All Chapters of My Brother Was Taken by the River: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

"Dad, Ian's really going to get swept away!""Please! Call emergency services! Just call them!"He did not answer. I only heard the click of a lighter, then the sound of him taking a drag from his cigarette."Dylan Lancer, do you know how I learned to swim?"When I was eight years old, I fell into a river and got dragged over a mile downstream before crawling back onto shore myself."Undercurrents aren't scary. What's scary is your mindset, crying for your parents the moment something goes wrong."I clenched my jaw so hard it hurt."He can't swim. He's only been learning for one day...""That's exactly why he needs to learn. If he can handle the current today, he'll be able to handle any hardship in life later on.""If you save him once, you'll ruin him for the rest of his life.""Dad!""Stop shouting. Calm yourself down, learn how to tread water properly, and go pull your brother back."Then he hung up.I floated in the river, surrounded by murky yellow water, with no ide

The taxi stopped downstairs.I got out while holding onto the door for support. The cuts on the soles of my feet had already scabbed over, but every step still felt like walking on broken glass.As I climbed the stairs, I heard laughter coming from inside the apartment.Travis was there too. He sat in the center of the living room, holding up a gold trophy that gleamed harshly under the lights.Dad stood beside him with one hand on his shoulder, grinning from ear to ear.I stood at the doorway, reeking of sweat, dirt, and stale river water.No one noticed me.Dad raised a can of beer toward the room."Come on, everyone, another toast to our champion Travis Shaw! Gold medal in the city junior division two-hundred-meter freestyle!"I'm telling you, this kid was born for swimming. I trained him for years, added two extra hours every day, no breaks even during holidays."Travis flashed a wide smile, showing off his bright white teeth."It's all thanks to Coach Lancer. Without hi

The stairwell fell silent for three whole seconds.Dad's hand was still raised in midair, frozen like someone had pressed pause on him.Travis stood against the wall clutching his nose, blood dripping steadily through his fingers onto the white tile floor. One drop. Then another.The police officer stood at the doorway in a crisp uniform, calm enough to sound like he was commenting on the weather."Are you Dylan's guardian?"Dad slowly lowered his hand.He turned to look at the officer. His lips moved, but no sound came out."You're the legal guardian of your younger son, Ian Lancer, correct?"The officer repeated himself.Dad nodded, then immediately shook his head."That's impossible." His voice was quiet, like he was talking to himself. "You've got the wrong person."The officer pulled a document from his folder."This was found downstream near Roaring Spine riverbank. The clothing matches the description from your report.""Those aren't his," he said. "Every kid wears

The next morning, the doorbell woke me up.I had fallen asleep in my clothes the night before without even changing. There was blood on the pillow from the cut at the corner of my mouth rubbing against it.I dragged myself out of bed and walked to the door, peering through the peephole.Three people stood outside.One held a microphone, another carried a camera on his shoulder, and the third was holding a light."Is Dylan Lancer home? We're from the city television station. We'd like to ask you a few questions."I did not open the door."Dylan? We know you're inside. Your father isn't home, right? Can you open the door so we can talk?"I turned around, went back to my room, shut the door, and pulled the blanket over my head.Then I turned my phone on.More than two hundred notifications instantly flooded the screen.The class group chats had exploded. Even those elementary school group chats where nobody had spoken in three years were talking about it.At the very top was a