Chapter Title: Monster Under The Bed

Series Title: Unlikely Brothers

Ages in this chapter: Kossi (7), Dashen (12)

Chapter Summary: Young Kossi has a run in with an imaginary monster after watching a scary holo-film.


"Dashy, m'scared."

"Oh yeah? What'cha ya scared about?"

I plopped down next to my baby brother, knowing full well what he'd done while I was sleeping. Something he shouldn't have been doing. He'd tell me the truth, it's how we rolled. Just had to wait him out.

"The monster. He scared me."

Making a show of glancing around the room to 'search' for this monster, my shoulders made an exaggerated shoulder shrug.

"Hmm. I don't see any monster around here."

"He was really big and ugly and very scary."

"Very scary. I bet he was. Where'd he go? Was he here in our home?"

"Well," Kossi said hesitantly, "Kinda."

"Kinda." I repeated. "Maybe he got away. Or maybe he's hiding under the couch."

Kossi giggled. "Nah, he's not under the couch. The couch is my bed, he can't fit under there, silly."

"Silly, huh? So, where'd he go?"

"Well…" Bright green eyes glanced at me innocently, playfully.

I wrapped an arm around his shoulder to jostle him gently. "Well?"

"The monster was in a holo-film and it was a humongous rancor!" Kossi's hands went up in the air like claws and he made several grrr sounds as I tugged him back against me.

"A rancor, huh? Big and mean, I bet. You were watching something you shouldn't have beeeen hmmmm?" I said in a sing-song way, keeping the mood light. Kossi would know I wasn't mad at him, still I wanted to make certain.

"Yeah, I didn't know it would be so scary though. Honest! Noba at school told was talking about it and all the kids said they would watch and… I wanted to watch too."

Meaning, he didn't want to be left out. Even before we'd lost our parents, Kossi had been unique. He didn't quite fit in with most of the other kids in his class. He loved learning and thinking and finding the joy in all things. Most the other kids were typical kids doing typical annoying kid stuff. That he didn't fit in, he understood and was okay with it the majority of the time. But every so often… he tried hard to find common ground with those his own age. Chattering about a horror holo-film was a way to do that. Even if it did scare him.

"Noba likes scary things," I said, knowing the outgoing boy he spoke of. "You've mentioned him before."

"Yeah, he does. It's s'okay, I didn't watch the whole thing. I got too scared. That monster was really mean. And he ate a lot of people. I didn't like him being so mean."

"It's just a film, Kos. It wasn't real."

"I know, but rancor's are real." He said, pulling away from me. His eyes and arms animated again. "They could come and eat us, Dashy! In our sleep!"

Oh good. A kid-eating monster that prowled his victims at night. If that wasn't fodder for nightmares, nothing was. Yup, the kid would be sleeping with me tonight. Despite his previous giggle at the thought of the rancor being under the couch (aka his bed), there was a touch of anxiety there.

"All right, little brother, come here." I patted the couch next me, the spot he'd just vacated a second ago. He did as I asked.

"There is no rancor running around Kaolin. There is no monster that will eat us in our sleep. No monster in the room or under your bed. I promise."

"You swear with all your heart?" He said in all sincerity. If I swore to that, no way was I lying about it.

My hand set on my chest. "I swear with all my heart."

"I shouldn't watch that holo-film ever again, right?"

"No, you shouldn't. And if you do ever want to watch something scary, tell me first. We'll watch it together."

"So you can fight off the rancor?"

I laughed. Had to. This kid…

"So I can fight off the rancor. Before it climbs under your bed!" I jumped at Kossi and grabbed him, tickling his sides until the giggles came back. With a quick action, I kissed the top of his head followed immediately by a hair ruffle.

"Dashy, m'gonna sleep with you tonight."

Not an ask. A statement. He'd get his way and knew it.

"I knew that was coming. But first, you need a bath. So, get cleaned up and into your sleep clothes. I can't have no stinky little brother snuggled up to me all night."

Kossi's nose twitched and he sniffed under his arm. Probably an action he got from me. The kid watched everything I did, even when I didn't see him doing it.

"Yeah, I'm pretty stinky."

"You are."

"M'gonna get a bath, but don't let the monster eat you when I'm gone, okay?"

