Puppeteer

Puppeteer By: Adisen Haag

The cold night wind nips at my back though my old thin jacket, that doesn’t even fit anymore and is basically held together by duct tape. It was the only thing I could grab without getting caught, and getting caught means feeling the wrath of my father. Dad hasn’t been holding back since Jacob’s funeral, especially now that I’m the only one left for him to unleash his anger on.

I have to bite back winces as I climb the wire fence, the freezing metal is practically burning its way into my skin. The fresh bruises from this morning’s beating ain’t exactly helping the situation, but I’m used to the pain. We both were.

My leg swings over the top of the fence and I quickly climb down, my equally crappy running shoes hit the gravel with a loud crunch but being quiet isn’t a big deal. I pull my janky, nearly broken flash light out of the only pocket in the jacket that isn’t completely ripped open. I have to smack the flashlight a few times before it finally flickers to life, lighting up the dark forest that stands tall in front of me. The only thing my eyes focus on is the bright yellow do not cross police tape.

Why the fuck would I care what the police have to say? They never listened to us, not once. Not when we told them about our dad, not when I said the body wasn’t my little brother. He’s still missing somewhere in here and I don’t care how everyone thinks I’m delusional or blinded by grief. He wouldn’t have run away, not without me. I’m his big brother. We were supposed to run together.

The torn up carcass that they showed me and dad wasn’t Jacob, it didn’t even have a face. They said it was probably an unfortunate accident with wolves. But it was obvious to anyone who actually knew Jacob that it couldn’t be him, but dad just said that it was and went back to drinking, not even offering a second glance.

But not me. Even if he’s actually dead, I want to find him. And I will.

#

My feet and calves burn with each step I take. I don’t know how long it's been, and frankly, I don’t even know where I am anymore. All the dark thick trees blend together like my own personal cage in Hell.

Is this how Jacob felt?

I shake that wicked thought from my head, trying to keep the darkness out and just keep walking. The roots of the trees snaking in and out of the ground all around me look like black tentacles that, with one wrong step, grab me and drag me to my death.

Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. Finally escaping, maybe you could find Jacob in Hell-

The hard sting of my own hand hitting my cheek came before I even knew I had slapped myself. My body knew it was the only thing to get me out of my own head.

The flashlight’s beam flickered, getting dimmer, the batteries are almost dead. But I won't stop. It’s not like I could find my way back anyway in the dark. I probably couldn’t even do it with the light. All that matters is finding Jacob.

I keep my eyes and flickering flashlight to the ground trying to find footprints or something.

God I have no idea what I’m doing.

We never went this deep when we avoided going home. Since I already checked are old spots aimless wandering it is. I don't know what I'll find Hell, maybe I won't find anything and all of this was just some stupid desperate attempts to cope, but I can’t stop now. I don't think I can ever stop.

#

I don’t know what’s going on anymore. The flashlight died what feels like hours ago yet I don’t even see a drop of morning sunlight coming through the branches.

Is it possible that time isn’t moving?

My eyes and body are burning from exhaustion, hunger and the need to rest, but I don’t give myself the luxury. The thick branches keep scraping against my bruises, but my mind is too tired to even register it for a reaction.

The only sound around me is the sound of my shoes crunching the occasional twig or pinecone.

When did everything get so quiet? When was the last time I saw or heard an animal?

With each step I take deeper into the never ending woods all I can think about is Jacob, his sweet little smile when he was reading a book, his quiet laugh whenever I tried to make him feel better after a beating by telling stupid jokes. He’s my only reason for existing. For surviving this long.

Maybe that’s why you're really here, not to find Jacob, but to die with him.

My body freezes at the thought.

Is it?-

“Luke?..”

That voice.

“Luke!”

My head whips around looking on all sides trying and failing to see into the darkness of the trees, praying that this isn’t some exhaustion induced hallucination.

“Jacob?” My voice sounds broken to my ears. My eyes sting from holding back tears “Jacob!”

“Luke!”

It sounds like it’s coming from all sides, echoing through the trees all around me.

“Help me.”

I start sprinting in the direction that I heard it the loudest, adrenaline filling my exhausted body as I run screaming desperately, “Jacob! JACOB!” Tears blur my vision, branches claw at my skin and closes as if they're trying to hold me back, but I refuse to stop running deeper and deeper into the endless darkness of the forest.

I run blindly through the dark not daring to stop as his voice gets louder.

“Luke, Help Me!”

His voice is in my head pulsating in my ear drums like a monster playing the most twisted game, using my own mind as a toy. But I can’t stop…I'll be its toy if I can see him again.

Still running desperately, it feels like something grabs my ankle causing me to slam my tear stained face into the dirt. I quickly turn around to just see a turned up tentacle like tree root sticking out of the ground.

Why did it feel like that grabbed me?

I quickly stand up, but my knees buckle making me crash back to the ground and cry out in pain. Tears keep falling as all my desperation and pain pour out. It feels like my lungs are being squeezed by a strong hand as I take gasping breaths through sobs and try to pull myself together.

You have to keep looking!

I wipe the tears from my face and look over to see my dead flash light laying in the dirt, abandoned.

When the hell did that get over there?

I reach for it with a shaking hand. As my fingertips barely graze the cold metal, the beam of light flickers brighter than I ever thought possible for that old flashlight, even if it was new.

What the fuck?

My head looks up where the flashlight beam is pointing at.

What I see makes my body go completely rigid. All of my joints lock up as my brain works in overdrive to try and contemplate what my eyes are seeing.

No… Jacob

Strung up on a massive tree in front of me is my little brother. His arms are stretched out on both sides, legs dangling lifeless, held up by some invisible string. Like some kind of fucked up marionette. His skin is sickeningly gray with veins bulging like he’s been decaying for days.

I can still see old bruises from our dad.

His head was facing up, eyes open, as if he was looking at something I couldn’t see.

Between where his head would be attached to his neck there was about two inches of space.

A clean cut…

I couldn’t stop the nausea that filled my throat as I empty my already vacant stomach, leaving just a pile of stomach acid at my feet.

That’s when I hear it.

Laughter?

A loud, high-pitched laughter breaks through the trees surrounding me on all sides. I cover my ears and squeeze my eyes closed but it doesn’t do anything. It only gets louder until the sound is practically crushing my skull, radiating in my head. Before I think I’m gonna pass out, it stops.

I look back at the tree to see a figure standing in front of the base, it looks somehow seven feet tall, all I can make out is the smile that stretches up far too wide to be possible for a human, and teeth that look like a thousand needles stuffed into the things gums. I look to see the large bloody knife in the figure's grasp. Its head tilted to the side slightly, the toothy horrifying smile seemingly growing impossibly wider, stretching to the point it looks like the skin will tear. Its mouth didn’t open as I heard a voice ring in my head.

“Ready to join your brother?”