He was chasing me again. My older brother, he had found me again. I don’t know how, but he had and now I was running for my life from him because if he caught me, he would kill me. Wouldn't even hesitate, he would make sure he finished the job this time.
I ran and ran, my short legs moving as fast as they could. The fog that was settled around me made seeing where I was going a difficult feet, but that didn’t matter. I just had to keep running. I could hear him behind me, feet pounding on the ground, breath coming out in short gasps, my brain tried to tell me legs to pick up the pace, but they were already moving as fast as possible.
Suddenly, I had to come to an abrupt stop. There was a cliff in front of me…I was trapped. There was no place for me to go. I knew what I had to do I just had to do it. I looked straight ahead and saw his red eyes piercing through the fog and that was enough to make me do it. I took a step back and squeezed my eyes shut tight and jumped.
I wasn't scared. I mean, sure, I jumped but that was just a habitual response. I wasn't scared. In fact, I've never been scared a day in my life. You wouldn't think that I would be terrified now that I was free falling through the air. My body cut through the clouds as I plummeted downward. It was so dark that I couldn’t tell which way was up as I twisted through the sky.
I hit the water. It was a relief to have the breath knocked out of me instead of being impaled with a rock. Huh…I didn’t really think this plan through. I swam through the murky water and broke the surface gasping for breath. I looked up at where I came from. He was staring down at me with a cunning grin spread across his face. His menacing eyes bore into me. One look at him sent me scrambling for the shore and the safety of the forest beyond.
The fireball caught me by surprise. It felt it whiz by me and sizzle as it hit the water, inches away from my arm. I could smell the smoke from more fireballs as I got closed to shore. I clambered out of the water and watched as another fireball sizzled in the water. He scowled as he stalked angrily away.
I was safe. He couldn’t get me down here. I would live to see another day. I smiled shyly to myself as I turned on my heel and walked into the open arms of the welcoming forest. The trees would protect me; they wouldn’t let anything happen to me.
At the time, I didn’t realize how wrong I had been.
Trees, tall, leafy trees that swayed in the summer breeze, surrounded me. The stars shone brightly above me, the moons smiled down at me. I was safe here; no one was going to hurt me. He was gone; he was stuck at the top of the cliff with no way down. Everything was perfect.
And then it was as if someone flipped the nice, lovely night switch off. The sky turned into a dark mass of storm clouds. The trees came to life and tried to grab me. I ran. Their hand like branches snagged at me as I sprinted through the trees.
Then I heard it, a distant chuckling that turned into a menacing cackle. I stopped and frantically looked around, trying to find where it had come from. My head swiveled and my eyes darted from tree to tree looking for the source of the horrid noise.
“Boo.”
I screamed at the sound of his gravelly voice and shot off like a rocket into the woods. The trees erupted into flames around me. The fire crackled and smoked wisped around. My eyes watered up, I couldn’t see where I was going. The smoke festered in my lungs causing deep, hacking coughs.
I shook my head in an attempt to shake away the fear that was nipping at my mind…and then I fell. I quickly jumped up off the ground only to fall down again. I glanced down to find that there was a chain wrapped around my ankle. I tugged and pulled and clawed at the ground desperately trying to free myself. I could feel the vibrations of my brother’s heavy footfall through the ground. I could feel the fear starting to break down my defense, telling me that there was no way out, that I was going to die here tonight.
Another chain shot out of nowhere and latched itself on to my other leg. I flipped around just in time to see him emerge from the trees, a triumphant grin spreading across his face. Two more chains shot out and clamped down on my wrists. Then, they started to pull me up.
My eyes watched with terror as he began to creep closer to me. I struggled against the chains that bound me, but it was too late, the fear had one.
Tears were streaming down my face, his booming laugh echoed in my ears and the fear chomped down on the little courage that I had left and soon I was just hanging there in front of him like a ragdoll. I was ready to die.
Red flames slid down the chains as he stood there with his arms crossed laughing as the fire engulfed me…

I woke with a strangled yelp and tumbled out of the tree I was currently sleeping in. I landed flat on my back and stared up at the early morning sky. I watched the stars twinkling as I just breathed.
