I never thought I could end up in a situation like this. I knew my
brother broke the law, but I never thought he’d go this far. And to
ask me, his little sister, to help him get rid of the evidence was
something I’d never thought I’d do. I knew right from wrong, and if my
brother got himself into deep sh**, so be it. But, I loved my
brother, and I couldn’t see that happen. Not when I knew I could do
something to stop it.

So there I was, on my dad’s computer that controls the camera, trying
to delete the evidence. I was interrogating my brother, asking him
what time, and how much he wanted erased. He told me it was around
eleven, and to just delete the whole day. I had my eyes scrunched and
fixed on the computer. I felt like I was on an important mission.

“So what did you do?” I asked him. He never told me what he did, just
that he did something stupid, and wanted it erased.

He looked down at the floor, smiling out of embarressment.

“I robbed the pizza man.” he said.

I just nodded. He told me the details of how his friends weren’t
supposed to go back to his house, but they did like “a dumb***” and
how he forgot about the cameras. How he was surprised at how smoothly
things went.

“Just erase that okay.” he said.

I agreed, and he left back to his house. He lives right next door to me.

I saw the computer play back everything. I saw cars, bikes, people
walking their dog and people playing in the streets. I saw the light
turn to darkness. I saw a guy running, and a car pulled up with a
pizza advertisement on the top of the car. I pressed play.

It was an average pizza delivery at first. Complete with the double
parking and the knock on the door. But than, I saw a group of four
people, huddled around this pizza man. They said something to him, and
he put his hands up in surrender. One of the four, got closer to him,
and than ran. The other three scrambled into different directions. I
saw my brother waiting for him on our backyard with the gate open, and
making a frantic motion with his arms. “Hurry up” I’d imagine he’d
say. They made their way inside my brother’s house, and turned off all
the lights. The pizza man just stood there, dumbfounded. He made
calls, and walked around in circles. I saw him go back and forth
between my brother’s house and the front yard. The police arrived
soon, and knocked on my brother’s door. But they didn’t get an answer
either. They searched around my back yard , their lights gleamed
compared to the darkness. They left about thirty minutes later.

I am the only one to ever watch this film.

Now, I know what your thinking. Why am I helping my brother when he’s
the one who got him self into this? He’s not the victim here, the
pizza man is.

But you don’t understand. I’d never want my brother to go to jail.
And I’m not just saying this because he’s my brother, but because it’s
the gang life in jail. Can you imagine what would happen? My brother
would be beaten, or maybe anally raped, and have to join a gang for
protection? My brother looks the part, so he’d have it rough the first
day. He’d come out worse than he came in.
When I was younger, I used to think he was a God. I admired how
everyone laughed at his jokes. He got voted class clown at his high
school. Why couldn’t I do that? People would stay in a room for an
hour so they can hear him talk. I would watch him play games on the
computer all day, and I’d enjoy it. I wanted to be like him and my
sister. I wanted us to be as close as we were when I was 5, and he’d
play on the Mc Donald’s playground with me for hours. He’d tell me
stories about the universe, aliens, and his experiences in the
national guard. Everyone in my 6th grade class knew my brother as well
as I did, and they never even met him. I’ve only fought with him once
and that’s because I’ve always listened to what he told me to do.
Except once, where he kept me as a slave, cleaning the house and
timing me while I did it. If it wasn’t clean by the finishing time,
he’d give me another spot to clean.

“I hate you!” I cried out, sobbing in tears while I swept.

He just shrugged and said he didn’t care.

An hour later, when my chores were complete, I went up to him and
hugged him. I said I was sorry, that I really don’t hate him. That in
fact, I really love him.

He just hugged me back.

He woke me up at night that day, and I was still in an unconscious
state. He leaned over, and kissed my cheek. That woke me right up.

“I love you” he told me, and than left.

My brother’s not the affectionate type. I’ll never forget that
moment. I wonder if he will.

Now, I know what your thinking. Yes, I understand you love your
brother, but can you not be selfish for one moment and think of the
pizza man? Well I did think of him. I’d sit in my room staring at the
ceiling wondering how much that affected him. I’d try to write in my
journal, but all that came out were scratched lines. I couldn’t think.
I told myself, well maybe this is a good thing. Maybe this will be the
time where he realizes he needs a better job. Go back to school maybe?
He’d get a good job, and be part of stimulating the economy. It all
works out! Or when he has a daughter, he’ll be more protective of her.
That way she’ll never get in trouble and prevent something bad from
happening to her. Yes, that could be it. It’s possible to have a
positive outcome.

I didn’t think of him being terrified to work again. To having to pay
his bills for his apartment, and working that late, so he could make
it through end’s meet. I didn’t think of his family. How much they
probably hated my brother and his friends. They thought my brother was
a too good for nothing. I knew they did.

I just kept that voice quiet.

The screen is staring back at me. It’s light out again. I look
through the files, my mouse wandering. I get the box that says “Are
you sure you want to delete?”, and I didn’t hesitate to say No. File
deleted.

My brother checks up on me a few hours later, and is pleased when I
tell him that it’s deleted.

We watch cartoons together, and pretend like nothing happened. My mind is racing, but I glue myself to the screen.

The next day, the pizza man shows up and asks my dad if he could see
the cameras. He tells my dad his situation, and my dad increases in
hospitality with vigorous head nodding, and even offering him a beer.
My dad used to be a pizza man.