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I opened the door to the ward cautiously, scared of what I might find. There, lying on the bed, with tubes running all around his body, was my brother Charlie. I sat down in the chair and took hold of his hand, smiling sadly at the sight of him.

"They managed to save him." Came the voice of James. I turned around and he smiled. "In barely any time too." He put his arm around me and smiled sadly. "Our big brother, hanging onto life with his fingertips."

Just to clue you in, Charlie was shot. Through the stomach, and was in critical condition. The doctors were amazing. But now he needs to rest.

I closed the door of Charlie's room, and walked down the corridor to the phone booths. My feet were aching from my stilettos, I had holes in my tights and I could baely breathe in my tight dress. But then again, things could be worse!

I picked up one of the vacent phones and dialed my sister Louise's number, hoping she would pick up.

I've got a pretty big family. Mom, Dad, two brothers and one sister. I'm in the middle. Louise is the oldest, with a high power job. She's pretty career driven, sometimes resorting to sleeping around to get promoted early. But she gets where she wants, and does well there too.

Then there's my brother James. He's a part time illustrator, and a part-timer at Starbucks. which no-ones complaining about, free coffee when we like. Which is good for Louise if she's trying to 'butter someone up' as she calls it. Frappucino's would do it for me.

I'm alot like James. I aspire to him, he's doing when he wants, even after repetative warning from my parents to 'get a real job'. Even though we're not ment to have favourites in our family, James has got to be mine.

So then there's me, Emily. I'm a photographer. And I'm not one of those people who snaps a few pics of old people on park benches once in a while and call myself original. I have proper shoots, I have a secratery. And I'm not bragging, but I'm pretty good. When I got the call from my Mom telling me Charlie was shot, I was in Italy, at a glitzy party about to go to Venice.

And that leaves Charlie. He's a Nurse, training to be a Doctor. Thats how he got shot. One of his patients was in some trouble with a mob. They came looking for him, Charlie wouldn't let them, there was a fight and Charlie was shot.

The phone continued to ring, and then "Hello?"