As Skai sat in her room sketching in her book voices could be heard from downstairs. She rolled her eyes knowing that later will just be nothing but eerie silence in the house, she hated it when her parents acted like strangers around each other especially knowing how happy they use to be. Skai looked at the picture frame on her nightstand she smiled at the picture as she caught sight of her dad picking up her mom bridal style with a big grin on his face and mom laughing as Skai and her older brother made goofy faces with her on his back. She couldn't help but smile, everyday use to be so much fun but ever since her brothers disappearance a few years ago those memories seem to happen in another lifetime. Her parents and everyone else declared him dead but to her there were no evidence of that, there was no body, no signs of blood anywhere, no one had any grudges against him he just vanished one day when they both went to the river. He went into the bushes to use the bathroom and that was the last time she saw him. She sighed as she turned back to her sketch book to continue her drawing until a knock was heard at her bedroom door. Her head quickly shot up looking at the door as she was slightly startled, "One second!" she yelled as she scurried around her room cleaning up the crumbled up pieces of paper she'd thrown on the floor that contained failed ideas and drawing attempts. She threw them in the trash can across her room as she walked over to her door opening it to see her father standing in the doorway she knew what this meant, mom sent him to talk to her about the family picture again. They hated seeing any signs that might remind them of her brother so they wanted to get rid of all traces of him, they even closed off his bedroom so that no one can enter, but she kept the last remaining thing that had her brother in it. Her father was about to speak but Skai cut him off "No I am not getting rid of the picture, if you both want to act like he never existed then go ahead but you will not drag me down to your level" she said looking her father straight in his eyes. Her father scowled at her "This is not up for discussion!" Skai rolled her eyes "Your right it's not up for discussion, I'm not getting rid of it ever!" footsteps could now be heard coming up the steps she knew it was her mother coming to scold her about defying them again about the picture. Her mother stood in the door glaring at her "That's enough Skai! do what your father and I say, get rid of it!" Skai clenched her teeth, she hated when she referred to her brother as an 'it', but she scoffed at how they suddenly remember that they're married and how she was their daughter for the first time in years. "Oh now you want to be parents after all this time! NOW you want to ACT like a married couple!, Ever since Marrix disappeared you've treated his stuff like they were contaminated by some disease! He's not an IT! He's my brother and you two should be ashamed of yourselves, you hurt one another day in and day out with this now sham of a marriage, and you forget that you even have a daughter, and yet you call yourselves parents! When I find my brother and I bring him home I'm gonna tell him how easily and quickly you demonized anything that reminded you two of him!" she slammed the door in their faces as they stood their dumbfounded at their daughters words. The two of them stood there as they looked at eachother with sad expressions, the mother looked at the ground in shame as she clenched her apron tears silently streamed down her face as her body shook violently trying to hold in her sobs. Her husband gently took her hand and held it within his, she looked at him tears still streaming down her face, she ran into her husband's arms as she cried into his chest, he held her close as he kissed the side of her head as he shed his tears silently.
Skai leaned against her door hearing her parents footsteps slowly fade away from her door. She bit her lip as she held her head down trying to keep her sobs from being heard. She look towards the old family photo on her nightstand again, but this time she could see the cracks in her family, 1 member of it is missing the happy couples faces turned cold and became distant, and that silly happy girl became angry and resentful towards the once happy couple. As the tears pricked in her eyes she thought to herself, 'If Marrix could see us...he would be so disappointed…' she slowly slid down the door in sadness, hugging her knees tightly muffling her cries, 'I-I'm sorry Marrix I'm sorry…' she leans her head against the door as she takes a deep breath to calm down, she thinks about all the places he could've gone, but she couldn't think of anywhere he's been. She went over the same routes in her head ever since her brother disappeared, but she knew he wouldn't be in any of those places no matter how many times she'd check, he wasn't going to just magically appear at one of them one day. Skai ran her hand through her hair groaning "Urgh" she thought of anywhere else she could check but nothing came to mind except for the woods, but he couldn't have gone in their not without supplies and a map which he had neither of unless he had some kind of death wish. When her brother went missing no one even bothered to check the forest, knowing that all the children knew they would be punished if they entered alone without an adult present. Those woods were off limits unless you were going out to hunt, camp, or trek. She ruffled her hair trying to think of anywhere else but only the forest came to mind again and again. She always had an unnatural fear when it came to that forest, just the mere sight of it gave her chills, there was always a sense of darkness around it whenever she took one step closer to it, but whenever she told someone they never believed her, no one except her brother who also felt that same darkness from the forest, but the only difference was that it never scared him, in fact it always seemed to make him want to overcome it. Skai's head jerked up in realization "He's in the forest...how could I have been so stupid for so long, he's in the damn forest!" Skai jumped to her feet as she ran to her closest grabbing her backpack, she ran around her room rummaging through the drawers and stuffing things she might need into her bag, she kept thinking about her brother 'I'm coming brother, please just hang on a little longer, I'm coming for you'. After awhile of packing everything she may need, she scrounges up some money from where her and her brother would always hide it under their beds and stuffed it into the side of her bag, she decided tomorrow she will buy a map and wait until nightfall to go into forest to find him.
