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Chapter 1

"Hey! Stingray!"

I grin at my older brother. He smiles back and waves me over. I do and we suit up. "3, 2, 1!" We tip backwards, into the sea. 

This is a dream. I'm scuba diving off the coast of Ireland with my brother, Mackenzie.

I take out my camera and snap pictures of the sea life. SNAP. A Grey Seal. SNAP. A Leatherback Turtle. SNAP. A stingray. SNAP. My brother and a coral reef. I wave at him and we surface.

This was a year ago. Before my brother was taken from me.

We dive until the air runs out. Then we sit and watch the sunset from the boat. "Beautiful, ain't it, Stingray."

I miss him so much it hurts.

I sigh and nod. "Definitely." I look back at the sun as it collides with the sea. 

"Ray."

"Yeah?" I continue to watch the sunset.

The nightmare always ends like this.

"Raeanne?" His voice sounds choked. I look over and shriek. Mac is clutching his chest, dark red liquid oozing between his fingers. I look up from his chest and almost choke myself. His teeth are stained a light red and blood is dripping from his mouth. So much that he is choking. A line is coming from his nose, there's a wound on his forehead too. His left ear is totally gone and that side of his face is completely covered in burns, blisters, and blood.

I see it every night.

"Ray, ray, ray, ray, ray. My stingray where are you?" He chants this over and over, his blue-green eyes clouded and darting around. I whisper, yell, scream, talk, everything and anything I can think of.

God never hears me.

Neither does Mac.

I miss him.

Where did they take him?

Where did my big brother go?

I miss him.

Mac, if you're listening, please, come back to me. 

Your little sister, your little stingray misses you.

"Raeanne?! Where are you?! Where did my baby sister go?!" My brother screams for five minutes straight. Then whimpers for three. For two he's silent and I'm afraid he's dead. For three more minutes he whispers my name. Like it's a chant. Sometimes he throws our parents names in the mix. A few times our cat, Fluffy, who died two years before Mac went missing. But mostly he chants my name. I weep and chant along with him. Except I say his name. He never hears me. The last minutes of his life he breathes and searches for my face. Then he does and his face lights up like Christmas morning. "I found you."

I nod. "You found me." Then his eyes cloud and he falls over the side. I scream and try to follow him, but am restrained by an invisible force. I scream until my voice is hoarse. Then I take a deep breath and continue to scream.

This is where the nightmare ends. My parents died when I was eleven and Mac was fifteen. He was always there for the nightmares. My brother always protected me.

Now he's gone. No one to protect me. Not even a cat.

He's gone because they took him. I don't know who they are, but who cares? I know they took him. And they aren't going to give him back.

*******

I scream and sit up. The alarm hasn't even rung yet. I go to the bathroom and wash my face. That was my night. Believe it or not, my day is worse. I live in Minnesota, which sucks because it's usually cold and I don't always have money for heating.

But stick with me. In a few chapters, maybe less, things should get pretty interesting.