Meat Family

Chapter 8

Forever in the forest

llum estrelas Forest, a beautiful place with dark secrets

Hours passed, and the sun rose behind the trees, bringing new life to the forest. Brock spent the morning in front of his computer.

 After a while he rummaged around in the garage. The garage was the smaller building where his father had his workshop and where all the old junk was stored. The junk was kept in a separate room next to Dad's workshop. It was a small room, so it was difficult to move around among all the clutter.

"What are you doing in here?" Brock suddenly heard a voice behind him. He was so focused on finding something that he was startled and bumped his head against something hard.

"Watch where you're going," he heard his father grumble.

"I'm looking for the basketball hoop," Brock explained, rubbing his aching head. He had received the hoop as a gift from his parents for his 9th birthday because Brock had played a lot of basketball at a young age, but without a hoop, it didn't really work.

"Hmmm... it should be somewhere in the back," Michael murmured to himself, and both of them began to search. They eventually found the hoop, buried among a lot of junk.

Michael then instructed his son to fetch a ladder and mounted the hoop above the garage. It had originally been at the big house, but after Brock broke a window with the ball, his dad had taken it down.

"How do you two look?" Marie gasped in shock as she saw them, carrying a laundry basket. Brock only now noticed how dirty he was with dust, probably from all the old stuff. Marie pulled a cobweb thread from her husband's hair: "Which cave have you been in?" she chuckled.

Michael ran his hand through his hair a few times to get the rest out.

"I wanted to play basketball," Brock explained, pointing to the hoop.

"Oh, I haven't seen that old thing in ages," Marie said. "Well, have fun, and don't break any windows," she advised her son before leaving.

"And try not to hit the car," Dad added sternly before heading back to his workshop.

Brock fetched his basketball from his room and started playing alone. He used to play alone often because his siblings didn't always want to join or because Brock was just better and they found it unfair. But at the Academy, he usually played in a team or in pairs. It now felt boring to play alone. Who would stop him from making a shot or from missing? If Jeremy were here, he would have asked him, but he's still at school. Jeremy was the only one without a curse, which was very rare.

Brock wondered if his parents would let him return to school. They now knew he had a curse, and after what had happened... he doubted it.

He was pulled from his thoughts when someone called his name: Sera, one of the twins. She had her red hair tied in a braid and wore a black top with long blue pants that had holes and a bluish jacket tied around her waist. Both twins were 15, and if Sera wore her hair a little differently, she would look just like Sally.

"Do you want to go for a walk with me? Sally doesn't want to because it's too cold," his sister asked in a whisper. Sera had the worst curse in the family; she was never allowed to speak loudly or even beyond a whisper.

Her normal voice could cause ear pain, and her shouting could burst eardrums. The worst time was when she was a baby; her parents really didn't get any sleep as they tried to keep Sera as quiet as possible.

He smiled at his little sister warmly. "Sure, where do you want to go?"

"To the cliffs."

A shiver ran down Brock's spine, but he nodded as if nothing had happened.

The cliffs were located to the west of Brock's home. It was a beautiful place with large cliffs overlooking a big lake below. In the summer, the younger kids from the village or Brock's family would jump from the cliffs into the lake and swim. With winter approaching, no one would be there; it was far too cold.

They walked along the path to the lake. There was silence between them, and Sera wasn't a talkative person, making it difficult to start a conversation with her.

"So, what have you been doing while I was away?"

Sera glanced briefly at Brock as if she were thinking. "Not much. We did the same things we did before you left. It was pretty boring with just the two of us because Sabine can't do much."

"And how's your game going?" Brock asked with a grin.

"It's not a game," Sera complained, giving him a sour look. The twins had been trying for a while to figure out what their dad's curse was. Nobody knew, Mom did, but she didn't say a word about it. Brock also felt that Sabine would know, but she acted like she had no idea.

"We're getting close... or at least Sally thinks so."

"Do you know why there's always a light on in the bedroom at night?"

"Yeah, we sneaked in once, but didn't find anything," she explained, disappointed. "He never leaves the house when it gets dark; maybe he's afraid of the dark?"

"I don't think that's the reason. Our curses aren't so harmless." His sister nodded in understanding and continued to ponder.

They arrived at the lake, and nothing had changed; it looked just as Brock remembered. The greenish water was still and calm, while the towering cliffs loomed above. To a tourist, these cliffs would be gigantic and fascinating, but for Brock, they were nothing new. He sat down on a rock while Sera took off her sneakers and socks and waded into the water.

Brock enjoyed the cool autumn breeze but then looked back at his younger sister. "Don't stay in too long, or you might catch a cold."

He could hear a soft giggle from her. "You already sound like Mom."

Her brother blushed with embarrassment and looked away. Was he really starting to sound like his mom? Marie was a very concerned woman who always warned her children that things were too dangerous or that they should be careful, but with so many kids, it was understandable.

After Sera got out of the water, she sat down next to Brock. "So, what's school like?" she asked, sounding a bit nervous. Her green eyes looked up at him expectantly.

The twins had never been to school or really been outside the forest; it was too dangerous. He understood why his parents were so cautious with Sera, given her curse and the potential for things to go wrong. But with Sally, it wasn't as severe. In photos or reflections where her face should be, there was only a black void where her pretty face should be.

That's why there were no photos of Sally in the hallway. Momma had hung up pictures of her, but Sally herself had taken them down.

Brock understood her pain. He would also prefer to see his true face rather than just a black nothing. He would never know what he really looked like.

Brock thought for a moment before responding, "It's really big, bigger than our house, with lots of classrooms. When classes are in session, everyone is in their classrooms, and the hallways are completely quiet. But when it's break time—whoa! You can hear laughter and talking all through the hallways. There are a lot of students at my school, and they're all different, with different backgrounds and stories to tell. Not everyone is nice, but you don't have to worry about them." He continued to talk about the clubs you could join, the teachers, the boring classes, and the principal. He exaggerated a bit, but it made him happy to see Sera's eyes sparkling as she absorbed every word.

"I wish I could go there," Sera dreamt.

Brock chuckled. "I'm sure you will get to go someday."

But her smile faded, and she looked down sadly. "No, you can forget about that. My curse is too dangerous for others, and one mistake could get me into trouble." She sighed sadly. "I often wish we could break the curse."

It broke Brock's heart to see his sister so downcast. He had made a mistake too, but he had, with a lot of luck, gotten away with it. There had to be a way to end the curse. Curses couldn't last forever, and there was always a way to lift them; he had seen that in movies. Surely it would work in the real world as well.

His goal was to break the curse so his siblings could lead normal lives outside of this forest.