When I was nine, my older brother, James, told me he was going to shoot me on my 21st birthday with a shotgun, but then one day he got really angry and told me that he shortened it down to my 19th birthday. We used to get into fights every single day, and most of the time, they were literally for no reason. I remember this crazy look in his eyes that he'd get when we fought that would make me regret not having written a will. Sometimes in our fights, he'd take it too far and I'd end up screaming “JAAMMMEESSS!!” loud enough for him to get in trouble, other times I'd take it too far and hide from him the rest of the day in fear of him getting revenge on me. Occasionally, he'd take our fights so  far and I would swear to myself I'd never speak to him again, but it would only last about 2 hours because I'd end up forgetting and calling him names again.

We always had a rivalry going and would always be doing things to make it worse. Now I don't want to sound like the annoying little sister, but he really did start it 98% of the time. He would annoy me by calling me names and making fun of me, which would cause me to get mad at him and start a fight, then he would get me in trouble by saying I started it, but he made me start it! To get revenge, I'd usually mess with his things rather than himself. The worst thing I did was probably dip his toothbrush in the toilet. (He never brushed his teeth anyway so I didn't think it was such a big deal.)  I'd also throw his laptop and video game controllers to try and break them, pour water on his bed at night so when he'd get into bed it would not be a nice feeling, hide his things, and steal his money. (I actually still do half of those things.) But, even though we fought everyday and would almost put each other in the hospital, there were times that I didn't regret the day he was born.

About 6 years ago, I was playing on one of my favorite video games at the time on the Nintendo Wii and I got stuck on one of the boss levels. I tried to defeat that boss at least 3 times a day everyday for about a month until I got so annoyed that I just stopped playing the game completely and every time I looked at it, I just wanted to snap the disc. One day, I came home to find my brother playing on the same game on my profile. First of all, he never went on the Nintendo Wii because he knew I hated it when people went on my gaming system without asking me. Second, it was a known unspoken rule that the Nintendo Wii was mine, and the Xbox was his and we were to never go on each others gaming systems. We are serious gamers. Before I could even start to get mad at him for going on my profile, he told me that he defeated the boss I was stuck on in my game and he told me how to defeat it. After kicking him out of my room, I took his advice on how to beat the boss I actually did! I was so happy that I played and completed the whole game that same day. Even though I wanted to thank him for helping me, I never did because I knew he would have made fun of me for not being able to defeat such an easy boss. It was just a video game but I really loved that game and it really meant a lot to me that he helped me with it. Now, whenever I look at the video game it reminds me that my brother isn't the worst brother in the world and I could have never completed it without his help.

If my brother didn't exist then I wouldn't have half of all the great stories I have today, and my life would be a lot less interesting. He graduated High School last year and still lives at home in his room. We don't get into serious fights anymore but I still give him a hard time by making fun of him about not having a job and not going to college and he still annoys me by calling me rude things and saying things that he knows I just don't want to hear. We still don't get along well most of the time, but we do have some moments when I feel glad that he still lives at home so I have someone to talk to. And although I tell him I hate him pretty much everyday, I think that deep down, he knows I don't really hate him..... that much. (Also, I'd like to point out that my brother really isn't a crazy person who is going to kill me on my 19th birthday, so don't worry!)