"What the fuck do you think you're doing home so late?!" my drunken uncle demanded to know.
"I'm home 10 minutes before my curfew." I stated, calmly. He squinted at the clock on the wall.
"I say what time it is you little bitch!" he yelled. I ignored him. This was how things normally went when I came home. The outcome depended on how drunk he was. He lunged at me and missed by an inch. 'Please don't be too bad…' I pleaded in my mind. I knew running away would only make it worse so I stood still. He started off by slapping me. Once, twice, then pushed me to the ground. His kicks to my stomach and ribs took my breath away. I didn't cry though. That made him angrier. I couldn't take much more. He took another drink from his whiskey and went to smash the bottle over my head, but a hand reached out and stopped it.
"Uncle Jim, stop!" a voice begged. I looked up and saw Alex standing in front of me.
"Get out-of-the-way, boy! This has nothing to do with you!" our uncle yelled, pushing him out of my path. I slowly got up and grabbed on to Alex's arm for support.
"You two disgust me." Jim spit out. "Your parents would be so disappointed! I envy them for not having to deal with you!" Tears streamed down my brothers face as he helped me walk to our bedroom. We had to share one since the house was so small. I heard the front door slam and I knew that I wouldn't have to deal with that bastard until the next morning.
"Finally!" I exclaimed, wincing in pain. "The only good part of the day is when he leaves for the bar." I sat down on my bed and Alex looked me over.
"Anything broken?" he asked, softly.
"No, I'll survive" I replied, trying to lie down.
"Here, I'll get the first aid kit. Again." he said, opening the closet. We had to hide it in there so Uncle Jim wouldn't throw it away. He didn't like it when Alex helped me. "I'm so sick of him hurting you!" he told me while applying rubbing alcohol to the cuts on my stomach.
"Yea, me too." I said. "But we only have 2 months left until we're 18 and can leave. We can make it."
"Yea." he smiled. "2 months…"
I jolted awake. I hated dreaming about memories of my uncle. 'Where the hell am I?' I wondered, looking around. I seemed to be trapped in a hotel room. This was scary. I couldn't remember anything. I heard voices coming from the bathroom and sat up in the lumpy bed I'd been sleeping in.
"So, what should we do with her?" one asked.
"I don't know, Dean. Let's just wait until she wakes up."
'Who the hell are they? I have to get out of here and find Alex.' I realized and stood up. I swayed and sat back down on the bed. 'Alex… what happened to him?' Everything was fuzzy. I remembered going to visit our parents at the cemetery, but then nothing. I got back up more steadily and made my way to the door. All the locks were bolted shut and there was a line of salt in front of the door. 'Weird.' I thought. The noise I made trying to undo the locks must have caught their attention because they came out and one of the guys grabbed me.
"Woah there, you're not going anywhere." the one holding me said. I struggled with him.
"Let me go!" I demanded.
"We need to ask you a few questions first." the other guy said. The guy holding me led me to the bed and sat me down. I glared at him.
"What kind of questions would you need to ask me? I don't even know you." I asked. They both looked at each other.
"We…" the one started out, seeming unsure of what to say.
"We saved your ass at the cemetery." the other one finished for him. 'What?' I wondered. 'Wait… the creature. No. That was a dream! Wasn't it?'
"Where's my brother?" I demanded to know. They looked at each other again.
"Was that the guy you were with at the cemetery?" the seemingly nicer one asked. I nodded my head. He looked down, unsure of what to say again. The other guy looked at me sadly.
"He… didn't make it. That thing we saved you from got to him first. I'm sorry." he finally said. I sat there stunned for a moment and then started to remember. That beast had gotten to him when we were separated. And ripped his heart out of his chest. "No…" I whispered. 'He's ok…he has to be.' I shook my head.
"Where is he?" I asked. I couldn't meet their eyes. The one who had grabbed me went over to the dresser and picked something up. He held it out to me.
"We got these off of him," he said quietly. I took it and nodded slowly. They were his dog tags. They were our dads from the air force. It was the only thing of our parent's Uncle Jim let us keep after the funeral. Alex wanted me to have it, but I had refused. He'd never taken it off since.
"We buried him in the cemetery." the other guy explained. I was starting to fully understand what had happened. My brother was gone. And I would never see him again. I began to sob and held the only thing of my brother I had left close to me. I had nothing to live for.