The Legend Farm

The thing that lurks

Unable to speak, I just watched for Berk's slow movements while he takes slow and cautious steps down the stairs, meeting up with Sawyer and I.
"Don't you dare think about stepping a foot outside." He warned me, but he wasn't angry with me. More so, he was concerned about my actions.
"You're gonna kill me?" I asked. Sawyer and Berk both looked to me with eyes widened, shocked to have even heard the question come from me.
"I'd never kill another human being, why would you think that?" He asks, offended. I nodded to his gun and he rolled his eyes.
"This ain't for you." He informs me. A weight was lifted off my chest, just for a new weight to be added on.
Sawyer looks to me, "It's for the thing that lurks around here."
"That's right. Now, just make sure all locks on all entrances are locked and don't step outside tonight. Or look outside for that matter." Berk ordered me and the rest of his family. Polly comes shuffling out from her bedroom while rubbing her eyes.
"What's going on?" She mumbled in her sleepy voice. Celeste moves Polly alongside with her back to her bedroom.
"Nothing, it's okay. Just head back to sleep, okay?" Celeste spoke sweetly to her before heading back to her own bedroom, awaiting for Berk to meet up with her again. The ones left in the hallway were George, Sawyer and I now.
"I'll make sure the upstairs windows are locked. Sawyer and you can get the main floor windows. Be careful." George nods to me, disappearing down the hall. Sawyer begins walking around the home, locking all windows while I followed him from behind like a scared child.
"Did you know about this?" I questioned him while he continued walking from window to window.
"We should focus on locking this place up." He dismisses my question.
"You're ignoring me." I accused him. Fed up with the one sided conversation, I pulled him by his shoulder, spinning him around to face me. His eyes widened momentarily before furrowing his eyebrows down at me.
"Yes, I did know. My family and I have known of this thing since I was just thirteen years old." He admitted.
"And you didn't think about telling me about this?" In the corner of my eye, I spotted Mike's figure standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at Sawyer and I.
"Oh, he thought about it." Mike interrupted. We looked up at Mike who wore his usual mischievous grin.
He begins walking down the stairs, "He was using you."
"What?" I glanced to Sawyer who kept his death staring eyes on his brother the whole time.
"It's tough for us to keep up with the things around here, so once he saw you, it was perfect. He was using you and— you know, I'm curious. I wondered if he was even thinking about using you as bait." Mike admitted, stepping down in front of us.
"You were using me?" I asked Sawyer who ignored my furious glare.
"I needed help because I'm the only one who does anything around here." He directed his eyes to Mike, whose grin had disappeared at that statement.
"You're the one who always messes things up and never follows the rules." Mike spat back at Sawyer before abruptly shoving him. However, Sawyer stuck to his feet considering he was much taller than Mike.
I step in between the brothers, "Look, we don't have to fight. Just go to your room."
Mike scowled at me, "Don't talk to me like I'm a child. You know what, we should use you as bait." He says before grabbing my wrist and dragging me to the front door, but fortunately, Sawyer stopped him by pulling Mike by the collar, dropping my wrist and going face to face with Sawyer.
"Stop acting like a child and maybe we'll stop treating you like one." Sawyer said through gritted teeth. Mike's face tightened, wanting to argue back, but didn't. Mike glared me down before going upstairs to his bedroom.
"I'm going to bed and come morning, I'm leaving." I stated and without another word being spoken, I resorted to the bedroom.

As I awaken from a deep sleep, I spot a note on the nightstand.
"We can fix this. I'll tell you everything, just meet me in the kitchen when you wake up. I'll cook breakfast." I rolled my eyes at his weak attempt of trying to keep me here. I put on a pair of denim shorts, a plaid shirt and my boots before putting my backpack on. As I quietly make my way down the stairs, I smell pancakes and syrup in the air. He really did cook breakfast. No, I'm not staying here anymore. I can't. I take light steps towards the front door and as my hand goes to reach for the door, I'm stopped in my tracks by Sawyer's deepened morning voice.
"Going somewhere?" He asked as he took a long sip out of a mug in the kitchen.
"I told you last night." I remind him before opening the screen door.
He rises to his feet quickly, "Wait!" I turned around to see him standing by the table.
"At least eat something first?" He says, waving his hand to the pancakes that sat on a plate in the middle of the table. I sighed heavily, before making my way over to him and the food.

"The blood you saw on me that morning, it wasn't coming from me." He admitted to me as we began eating on the food.
"What do you mean?" I asked, my voice muffled by the pancakes in my mouth.
"We lost another cow." He replied.
"Was it an old cow?" I inquired him after swallowing hard.
"It was killed. That's why I was trying to hide it from you, I didn't want it to scare you." He informed me.