can't imagine you having a stern side at all! I can see through your writing how deeply you care for him, and being an older sister myself, I can totally relate. I enjoyed the first person point of view because you gave us readers an insight to your thoughts, which were always distracted because of your "nuisance" of a little brother. I hope you become his favorite sibling one day!

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  15. This story is absolutely wonderful and too relatable. I have also found myself telling my younger brother to go to sleep early in the morning multiply times and then wondering why I myself am up, only to remember I still have homework. It's also something that I happened to learn from my older brother, somebody has to be there to tell you to go to sleep.

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  16. Awww, I never knew of the more dutiful brotherly side of you. It's nice to see (and hear!) it in your post. Your voice in this is really strong, and I suggest maybe accompanying this with some imagery (of the TV, perhaps?) In any case, this is a strong one that I definitely enjoyed. Keep on writing!

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  17. I find this piece interesting and funny due to the stark similarities between your life and mine! My younger brother also LOVES to stay up past midnight, and I’m always forced to drag him out of bed in the morning. Not even his alarm clock wakes him up. Its a relief to see I’m not the only older brother in this situation!

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