-Responsibility-

Valiant's mother had two children-one was a feisty three-year-old son named Chance and, of course, there was Valiant herself, who happened to be seventeen. The father of the house had died several months before the birth of his only son.
Ever since, Valiant's mother hardly ever emerged from the home her husband had built from the ground up. Occasionally val would convince her mother to catch a late movie. Chance would be dropped of at her aunt's house and her mother was always gone past midnight. Val would take advantage of this opportunity to sneak her boyfriend over; since her father's death, Val had taken a turn for the worse. Her boyfriend, Ravus, would usually have a pack of beer and a carton of cigarettes. Val had taken up these habits at the age of fourteen.
Usually around eleven at night- after finishing the beer and passing out on the floor- Val would wake to find bottles and butts everywhere; her make-up would be smeared and her pants would be tossed under her bed. And Ravus would be gone. Val didn't mind. She loved Ravus' company, however she managed to acquire it. val would then get up and somberly make her way to the bathroom where she would wash out the taste of beer along with whatever Ravus had left. Afterwards, she would gather the bottles and drag them to the ally trash. She couldn't understand why her mother called her irresponsible. She always cleaned up after herself; still, her mother never let her make her own decisions.

"Mom, just let me go to the mall! Its just the girls!" of course it never was "just the girls."

"Absolutely not. You're too young and irresponsible."

Then one day things changed.

"Valiant, I have to take care of your grandmother. She's in the hospital. I'll be gone for two days. I'm trusting you to take care of your brother. This is your chance to prove you're responsible. If you can do this, you'll have more freedom."

It sounded easy- but the thing was, Val had gotten so used to having Ravus over that when her mom left, Ravus was the first person she called. They escaped to Val's room where they would begin their ritual. Chance was left downstairs. In the middle of things, Val remembered- but it was too late.
Val ran towards the stairs screaming for Chance to answer. He never did. Half-way down the stairs, screams pierced the frantic Val's mind. There was a crash. Val reached for the door handle as her thoughts raced around the fact that this couldn't be happening. She was responsible. This was just a nightmare.She yanked the stubborn door open, praying she wouldn't find the one imagine that clouded her eyes.

As Val flung open the door, all the world stood still. In the middle of the intersection laid a little boy- the limp body of her dead baby brother.