We live in a second story house in the forest miles away from any form of civilization. It wouldn't seem like it but life was hard for me and my brother nick; it wasn't always like this. It started months ago, something had made my mom snap and start coming home a drunken mess. After she got home from work, she would start beating me or my brother giving us scares and deep cuts. Other times she just argues with my dad till she passes out. Dad knew mom was a crazy drunk and there was no changing that but he never left her. I remember when he came in our room one night after mom was done beating us just to say "I know your mother can be harsh when she's drunk but all we can do is just be there for her" and left. I felt crushed, both he and I knew she was never going to change but he stayed with that psychopathic woman anyway. All I can do is protect my brother from her as much as I can, or so I thought. It was another night like always our mom came home from work drunk and me and my brother nick were in our room huddled together waiting for her to pass out already, "leo i'm scared, I don't want to be beaten again, I'M SICK OF IT!" nick buried his head into my chest his tears soaking my shirt. "shh don't be so loud she"ll hear us….as long as were quiet we won't get beaten" I stroked his shaggy brown hair and sang the song our mom sang us when we were little to help him calm down. I could hear mom yelling at dad from down stairs: and dad trying to calm her down, but something was off, it sounded as if dad was raising his voice against her almost like arguing back at her. Dad never yells back at her no matter how violent she gets in her one sided arguments. It was making me curious to what was happening so I got up to check what was going on "Leo where are you going, you're going to get caught" nick quickly staggered to get to his feet and grabbed the back of my shirt. "I'll be right back" I pulled his gripped hand off my shirt then walked out of the room. Their yelling was getting louder as I made my way down the hallway, I could sort of make out what they were saying "why...boys listen to me, ...punish them with love but...appreciation for it!" I reached the stairs and walked down just far enough to see my parents arguing in the living room. "listen I don't care what kind of love you show but I told you to just leave me out of it" I should have known he didn't care about us, he never tried to protect us from that psychopath woman. "I don't want to hear such bull from you. your suppose discipline them i'm the good parent here...now bring those brats to me!" she pushed dad toward the direction of the stairs making him fumble and lose his balance "hurry the frick up and get them!" he looked back at her and sternly told her "No" she let out a loud scream of anger then ran away into the kitchen. I slowly started making my way down the stairs but stopped in my tracks when dad looked up to see me, "what are yo-" "DAD WATCH OUT!" he quickly turned his head, but it was too late: mom slashed a knife down striking dad to the floor then continuously stabbed him. I sat there stunned unable to move as I watched my mom stab my dad, laughing as if it was all just a joke that his body was still twitching from the sudden shock of being stabbed. "this is what you get for disobeying me" slowly I moved back up the stairs and into the room locking the door behind me. "Leo what happened? you're crying" he stood up and walked toward me "really!?" I guess I was so shocked I couldn't feel the tears run down my cheeks, nick wiped my tears away and looked at me concerned "tears aren't the point right now, we have to get out of here mom killed dad and I fear were next" he was shocked unable to believe what I just told him, "t-that's not true, mom can get a little crazy but she wouldn't kill anyone" I knew he wouldn't believe me "listen I saw what I saw so were getting out of here" I opened the window in our room and started tying sheets together; tying one end to the bed and the other out the window. "lets go" nick nodded and we started climbing out the window. Mom started knocking on the door "oh boys come out here your mommy wants to talk to you" we started moving faster down the sheets "boys?...BOYS!" we heard her bang on the door then kick it down. "hurry were almost to the ground" "BOYS! GET BACK HERE YOU'RE MAKING MOMMY UPSET!" I looked up and she was using the knife to cut the sheets apart "Hurry!" I urged nick in desperation. The sheets ripped the rest of the way and we went falling to the ground "Ouch!" we landed with a thud to the ground but quickly fumbled back up and tried to run away. "nick take my hand" he grabbed my hand and we staggered as fast as we could into the forest. There was a strange static sound and my vision was getting blurry, I knew I wasn't the only one experiencing this because