January 2024 Student Creation

My Brother and I

By: Ikran Abdi

My brother and I, we go on adventures. He takes me wherever I want and we always have the most fun. Just the two of us. If I had to choose my favorite place we’ve been, I think I’d have to pick Hogwarts or maybe Wonderland, I can’t decide. But any place where I'm with my brother is my favorite. He said that this would be just another adventure, but it’s been kind of strange so far.

My brother's grip on my arm tightens and his nails pierce my skin, causing it to go red. We walk along the train tracks in silence. This adventure has been quite different from our others. My brother and I would usually go with just the two of us, but this time the whole village came. I don’t know where they went. I haven’t seen mom since we arrived. 

My brother pulls my arm forward aggressively causing me to trip falling to the ground, the dry fall leaves crunching under my feet. But my brother doesn't check on me, he just pulls me back up without even giving me a glance. His eyes are glued to the path ahead. We’ve been walking for quite some time now, not a single word has been said. 

My brother isn’t usually the quiet type, he’s acting pretty odd. What if this is like the time when we were being chased by the flying monkeys in the land of Oz He was acting kind of like this back then, but not as mean. He’s usually a nice guy, trust me. My brother has a nice warm smile, bright green eyes, and my most favorite part of his face is his freckles, they spread all over his cheeks, nose, and bit on his forehead. He told me that they were stars on his face, a gift from the moon. I wish I had a gift. 

My brother suddenly took his eyes off the path ahead and stared into the forest on the left of us intensely, searching for something. I did the same. What was there? The wind blew roughly, his locks dancing with the wind. His hair has grown quite a bit since last I remembered. I touch my own hair with my one free hand, I wonder if mine did as well? All of a sudden he dashes into a sprint, dragging me along behind him. We're running again. I stumble trying to keep up with him, confused about the whole situation. His nails dig deeper into my skin and I wince from the pain.  

My brother would always make sure he was neatly groomed and cleaned. Especially his nails. He would never let it grow past a certain length. They were always nicely shaped. He would sit with sand paper every Friday and file them for an hour until he was satisfied. He would also make sure I was clean and neat as well, something about being poor but looking like a hundred bucks. I don’t really know what that means though, but his nails have gotten pretty long. They are deep into my skin as he drags me behind him, continuing to sprint.

My brother and I ran fast. I still had no idea what from, but it seemed to be important, so I tried my best to keep up. My brother was never really the athletic type, kind of lazy if I'm being honest. All we’ve been doing is running and walking, where did he get all the energy for this? I look up, hoping to see his face, but all I got was the back of his head. Pretty tidy, despite the fact that he had fallen asleep on the ground earlier, overtop of all the dirt and stones. Maybe his rest gave him this strength. Yeah, that must be it. 

I start to hear a faint chugging noise coming from afar. Is that our ride? Are we leaving already? We can’t leave mom and the others here by themselves. I remembered they were sleeping on the ground as well. What if they sleep in? They must have all been tired from the walk here, my brother carried me the whole way so I didn’t need the rest. It was kind of strange though, they were all sleeping very weirdly. The twins were over top of each other. Did they fall asleep while fighting again? My aunt wasn’t snoring as loudly as she usually did, she was quiet. Everyone was. The chugging noise got louder as we continued to run. As the train got closer my memories started to recollect in my head, everything came together slowly, piece by piece. 

My brother tugged on my arm and pointed up ahead pulling me out of my thoughts. It was the train station. It was still far away but we could see it. I suddenly heard some rustling sounds coming from the forest next to us, and so did my brother as he quickly turned his head to the sound. We stopped running and he finally turned around to meet me face to face, his hands resting on my shoulders harshly to meet me at my eye level. I look at him and inspect his face as he stares back at me. 

My brother's stars, his gift from the moon they were missing. His eyes were brown and his kind warm smile was nowhere to be seen. This isn’t my brother. “Go make it to the train station!” the mystery guy yells at me “I’ll hold them off! “GO NOW!”

I stare at him in shock and disbelief “Brother…”

He grabs my arm for the last time and pushes me ahead of him “GO!” 

Without thinking I start to run once more, my feet moving on their own as the memories flood my head. Tears roll down my cheeks as everything hits me. My brother wasn’t asleep, he was killed right in front of me. I remember now. My legs were numb, and my feet were stinging in pain but I didn’t care. 

My brother and I started many adventures together but now it’s up to me to end our final one.