In. I’m okay.
Out. There’s no fire
In. He can’t find me.
Out. I’m safe.
I moved my right hand to brush my fingertips across the white bandaging on my left wrist. When people asked me what had happened, I would all ways tell them nothing, it’s there for luck. They would give me a weird look and just go on with their business. But, that wasn’t true.
The white tape was there as a reminder, it was there to remind me that trust is a dangerous thing. I had trusted him, given it to him willingly, he is – was – my brother. He was supposed to protect me. He was supposed to take care of me when our parents failed. He did for awhile after they left us alone. He made me three meals a day. He was a good cook. But his caring didn’t last for long. He started getting frustrated with me more often. And then one day everything changed. Instead of protecting me, he tried to kill me.
I could still feel his fingers wrapping around my arm. Still feel the death grip he had on my throat. Still see the black dots as my vision clouded around the edges. But the worst was the smell. Burning flesh. His had hid something hot in his hand that as soon as it made contact with my skin, it sizzled and hissed. Searing, white, hot pain was the last thing that I ever felt on that section of my wrist.
I shoved those thoughts back into their cardboard box in my head and chained it shut. I let myself drift away by watching the clouds float across the sky. It must be nice; just to be able to go where you wanted to go without a care in the world. Now that was the life.
The sky gradually got brighter. The clouds turning a pinky-orange shade as the sun rose above the hills. I sighed and pushed myself off the dew-covered grass. As much as I wanted to run off and follow the clouds, I couldn’t. Today was the last day of school. Might as well make the best of it.
I clambered up the tree and snagged a half empty bottle of shampoo, a container of toothpaste, and a toothbrush. I made my way over to the town pool. I had been taking showers here every morning since I was four. If the owner noticed me slipping in at dawn and then back out five minutes later, he didn’t say anything.
Most of the people who lived here either ignored me or attempted to help me. There were some mornings, especially in the winter, where I would wake up in my tree to find a basket of food sitting at the bottom of it or a blanket draped over me. I guess there was just something about a six-year -old living on their own that struck a chord with some people.
I traipsed back to my tree after my shower and replaced the items in the hollow of the tree trunk. I sighed and headed off in the direction of the town. I made a quick stop at the twenty-four hour super market and picked up four bottles of Mountain Dew with what cash I had left. Hopefully this would last the day.
The final day of school is pointless. We do nothing but put stuff away that the teachers don’t want to deal with after we leave. Chairs, books, desks. And we clean everything. Wiping every surface down with disinfectant wipes. I got to be the window cleaner.
Armed with a bottle of Windex and a roll of paper towels there was no smudge that was safe from me…Master Squeaky-clean. I stared out the window as I mindlessly cleansed the surface of all blemishes. It was nice out; the sun’s rays lit up the world making everything seem perfect until I sprayed the window with the blue colored cleaner which distorted the perfect landscape.
The shrill of the final bell rang in my ears as all the kids in the building swarmed into the hallways and out the door. I took one last swing from Mountain Dew bottle number two and tossed it in the trashcan on my way out. I scowled as I watched it sail through the air, I needed more caffeine.
I spent the rest of the day crouching in another tree. Just staring off into the great beyond. There was so much out there. It was mysterious, promising, and free of the fear. I took another swing of Mountain Dew and wondered what it would be like to live out there.
I must have fallen asleep at some point because the next thing I knew I was screaming myself awake. I couldn’t take it anymore. I spent every second of my life here looking around the corner to make sure he wasn’t there. To make sure that something wasn’t going to spontaneously catch on fire
I was tired of the looks of sympathy I got walking down the street. Tired of people trying to make everything better just by saying it will be okay. And I know from experience that no, everything will not be okay.
If I could just go somewhere else, somewhere where nobody knew who I was. I would be safe there because the best place to hide is in plain sight. With that thought bouncing around in my mind, I stood up and walked into the great beyond.
And I never looked back.