It was a chill Autumn afternoon, my little brother Anthony and I were playing hide and
seek in the backyard of our grandma’s old Victorian mansion. We were always told not to go beyond the dark woods without an adult because it was dangerous, but we went anyway. It was the perfect spot to play hide and seek; there were plenty of nooks and small places we could hide in, with plenty of leaves and trees we could use to cover ourselves. It was my turn to seek, as always; the chill in the air and the brown leaves showed how fall was coming to an end as Christmas was over a month away, though it still wasn’t cold enough to freeze the water yet. Soon enough as time went on I got bored of the game and didn’t bother seeking my brother out once it was my turn again. After a while I went to go find him so we could watch our Saturday night cartoons, but as I looked I saw nothing so, I searched and searched, but couldn’t find him. Until I went to look down the old well in the middle of the forest, and when I looked inside, I was horrified. Sitting at the bottom of the well was my little brother no older than six, dead, his neck visibly snapped in two, his face so pale it looked almost like a ghost or a zombie. I was scared! I didn’t know what to do! So I gathered as many sticks, leaves, and stones I could find and tossed them down the well to cover his body. Now I know what you might be saying, “Why would you do that!?” The truth is I don’t know… Maybe I was scared of getting in trouble; I don’t really know or care, as a matter of fact all I know is that when nightfall comes I see him, or what’s left of him. I hear slushing thuds and the dragging of feet when I go to sleep, or the haggard breathing of something long since dead, and not to mention the cracking bones and the sounds of ground up flesh moving about my room as I cling to my sheets. It’s been 20 years since he “went missing”, everybody assumed he was kidnapped, but I know the truth, and he won’t let me forget it…
Gage Jeremy Gregory, New Ipswich
Grade 10