The Beast in My Brother.

The trees shadowed her running form, the sound of leaves unsettling to her already adrenaline-filled heart. It wasn’t every day she could play with her brother, and so she decided to make the most out of the moment.

Apparently, her brother was a scary one, a type of scary she couldn’t quite pinpoint, but scary. The one word was enough.

Sometimes, he was sweet, and that was the part of him that she treasured. She believed that he was a good person, one with beautiful intentions and a warm heart, but others didn’t believe that.

And she didn’t believe them.

A voice called her name. Her brother’s voice.

A hushed giggle, and then she was running. Hiding behind a large oak tree, one of her favorite spots when playing with her brother. She crouched down, scratching her back as the thin fabric of her shirt tore against the tree’s bark.

She could hear footsteps, rushed ones, as if they were in an actual hunt instead of a friendly game of hide-and-seek. It felt like this most of the time when she played with her brother, but that was just a feeling. It wasn’t real, it couldn’t be.

The voice called her name out again, this time a bit more desperate than in the past.

A wide grin plastered on her face, she peeked from the bush she hid behind. Grabbing a rock, her arm propelled backward and she chucked it at her brother’s back.

Before he could turn, she ran.

Ran through the dark woods, narrowly missing the few trees in her way. Some branches scraped her arm, droplets of blood seeping onto the green leaves. That didn’t stop her, though, she just kept running. Her legs ran faster than her brain could ever comprehend, running away from her brother as if he were some monster.

She didn’t even try to hide her laughter. It echoed through the tall trees as the wind kissed her face. “Catch me, brother! Catch me!”

She could hear the footsteps behind her, heavy ones, heavier than anything that could belong to her brother. Maybe he had caught on some weight, it wasn’t a pressing matter.

Once again, she called, “Catch me brother! Catch me!”

A loud sound of joy escaped her as the sound of footsteps grew closer. Hearing them, she ran faster. The twigs caught on her clothes, but she didn’t care. She just ran away, ran away from her brother who could catch her at any moment.

One last time, “Catch me, brother! Catch me!”

Then, hands hooked around her waist, and she was tugged backward to a warm chest.

“Caught you.”

Her eyes closed and her head nuzzled against his shoulder. It was a pleading gesture, this opportunity was too rare to give up, and she had to try again.

“Can we play again?”

The voice was rough when he answered, “No.”

“You never play with me, though.” She moved to meet his eye but his hand came to the back of her head, securing it to his chest. “I want you to play with me. Please? Just one more time.”

A given up sigh, “Fine. Just once more.”

She cheered, and said, “You can’t let go of me, y’know.”

“I know.” He didn’t.

“I’ll seek this time.” She laughed, the sound muffled. “This is going to be so much fun!”

“Of course it will be.”

She pulled away, eyes already closed. “Run, brother! Run as fast as you can!”

“But then how will you find me?”

“A characteristic of the human body, brother. You can’t run forever.” She said simply. “Now run! Run until you can never be found, even if the entire world was searching for you!”

“Not a problem.”

A count started, and the sound came out joyous the entire time. It had been the first time he had agreed to play a second time with her, and she was ecstatic. Why would she be? This was what all little siblings wanted. He was playing with her! He was finally playing with her!

Once the counting ended, she giggled loudly, “Coming, brother!”

A loud noise was heard from somewhere in the dark. Night had fallen over them, relatively quickly given the late season, and the woods looked creepier now. Everywhere she looked was black, and the bright green of the leaves even failed to prosper. Nothing was safe from this seeping darkness.

But she wasn’t scared. She never was.

Of even the most frightening things, she never cowered. She hadn’t been. named the bravest in her grade when in kindergarten for nothing.

So she ventured deeper through the thicket, hand swiping away at the branches in her eyes. One branch that she had pushed away came back, nearly pricking her in the eye. Nervously laughing it off, she walked farther into the forest.

Something was off, she knew it. Usually, the silence was calming because she knew nothing would harm her. Everything was either her friend or wanted to be. However, this time, something was off. It felt like something was hunting her, something huge, and big, and dangerous.

But that wasn’t possible. The only other person in these woods was her brother and he wouldn’t hurt her for anything.

Her voice called out, weakly, “Brother? Where… Where are you?”

“Find me. That’s hide-and-seek, is it not?”

She had been tracing her steps the entire time, careful not to trip on anything or step on any bugs, but at the voice, her head jerked upwards. She could see nothing in the darkness, the one that took over anything in its path.

First, she checked the trees to her side. They all seemed to lean into her figure, looming over her as if she were some scolded, petulant child. She invited the possibility that it was just her brother, playing some joke on her.

“Okay, it’s not funny anymore, brother, come out!”

A crunching sound was heard in the distance, not the far distance, close by. Closer to her than anyone else. She felt jittery now, this wasn’t the same girl who fought off the bugs on her friend’s dress or the one who launched an attack on the older high school students when they stole her lunch. This wasn’t her.

Another twig cracked and her head violently thrashed to the side where she saw a human figure.

“Brother!” She exclaimed. “Brother! Oh, you wouldn’t believe how terrified I was—”

The figure that was previously small and crouched grew. It grew rapidly and reached an enormous height. A height that couldn’t possibly be one that belonged to a human. It grew fur swiftly, the gray covering everything from its legs to its arm. Soon, every part of it was transformed, everything.

The face, she realized, hadn’t changed the entire time. It had been the same, already transformed into whatever ungodly form the creature now fully inhabited.

She watched it walk over to a part of the forest and it was just then when she recognized the place.

Where she was hiding previously when playing hide-and-seek with her brother.

And she could see it, its hand reaching towards a piece of fabric, hooked onto the uneven bark of the tree.

She couldn’t talk. She couldn’t run. She couldn’t do anything.

All she could do was watch, watch as the creature picked it up, and almost instantaneously, watch as it whipped its head in her direction.

For a second, they held eye contact, and that was enough. There was something about the eyes, the big brown eyes that were familiar to her. It took just a few more seconds for her to realize, “B—Brother?”

The creature, her brother, seemed to physically limit himself, the twitching painfully observable in the moonlight. Its face turned away as if merely the sight of her triggered it.

She could acutely feel the light breeze against her cheek, and her mouth opened and closed. She was begging for a voice to release the words that were trapped within her. Nothing managed to come out. She was speechless.

The stage of denial looked pleasant to her, but she already knew it was him.

From the eyes, from the stare that she knew could only be for her.

“You’re right.” His voice said. She didn’t know if it came from the creature, and she didn’t want to know. “Humans can’t run forever, but I can.”

Don’t run away from me. 

But it ran.

It ran until it could never be found, even if the entire world was searching for it.