It was a warm humid night when he ran away. I didn't understand why, at first. The only thought running through my head was that he was leaving and I had to follow. I didn't notice at first that his voice had been altered, or that the way his feet fell sounded different. I didn't even think twice before I ran out the door to follow him. He was my brother and my best friend. We were just minutes apart in age, and we went through a lot of the same sorts of things at the same time. We watched each other's backs, listened to each other. He was my personal support and I was his. Without that, I'd be lost.
So that's how I found myself running into the woods behind my house that night, without anything but the bit of cash I had in my pockets. I'm glad I wasn't smart about it though. If I'd been thinking, I would have packed for both of us, or at least grabbed some of my savings money, but that would have taken just a little too long. He was already pretty far ahead when I got outside. Besides…he wouldn't have been able to wear any of his old clothes anymore anyway.
"Dang Minnesota summer," I muttered, swatting at a swarm of mosquitoes that decided to mob me all at once. I was getting eaten alive. My arms and my back and…okay, my whole body…was itching so bad it was driving me crazy. Thank goodness I'd gotten the hearing and Peter didn't. He would have heard me for sure. Oh, his ears worked fine. They were perfectly normal. Mine however…..they worked better than normal. Impossibly better, actually. Peter's other senses are what works absolutely fantastic for him. I was having problems remembering to stay downwind of him. I'd called out to him once, but…he just ran faster. I heard him fall then and curse. I think his feet got tangled in something. Anyway, Mom would have been shocked at him for the word he spit out. Seriously, when Mom's disappointed with you….Guilt City. That was the last thing we ever wanted.
It was hard to keep up with him, but not as hard as it could have been. He sounded like he was clumsier than usual. Not that he was a klutz to start out with, but he just couldn't seem to walk right for some reason. It sounded like he was trying to re-learn it with different feet. At one point, he slowed down a bit and tried to be extremely quiet, but he should have known better.
To be honest, I don't know how we possibly held out our little chase so long, but I didn't catch up to him until the next evening. I think it was desperation. He was desperate to keep out of sight, and I was desperate to catch up to my brother. Peter gave up running just as it started to get dark. From what I heard, he paused and just sort of fell to the ground in an exhausted heap.
"Thank goodness," I whispered to myself with a sigh of relief. I was just about to give up myself, I was so tired. Nothing in this world could have prepared me for what I would find when I got to where he lie. Gone was the image of my brother as he'd been before he ran away. He wasn't the purple-haired guy that used to braid my hair every once in a while with the promise that I wouldn't tell anyone. Oh, the purple hair was still there, alright, but he just didn't look human anymore. Correction…He looked like some sort of sci-fi movie monster. His skin was a grayish purple all over. Huge bat-like wings had sprouted out of his back and a long, almost reptilian tail stuck out the seat of his pants. His fingers looked like they ended in claws. His ears had become pointed, pupils like those of cats, and I was almost certain he'd have fangs. Then I discovered my thoughts of him having different feet was way too close to the truth for comfort. They'd become elongated and looked as though they were designed for walking on the toes. I could see from the scratches on the heels that he'd tried walking normally.
All I could do was stare and mouth wordlessly while he watched me. Fear showed plainly in those dark violet eyes I used to know so well and I was pretty sure he was smelling my own fear. I wanted to scream. I wanted to turn and run. But…he was still my brother…if anything, he needed my help now more than ever. So…biting back the urge to just head for the hills in a mad panic, I slowly walked toward him, careful not to break eye contact.
"…Peter…?" I asked hesitantly, "are you okay?" He watched me from the ground a moment longer before shaking his head a little. Of course he wasn't. Neither of us were. We were tired and we were hungry and the mosquitoes wouldn't leave us alone. His eyes widened as I sat down beside him. To be honest, it was all I could do to keep myself from just collapsing like he did.
"Get some sleep," I told him, struggling to restrain a yawn, "I'll take first watch." Though my eyes burned, I was determined to stay up to make sure nothing snuck up on us. With a grateful expression, his eyes closed and he quickly fell asleep. I don't know how long I lasted. It was a terrible fight, fending off the sleep that wanted to take me away. In the end it won. When I woke up, I discovered something heavy and leathery draped over me awkwardly. It felt almost bony in places, but it kept some of the mosquitoes at bay and protected me from the slight chill of the morning. In my drowsy state, I didn't even think what it could possibly be. My eyes were still closed against the light. I wanted to sleep a little longer, but the hard and lumpy ground denied that. After another second, I remembered why I was sleeping outside on the ground and I opened my eyes.
The strange blanket that covered me wasn't a blanket at all. It was a gigantic gray-purple bat wing. I carefully lifted it off me so I could get up, then turned to look at the source of the wing. There was my twin brother, right behind where I had been lying and facing the other way. He was curled up under his other wing with that new tail of his wrapped around his knees. He'd always been protective of me. My stomach chose that moment to growl loudly to remind me how empty it was. I laughed as Peter awoke with a start.
"What was that?" he asked, frightened. He looked around wildly to find the source of the sound.
"A horse," I answered with a smirk.
"A horse?" my brother looked confused for a moment, "It didn't sound like a horse…"
"Okay, it wasn't a horse. But I sure could eat one," I laughed. My stomach growled again and his did likewise. We looked at each other. How were we supposed to get something to eat? Frantically, I began to search my pockets and came across the money. My brother searchedthepockets of his now torn jeanstoo, butthey were empty.
"Well…it looks like we've got seventeen dollars and ninety-two cents," I told him after a quick count, "know where we are?" He shook his head slowly. After a little bit of arguing, we decided to do some exploring to figure out just that.
We must have walked through that forest for hours, Peter occasionally on all fours. He told me his calves kept getting sore from walking on his toes and that he was having trouble figuring out his balance. I guess I could see why. The tail and wings were probably heavy, and he kept shifting them awkwardly. After a while of watching him as we walked, I called for a stop. With my artist's eye, I helped him find a way to hold the wings and tail that he didn't look or walk so awkward. He freaked out a little bit when I first grabbed the end of his tail. He said it was weird beyond description. Same with the wings. I didn't understand it, but hey, I wasn't the one who transformed.