nick was covering his ear with his free hand. "what is that?" "i'm not sure" I looked behind us to see if our mom was there, but instead I saw a tall silhouette figure in the distance with tendril like things swaying behind him like the tree's. "Leo look out!" I turned quickly but was suddenly knocked out, I woke back up in my room Tied to the bed "nh, what happened? nick are you ok?" I lifted my head to look around the room as much as I could but I didn't see nick. "nick?" suddenly there was a loud painful scream that echoed through the house, panic rushed through me "NICK! NICK WHERE ARE YOU!" I struggled and pulled on the ropes holding me down "NICK!" what seemed like forever later I finally heard footsteps coming up the stairs; then the door flung open. Mom was standing their with a limp body in her hands, she dragged it to the other side of the room and tied it up to nicks bed. "you boys made your mommy very angry. See what she has to do to make you understand that you can't leave me" she walked over to me and stroked my cheek "don't worry you'll be punished next" then she walked out of the room shutting the door behind her. "n-nick are you ok….NICK!" he wasn't making any sound. Fear and anger was rising in me, I dedicated my whole life to protecting nick and it was all wasted because I got knocked out by a stupid tree! this can't be true, he has to be alive. "NICK!" I screamed out his name in frustration and pain my heart felt as if it had just been ripped in two. "l-leo" it was faint and raspy but I could hear nick say my name. Tears streamed down my face "don't scare me like that" I sighed in relief. "why didn't you leave me back in the forest and save yourself!?" a faint laugh came from nick "because you're my brother I don't know what id do without you" 'Jesus nick' I thought "just remember my promise i'm going to protect you no matter what" he went silent; but I was fine with that because if I was quiet enough I could hear his faint raspy breathing. The door opened and mom stepped back in "its your turn to be punished Leo" she untied me but quickly put handcuffs on me and dragged me out of the room. I struggled to try and get away but she had a good grip on me, she brought me to a room I had never seen before, it was filled with sharp medical tools from her work. She hooked me up to a chair and pulled out a tray of tools "sorry it took awhile sweetie I had to clean the room from when I was punishing your brother" she gave me a gentle smile and hit me with a cable cord a few times "Nh!" then she picked up a scalpel and started cutting into me. "AH!" I barked out in pain, the feeling of being cut open brought vomit to my mouth but I had to bear with it and live to protect nick. To distract myself I looked around the room but then saw dads decaying body in the the corner, a subliminal message from mom saying 'that will happen to us if we disobeyed her again', she continued to cut into my body splattering my blood all over the place "your cries of pain are so beautiful Leo" she put deep cuts into my body but in no place where I would die from it. When she was done messing with me, she sewed my body back up with a black thread and dragged me back to the room to tie me back up. "good night sweethearts i'll see you in the morning" she kissed our foreheads and left the room "yeah that woman is a psychopath" I chuckled a little, ignoring the pain in my chest then fell asleep. These acts of 'punishment' went on for days and weeks, I did my best to protect nick by angering mom to make her direct her torture mostly to me and not him. Every night we both gained bruises and new black threads on our bodies from the many times she cut us open, we were also getting skinnier from the weeks of no food only to be fed enough to keep us alive. "nick, we have to get out of here" "I know but, how" our bodies were out of shape and weak, he was right on the how part but I've planned out our escape and its going to work I know it will "just wait i'll make it work." the door opened and our mom walked in, she had stopped going to work ever since the incident and looked like a wreck, or at least like one of those messed up looking people that are possessed. Its time to put the plan into action "hey moron why are you showing your ugly ass face back here again, I thought I told you not to come back and just let us die" she slowly looked up at me but I could barely see her eyes because of her messy hair, she shuffled over to me and pulled my hair lifting my face up to hers "you little runt you still haven't learned your lesson have you! after all the love I show you!" her bloodshot eyes continuously twitched with anger and as she spoke her breath smelled of death."lets go!" she untied me and brought me down to her torture chamber and tied me up again, she pulled out her tools and tried grabbing for the