The house seemed to be barren. There were no signs of life anywhere. Len looked down the dark hall as he slowly went down the large staircase, watching his shadow go down along with him. Each step felt further and further away as he walked; an endless descent. He finally reached the bottom, but when he looked back up at the staircase, it was the same as it had always been. He furrowed his brows in confusion and began walking to the living room. His family was there, along with some other people he'd never seen before. His father greeted him cheerfully, as did the rest of the people occupying the living room couches. They all conversed with each other, chatting happily and telling jokes. Len was more than confused at that point. Who were these people? Why were they in the house? And why did his parents and siblings not seem to care that there were strangers in the house?
Len turned around and walked back to the stairs. He was about to go back up when he noticed the front door. He put his hand on the handle. The blurry glass on the door didn't show anything through it, only light. There was no color, and there were no distinguishable shapes behind it. Only sunlight. Len braced himself and slowly turned the handle, pulling the door open.
He walked outside, looking at his surroundings. There were weeds and overgrown grass all around him, though it looked like it was dying. He furrowed his brows and kept walking towards the end of his driveway, which was now covered in the brown plants. He looked out to the horizon and saw an orange glow. It was bright and unnatural against the yellow sky. It didn't look like the sun going down.
"Better get inside before the radiation hits," his sister said.
Len jumped at the sudden voice from behind him and turned around quickly, but there was no one there. As he was turned around, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. There was someone standing in the doorway. He squinted and tried to make out what it was. He realized his whole family was watching him through the now crystal clear glass, their faces expressionless, though in a seemingly sinister way. He could feel their eyes burning holes in him as he stood there.
Len felt a wave of wind rush past him from behind, and he turned around again. He widened his eyes in fear as he took in what was happening. That orange glow was a bomb. And it was detonated close enough to kill him with the radiation. Frantically, Len scrambled around to find somewhere to hide, safe from the radiation. He spun around quickly, his eyes landing on the garage. Of course! He made a mad dash for the garage, which was now opened, despite him not entering the code or pushing the button. The interior was dark and empty, unlike how his garage usually was, but he wasn't focussed on that at the moment. He looked out at the horizon and saw that an orange wave was rushing towards him rapidly. He whimpered and looked around for the garage button to close the door. He located it on the wall to his left, and he ran over to push it. His cat, Fluffy, rubbed against his legs. He looked down at him, confused. Where did Fluffy come from? He watched as the cat walked towards the garage door. His eyes widened and he called out to him.
"Fluffy, no!" He watched in horror as the cat walked outside as the door was closing, into the dangerous radiation. He felt himself start to choke up. He couldn't bare it if his cat died. But there was nothing he could do.
The garage door seemed to close slowly. The cat walked out, unaware of what was about to happen. Len bit his bottom lip as he sat on the floor in the middle of the garage, hating himself for not doing anything.
Suddenly, he heard a loud banging on the garage door. The noise startled him and he scrambled to his feet.
"HEY!" a voice shouted, panicking. Len furrowed his brows, feeling his heart start to race and his hands start to clam up. Someone banged on the outside of the garage again, more violently this time. "LET ME IN! I'M GOING TO DIE OUT HERE IF YOU LEAVE ME!" Len began to shake, terrified. If he let that person in, the radiation would likely get to them before the garage closed again. But if he didn't let them in, then that person would be dead and it would be all his fault. He swallowed thickly and stared at the garage door, unsure of what to do. The banging continued.
"HEY! IT'S COMING, LET ME IN! I'M GOING TO DIE, LET ME IN! YOU SON OF A BITCH, LET ME I-AUGH!"
Len crouched down on the ground with his hands over his ears, shaking in terror as the person outside screamed in agony. They screamed and screamed without stopping, and Len could hear his cat howling in pain in the distance. He began sobbing, wishing he'd never been presented with that choice. He felt horrible. He wanted to die. He should have just stayed outside.
He heard the click of a door opening and froze. The sound of footsteps echoed through the room, all other sounds gone. The screaming had ceased, and the sound of the wind had vanished. Nothing but footsteps.
Len looked to his left where the footsteps were coming from. His sister, Rin, was standing beside him, looking down at him with an expressionless face. He stared back, unsure of what to do. He was still shaking and crying, but he made no noise. He felt like he wasn't allowed to.
Rin grabbed his wrist and pulled him to a standing position. Len looked into her blank, lifeless eyes. He licked his lips once, waiting for her to do something.
"Why did you kill me?" she asked. Len looked at her, confused, when he felt a warm, sticky substance oozing onto his hand. He looked down and realized there was a knife in his hand. He'd pushed the blade into her abdomen. Blood was gushing out of the wound, soaking her white shirt. Len jolted back away from her and covered his mouth with his hands, wiping blood all over his face.
"Ah...I-" he whimpered, unsure of what to do or say. "I-I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean-" He stuttered. He felt hyperventilation oncoming. He felt like he was going to be sick. He couldn't take much more of this.
"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry!" he screamed.
