Richard’s legs had started to ache as he walked farther into the forest. He wanted to stop and take a break but fear pushed him beyond his limits.

“I can’t stop now. I must not stop. Every time I take a step forward she takes two…well that’s if she’s still alive…She is…I can feel it and if she is, everyone living here is dead.” He muttered while he took in long breaths and sighed with the hasty minutes that went by.

Todd stared at his older brother.

Richard’s back was soaked by sweat and his pace grew shorter and slower.

He sighed every ten minutes and held unto trees while he walked.

It was so obvious he was worn out.

Why didn’t he take a break?

Why did he choose to roam the forest in the first place?

Todd did not like being eaten up by thoughts and unanswered questions. Unlike his nephew George, Todd hated mysteries and desired secrets exposed like the gold of the sun on a bright day.

Also, he had to stall his brother for as long as he could for George and Mary’s sake. However by the loud stomps in front of him, it seemed Richard was not going to stop for any reason. Still, Todd had to try.

“Hey bro, I have a question.” Todd told his brother.

“Sure. Shoot but I’m not going to stop. My ears work fine while I walk. So talk but make it quick. I don’t want to get distracted.” Richard said as he walked on without turning back.

“Why?” Todd asked.

“Why? What do you mean ‘why’?” Confused Richard asked. Still focused on the shrub-padded path ahead of him.

“I mean…What I mean is…”

“Spit it out lad!”

“Why are we walking into the forest, when it’s just a few hours from dusk? Why are you so desperate to find the person behind the bang we heard earlier? Why are you so sure it was a person? It could be an animal or a fallen tree? What did you want from that shed? How do you know about the it?”

Richard paused. Finally.

He turned to his brother and gazed at his eyes as though in search of something within the green pool in them.

“Todd I can’t give you all the answers you seek but some day you’ll understand. I promise.” Richard said.

“Cut the crap big bro! This isn’t like the time I asked you about sex when I was ten! I’m a grown man and this is worse than sex matters. I’m not stupid and I sense something similar to a life and death situation. I’m your brother! I’m the kid you took care of after dad left. The kid people called your first son…that’s me big bro…That’s me…So trust me when I say I’ll support you in whatever it is you’re doing, because you’re not the kind of guy who does things without a reason…but I’ve got to know what it is you’re doing…I mean…muttering weird stuff, keeping the family distant…the secret calls…a note in mandarin…arranged plans in preparation for your death…Come on, bro, talk to me…please…what are you up to?”

Richard took in a deep breath and looked at the sky as though the answers swam within the lazy white clouds above.

“Todd, remember when you were sixteen and you thought you’d gotten a girl pregnant? Remember how lost you felt and how your brain was crowded with terrible plans for the girl until she told you it wasn’t your kid?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“That’s how I felt three years ago. I felt that same way when I walked into the wooden mansion for the first time. Three years ago. I felt lost, troubled. I couldn’t talk to anyone. Not you, not Alice, no one. I had made a horrible mistake and here’s the difference between the mistake you thought you made at sixteen and mine…Mine was real…It wasn’t an error or a growing rumour. It really happened. The mistake had been done and there was no going back.”

Richard paused and leaned against a tree bark. Then he continued.

“Instead of being drowned in regret, I decided to shut that mistake up for life. A few months ago I received a strange but familiar letter at my office. It seemed the mistake I thought dead had resurrected.” Richard chuckled.

“I don’t get it big bro…did you get someone pregnant and kill them…did you…”

“Todd, whatever this is, I do have a reason and for now, I’d rather keep these things hidden from my family, for their sakes. Trust me, it is better this way. Just do what I tell you and we’ll be fine. We’ll live.”

“But…”

“Todd! If I say nothing, I intend to keep my lips shut! I’ve been a step away from death and I can tell you it’s not a good thing. I’ve got to strangle death before it strangles me. I’ve got to confirm if she’s alive! I’ve got to get that book damn it! I swear to you, I’d kill anyone who’d get in my way right now, be they my flesh and blood!” Richard yelled.

His hands clenched Todd’s shoulders. Veins in lines popped on the surface of his arms.

Todd took a good look at his brother.

George was right. He was not the man they once knew.

He had changed. He was dangerous. He was crazy.

Richard’s eyes shone a brighter blue and his cornea spoke red in fury and desperation.

The force of Richard’s hands on Todd’s shoulders sent a sharp pain through every nerve on his hands. Todd’s neck began to hurt.

Fear trickled in cold waves down Todd’s spine.

If Richard wanted to kill him, he could and he would.

Richard was worse than Alice’s episodes and Mary’s glitches. Richard was a masked monster but his mask had begun to fall apart.

Todd wanted to ask about the girl his brother spoke of and the book, but after a minute-long epiphany he decided to remain silent and keep Mary safe in shadows his brother could not see.

Richard came to his senses and took his hands off Todd’s shoulder.

As though he had played with dirt, he brushed his hands against his shirt.

“I…what…I’m sorry Todd…I lost it there…I guess Alice ain’t the only mad one in the family huh?” Richard laughed.

Todd forced a laugh but his throat was too hurt to continue the lie.

“I’m sorry little brother. I honestly want to protect my family and I promise to tell you everything when the time is right. That time isn’t now. Please understand and trust me like you always have since you were a kid.”

“Like hell, I’ll trust you!” Todd thought.

“Sure.” He said out loud.

“So…we cool?” Richard asked, while he stretched a hand to his little brother.

“Yeah, we’re cool big bro. We’re cool.” Todd said while he shook his brother’s hand.

Richard smiled and while he got ready to continue his walk, he noticed something.

He stood straight and saw an oak tree about sixteen steps away.

There was something wrong with the oak tree.

There was a deep puncture on the bark of the tree. It would have been classified as a scratch but it completely ruined the healthy tree’s bark.

“It seems someone has no respect for nature. Come on Todd.” Richard beckoned at his brother as he began to walk towards the young oak.

After seventeen hasty steps, Richard brushed his fingers against the blemish on the oak’s bark.

“What do you see?” Richard asked Todd.

“A force drove a part of the tree in or it got poked by a brutal force. Looks like something a bullet would do…you don’t think…”

“That’s right Todd. We’re at the source of the loud bang and the bastard won’t be far from here.”

“Why are you so sure it was a gun?”

“Well Todd, I wasn’t a hundred per cent sure but now I am!” Richard said happily. A wide grin lifted the sides of his moustache.

He found the tail of a bullet stuck in the middle of the man-made art on the oak’s bark.

But something was strange. Very strange.

Todd was about to reach out for the bullet when Richard stopped him.

“What?”

“Do you remember what I taught you as a kid, Todd? What did I teach you about making decent observations?”

“Patience is needed to make a decent observation. Never let your intuition consume you and while you keep your eyes fixated on the object of concern, let your mind undo the web of confusion.” Todd said, he rolled his eyes.

“Stop rolling your eyes like a stubborn teenage girl having a rebellious fight and look!” Richard scolded his brother as a teacher would.

“What the fuck?! Is that? That’s…What…” Todd stammered after his eyes had met with the horror on the tree’s bark.

“It is as you see Todd.” Richard told his brother.

“I was right! That bitch is alive!” Richard’s thoughts screamed.