"I'll try not to, Kos."

"Dashy!" He whined, wanting me to be serious.

"Fine, I promise, I wont let the monster eat me while you're in the bath."

"Okay, yay!"

"Yay!" I said back to him. He really did find the joy in the smallest of things. I'd have remember that in the middle of the night when his bony little elbows and knees were kicking me in all the wrong places.

His bath was record time. I checked after. He was clean. No trying to fake me out. I meant it when I said, no stinky little brother in my bed.

With a bounce in his step and warm in his freshly cleaned sleep clothes pulled off the drying rack, Kossi bounded into my room and jumped onto my bed.

"Dashy, hurry before the monster gets you!"

Well, at least he was having fun with it now. I played along, hurrying into the room and crawling quickly into the bed where he pulled the covers up over both of our heads. Hiding from the monster. Me and my seven-year-old brother. We were orphans. We were a little broken. A little lost. But we were together.

"Shhhh. Do you hear the monster, Dashy?" Kossi whispered to me.

"No. Do you?"

" 's no monster. I'just kiddin' that time."

He smiled his famous grin before tossing the covers back and flopping down against the pillow. Flat on his back.

"Dashy, you're the best brother. You take care of me and fight monsters too."

"I do my best, Kos. I'm not well versed in monster fighting, but for you, I'd fight the entire galaxy."

With a happy sigh, Kossi turned on his side. His damp black hair - the color that matched mine perfectly - flayed out on the pillow. My mind flashed back to similar moments in our past, when our parents were alive and we were just two contented and normal kids. How often a very young Kossi used to play 'hide from whatever creature' and tell his big brother to hurry under the covers so they couldn't get us. Or if we stayed on the bed with our feet away from the sides, and we huddled real still, there was no way the creature could guess where we were. Kid games. Brother games. Good memories. Happy memories of an easier time. How our lives had changed since then. I was twelve and working full time to keep us from being out on the streets trying to hard to keep Kossi's life as normal as possible.

That he could still play such a game with me… even if it was initiated by a holo-film he shouldn't have been watching… it had ended in a game that was always one our favorites.

I settled back onto my pillow next to my baby brother, snuggling close to him. Probably there would be no nightmares, but no chances. I'd be right here just in case.

"Dashy, can we get sweet cakes tomorrow?" Came Kossi's pillow-muffled voice.

I thought about it. As hard as I worked during the days Kossi was at school, the two days he had no classes, I was off. Made sure of that. I'd work extra if needed to make sure I got to spend those two days with my brother. Me and Kossi. No one else. And just about anything he wanted to do within my extremely limited poverty-ridden budget.

Sweet cakes sounded delicious. I had barely enough money to stretch in order to afford us that one small luxury this week. But yeah, we could do that and maybe a visit to our folks burial place as well. Not that I wanted to bring down the mood, but we were closing in our the one year anniversary of their death.

"Sweet cakes are a great idea, Kos, especially with the sticky brown sauce and drizzled with sugar. Maybe we'll visit momma and poppa too."

There was a pause, then a sniffle. Kossi missed our parents so much. It was often quick to hit him in certain moods.

"Can I put flowers there?"

"Always. You know how much momma loved flowers."

"Yeah. Purple'n red ones." Her two favorite colors.

A heard a long sigh as Kossi reached an arm around to push himself over to face me. His finger tracing my cheek and then poked into my chest right over my heart. After that, his hand lowered and he tucked his head into that same spot.

And with his big brother protecting him from imaginative monsters (and perhaps some of the non-imaginative as well), the best little brother that ever existed on any planet anywhere, fell asleep at my side, curled to my chest. Protecting me from my pressing anxieties as much as I protected him from the galaxy at large.

We made a pair. On our own, having only each other.

Fighting monsters from under the bed covers one night, and the next day, filling our bellies with sweet cakes drenched in sticky brown sauce and sprinkled with sugar.

It would be day. Our day. The type of day the Kossi enjoyed like no other. Remembering loved ones, indulging in junk food, and spending that entire time with his big brother at his side. Guiding him, protecting him.

And I for one couldn't wait to see that famous Kossi smile.

The smile that could light up a planet…

Well…

…as long as there wasn't a really big and ugly and very scary monster hiding under the bed. Of course.


END