"Hey," Rin said. Len stared at her, horrified. Her expression had changed to concern. She looked at him with worried eyes as she cupped her hands on his cheeks. "Wake up."
Len furrowed his brows in confusion. Wake up…? Wait…
He felt his sister shaking him, but her hands were unmoving. Suddenly everything started to dissolve. The world around him melted away into a sheet of grainy white nothingness. Then ebony. He peered through a forest of tall, blurry black wisps and was met with a face. His sister's face. She was looking down at him with furrowed brows, clearly worried. Len opened his eyes fully, taking a moment to adjust to the darkness of their bedroom.
"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice soft and calming. Len was choked up. He hadn't realized that he was on the verge of tears until that moment. He couldn't cry in front of his sister though. He wiped his eyes, pretending to be doing it to wake him up more.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied in a groggy voice. He cleared his throat, still feeling the tightness of tears threatening to spill over. It was just a nightmare. It wasn't even that scary. He needed to stop being a baby.
"Are you sure?" his sister persisted. He was about to interject and tell her she was overreacting, when she spoke again. "You were talking in your sleep." He froze. What the fuck did he say to her.
Len wanted to ask, but he couldn't talk. He literally killed her in his dream. It couldn't get any worse than that. There were so many things he could have said that would make it seem like the early signs of a psychopath. Luckily, he didn't have to ask. She told him anyway.
"You kept saying my name over and over again," she told him. Len held his tongue, knowing she wasn't finished. Even if he hadn't said anything else, she would tell him how hearing that from him made her feel. He wouldn't interrupt. "You were also whimpering a lot." Len wanted to shoot himself in the fucking head. Being a fourteen year old male, you don't show weakness to your sibling. You will get teased to Hell and back. Still, she wasn't finished speaking.
"I thought you were sick or something," she added. "So I just wanted to make sure you were alright." He could pretend he was sick and stay home from school today to make it extra convincing. Save himself the embarrassment of saying he just had a nightmare and whimpered like a baby about it. But looking into his sisters deep cerulean eyes, he knew she would spot a lie a mile away. They were twins. They spent every day of their lives together from the very start. They knew everything about each other, even the things they didn't want to know. Nothing could slip past her without her noticing.
Len opened his mouth to speak, going along with the lie anyways, but what came out of his mouth was not what he planned to say. "I had a nightmare," he blurted out. Shit. He looked at his sister, waiting for her to say something.
"Ah, I see," she mumbled. Len swallowed thickly. Where was the undo button in his life. Without warning, Rin pulled up the covers, leaving Len exposed. The sudden cold of the room flooded through him. It didn't help that he slept shirtless. Thankfully he decided to wear some shorts to bed that night.
"Um, what are you doing?" he asked, instinctively reaching for the blanket to pull it back over his body.
"Scoot over," she commanded. Len looked at her curiously for a moment. He didn't have much time to think however, because she started to gently nudge him over to the other edge of the bed. Len quickly moved over closer to the wall, making room for her. Rin climbed up onto his bed, digging herself under the covers. She faced her brother, looking at him expectantly. Len stared back, not sure what to do or say.
"U-um…" he muttered, stuttering over his words. "W...Why did you suddenly decide to sleep wi...next to me?" This was awkward enough. He didn't need any innuendos to make it more awkward.
"We always slept in the same bed whenever we had a nightmare," Rin replied casually. Len furrowed his brows. He couldn't remember them ever doing that.
"Uh….really?" he asked. Rin nodded, closing her eyes.
"When we were little, we had a babysitter that always had us take naps at different times. We were wild childs, so she didn't want us both awake at the same time whenever possible," she said. "But she ended up making us both take naps at the same time, because when one of us would have a nightmare, we'd wake up crying, which was even more of a pain to deal with." She laughed silently at the memory. Len vaguely remembered that. It was a long time ago though. Obviously they were just toddlers at the time. It's acceptable for toddlers to sleep together. But they were teenagers now. Not exactly the most appropriate age to be sleeping with- er, sleeping next to each other. He was going to tell her no, and to go back to her own bed, but feeling her presence in bed with him was comforting...He felt safe with her there next to him. He frowned at himself for the decision he was going to make, but ultimately felt more relief than guilt or shame.
"Yeah…" he mumbled. His eyes grew heavy, and he relaxed back into his mattress, closing his eyes. His sister snuggled up close to him and closed her eyes as well. The warmth her body provided made him feel secure. Even if he did slip back into that awful dream, he knew his sister would wake him out of it and comfort him again until he could fall back asleep, hopefully into a more pleasant dream.
Len yawned and snuggled up under the covers, turning his head towards his sister's. Her hot breath warmed his neck. "Hey Rin?" he mumbled quietly.
"Hm?" she muttered back. Len bit his lip awkwardly.
"Um...thanks…" he said, feeling the heat in his cheeks from embarrassment. Rin smiled, eyes still closed.
"Don't mention it," she whispered. "I'm just glad you're okay." Len's chest filled with warmth from her statement. He relaxed into his pillow and let his mind drift off, not caring where his dream took him. He had his sister there to protect him. Nothing could hurt him now.