scalpel but it was missing, she grunted "i'll be right back you better reflect on what you said to me" she left the room "perfect" I slipped the scalpel that I had took from the last time I was beaten out of my shirt sleeve and started cutting the rope on both my arms and legs were cut; and mom was making her way down the stairs again so I placed the scalpel on the floor under the other tools and sat back like I was still tied up. She looked around and saw it on the floor where I had placed it "there it is" she picked it up and dusted it off "lets get started" before she was about to make a new cut on me I mustered up all the strength I could and abruptly kicked her knee in sending her to the floor, than staggered out of the room as fast as I could "Leo you're in so much trouble!" grabbing a near by heavy object I blocked her down there and ran into the kitchen to grab some sharp kitchen knives, then I ran into our room and untied nick "Leo how are you able to move so much?" so much energy had filled my body it didn't even feel like I was a weakling a couple of seconds ago "adrenalin" I said as I handed him one of the kitchen knifes then helped him up out of bed "whats this for?" I looked back at him and gave him a stern look, he knew what had to be done if we wanted to get out of there and not be haunted knowing that woman was still alive. He nodded his head and gulped hard, we slowly made our way back down the stairs and to the torture chamber "nick i'll take the first strike since you're still not used to walking" "Nh" I pushed the desk out of the way then we both walked down the stairs "h-hey where is she" we looked around but she was no where to be found "don't lower your guard" I gripped the knife in my hand tightly causing the wounds in my hands to reopen spilling blood on the floor "LEO!" I looked behind me to see nick captured and struggling to get away from moms grip "what did I tell you boys! stop trying to leave me!" she grabbed the knife from nicks hands and held it up to his throat "and if I have to kill you to make sure that doesn't happen then so be it" she slit nicks throat dripping his blood all over the floor. "NICK!" she dropped his body to the floor like trash and walked over to me. My legs went limp and I too fell to the floor "I hope you know this is for your own good" my vision started going blurry and my pulse was racing. "why...I said I would protect him...and,and-" I stood up ready in attack position "YOU KILLED HIM!" tears streamed down my face, it felt like I was losing myself; my body wasn't listening to me anymore. "soon we'll be together forever and you'll never try and leave me" she reached for my shoulder preparing to stab me "its your fault. Nick isn't with me because of YOU! YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID!" she placed her hand my shoulder about to grip it, but I quickly shoved her away from me and pounced on her jamming the knife into her chest, causing the knife in her hand to fly away from her. She let out a loud cry of pain and agony "you rotten child how dare you do this to your mother! after all I've done for you" she struggled to get up and reach for the knife but I pulled the knife out of her and jammed it back in "die! die! die! DIE!" I continually stabbed her splattering her blood all over the room. As soon as I felt satisfied with stabbing her to death I got off her bloody body to rushed over to nick and cradle his head in my hands "nick i'm so sorry I said I would protect you but…" my tears fell onto his face then slid to the floor. "i'm so sorry, i'm so sorry" I squeezed my eyes shut but quickly opened them to nick reaching up to touch my face "NICK!" he smiled weakly then tried to speak but nothing came out."what's wrong? wait hold on" I rushed to get the needle and thread and sewed the slit up as quickly and carefully as I could. Then used bandages to wrap his neck, Nick gestured to me saying couldn't speak. I guess when she slit his throat she didn't make the cut deep enough so all it did was messed up his vocal cords. "i'm just glad you're alive" I picked him up onto my back then grabbed the two kitchen knives and walked out of that hell hole and into the forest. "nick I promise that if anyone tries to hurt you i'll kill them!" he fell fast asleep from exhaustion on my back "I'll make sure we find a new place we can call home" I continued walking until I got the same feeling from the night nick and I first tried to escape. I looked around to try and find that tall silhouette thing again and did, he stood there as tall as a tree with those tendril looking things behind him, and now that he was a little closer than last time, I could see that all he had was a blank white face with no features. His appearance appealed me but my sense of protection for nick kept me away from the strange creature….for now.