The Hum Read Online Free Page B

see a sort of changing of the guard, if you will, come across his brother’s face, and he actually felt a little sad for him. Wayne finally understood that he was no longer his baby brother , and this new revelation brought with it a sense of angst to Kevin, for reasons unbeknownst at the time.
    Squeezing a little harder for added emphasis, Kevin replied, “Only if you promise to leave me and my friends alone for good.”
    “I…I promise! Now, let me go.”
    Releasing his grip, Kevin let Wayne fall to the ground. For the next few minutes, Wayne clutched his throat, gasping for breath. Without a word, Kevin turned and walked back to his bedroom. Glancing back occasionally, he saw Wayne finally make it back up onto his knees. His face was beet red with tear streaked cheeks and many still dripping off his chin. He looked a mess, and Kevin imagined he looked even worse.
    Things changed for a while around the farm for the Black brother’s after their big fight. Even though Kevin had been on the receiving end of many of his older brother’s blows, he’d also earned some respect from Wayne. His big brother had ceded to the death grip he had on his head and neck, and that gave the older boy cause for alarm. Still, the reprieve was only temporary. Wayne kept it all bottled inside until about two months later, when he saw an opportunity and seized upon it.
    Staring out from the top of the hill overlooking the farm, Kevin was unaware that Wayne was even in the area. The hill descended sharply about five hundred feet, and actually provided an incredible sleigh ride during the winter months—one of the reasons Kevin loved the place so much. It also offered an incredible view of the farm and everything surrounding it. Kevin was known to spend hours up there just taking in the scenery, which is most likely where Wayne had gotten the idea to shove him over in the first place.
    By the time Kevin heard Wayne sneak up behind it, it was already too late. He was in mid-turn when Wayne rammed into him, sending him palmal over the hill. He rolled headfirst about fifty times by his estimate, before finally slamming into a large oak tree on the left side of the hill. The pain in his arm was intense, the sound of breaking bones and the feeling of one of the lower hanging branches slamming into his right side nauseating. The impact quickly knocked him out cold.
    When Kevin came to, he was lying in his own bed with his mom by his side. Through blurred vision he spied his broken arm in a cast, and his head hurt like the dickens.
    “What…what happened? Where…where am I?” Kevin managed to ask, through dry, chapped lips.
    “It’s alright, baby. You fell down that hill behind the farm, and broke your arm. No matter how many times I warned you to be careful back there, you wouldn’t listen. You just loved that view too much to stay away.”
    “Who found me?” Kevin asked, realization finally
    dawning as to what really happened.
    “Wayne came running, saying something about you rolling down the hill. Your dad loaded you up on the four-wheeler, brought you back here to the house, and then we took you to the doctor.”
    Kevin couldn’t believe Wayne would stoop to such depths as to shove him over the hill. Over the past few years, he’d prayed on numerous occasions for their little tiff to finally be over, and he was just beginning to think it was. Now, he knew otherwise. Wayne had just been biding his time, looking for the perfect opportunity for payback.
    During the next few months of healing, Kevin kept a wary eye out for his brother. He knew this was just the beginning of their little dance.
    Breaking Kevin’s arm by sending him rolling down the hill didn’t completely ease the anger in Wayne’s heart for his younger brother. Sure, he left him alone for a few months, but soon after his arm healed, Wayne was back to giving the same dirty looks and making his little smart aleck remarks every chance he got.
    Life was beyond