Hide and Seek

The silence of the night was disturbed by the loud noise of children playing, coming from the house at the corner of the street. It was already 8 in the evening and probably most of the neighbors are asleep, but for Liza and Erick who were both wide awake and ebullient, it was just the perfect time to play their favorite game.

While wearing her pink pajamas, Liza quickly run along the red carpeted floor making weak sounds of feet stamps. Along with the blurriness of her sight because of running, she had a glimpse on the paintings perched on the wall and saw her Family’s portrait. She smiled unconsciously.

Liza always thinks that she has a perfect family. She always brags to her classmates how happy and fortunate her family is. They love each other so much like what other family does. Liza is closer to her father than to her mother. She likes how he treats her and how gentle he plays with her. That thought made Liza giggled. She’s a cheerful girl and a loving sister to her brother. Though they’re not blood related, they love each other as true siblings.

Droplets of sweat fell on the floor as Liza swiftly got inside the kitchen and leaned her back on the wall. While panting heavily she carelessly wiped her forehead with the back of her palm dragging some of her short blonde hair to the side of her head. She is euphoric, too overjoyed to be taken away by exhaustion.

She quickly fixed herself and scanned the whole room. It was dimmed; the faint light coming from the window is the source of it. She twitched when she heard the sharp small voice of her brother. He was shouting.

“Liz! I’m going to find you!”

She rapidly hid behind the counter as the weak feet stamps became louder and louder. Her chest is pounding fast as she sat down on the cold floor and listened to her surroundings. She can only hear the sound of her heartbeat and breathing, beside those nothing more.

On the other hand, outside their house, the street of Bernville remained with its frigidness and hesitant feeling brought by the ambiance of night. The sky was coated with glistening bright stars. Street lights, including the flickering ones, lit up the road and houses. There were cats peacefully sleeping beside garbage cans, upside the cars, on the pavements and few on the road, but for some unknown reason, there were cats running away from one house.

Going back to Liza who is nervously hiding still behind the large counter, stand up after convincing herself that her brother really left. She silently stepped her foot and strode to the door. Slowly, she peek her head outside the room to see if her brother wasn’t there. She scanned both left and right of the hallway and she didn’t found any sign of him. She closed her eyes and quickly leaned against the wall then let out a deep sigh. She opened her eyes but almost tremble in fear when she saw her brother standing in front of her wearing a wide cheeky smile. She screamed.

“Got ya!” he said, with a familiar tone.

“Erick! You scared me!” Liza said loudly, seems like shouting. She isn’t angry though.

“Sorry” Erick stooped his head. His face became sad and starting to be teary-eyed. Erick is very delicate toward his feelings, sensitive let’s say, but he is just not used to being shouted at.

Seeing his brother’s reaction made her alarmed and subsided her feelings. She held his shoulders and bent down on his level. She twitched when she felt that something seems wrong, but she ignored that thought on her mind and said,

“No, don’t cry. I’m not angry at you. I’m just shocked because I thought you were a ghost or something.” Hearing that from her sister made his face lightened a bit. For a second, there was like a connection between them that make them chuckled that quickly transformed into laughter. Cherishing their joyous moment and showing how they really love each other’s company became disrupted by a loud noise followed by a loud thud coming from the living room of the house.

Their faces became troubled, especially Erick’s, but it quickly changed when Liza spoke.

“Maybe it’s mom and dad.” then she assuredly smiled to his worried brother. While nodding slowly, he grip on the sleeves of her pajama top and then they started to head towards the living room.

For some unknown reason, Liza’s been bothered by something and she doesn’t know why, so, she just ignored the feeling.

The moment they got in the living room is the moment when Liza’s body stiffened and shuddered. The door of the room was widely opened, the furniture scattered everywhere making it hard to get outside the house, and the reddish fluid on the floor that catches her attention the most is what she found in the living room. While gaping her mouth because of what’s in front of her, she suddenly remembered her brother beside her. She turned her head where his brother is but is shocked when she saw no one beside her and only the red blood stain on her cloth shaped like a hand gripped on it.

Her knees became frail, almost like she will fall on the floor. She was shaking and nearly crying. She turned her head back in the living room but almost faint when she saw his brother’s face inches away from her face. Blood flowing on his face from his head, skin paled as white, black circles around his eyes and a slit on his head like there was a knife stabbed in it.

“Er-r..r” She stammered. Her voice was very low and her strength became frail like it was suddenly drained. This was her first time being scared like this. For 6 years old to handle such a tragic scene is very traumatic. She stepped backwards until she bumped on something hard. It was just the wall.

The lifeless body of her brother in front of her slowly turned around and headed towards the open door where the cold freezing air howled inside the room. His back was drowned in blood that it was continuously dripping on the floor. There were 3 stabs in his back and one on his head. He was massacred, no doubt. But, who would’ve done this to him? Why would someone kill him violently? Is it a thief that did this to him or a butcher? Well, based on the ghost of his brother she just saw, there were only 4 stabs on him and his stomach is not wrecked nor any part of his body, so it was a thief. Wait, does it mean that his lifeless body who’d been mercilessly massacred is still near this house? The ghost! It headed outside the house. Maybe he’ll show me where his body is. Liza thought.

She reached the door while avoiding all the scattered furniture and the droplets of blood on the floor. She was sweating cold and quivering in fear. She finally got outside the house but she saw nothing, neither ghost nor a body of a dead boy.

“Go behind that bush.” Someone whispered in her ear that sent goose bumps all over her body. It was the creepiest voice she ever heard. She was shaking but she still looked on the only one bush she knew that is near the house. She nervously walked towards the bush while her chest is pounding fast. The hair-raising voice was still echoing in her head. She reached the bush on the side of the house and in a single look; she saw his brother’s bloody lifeless body on the cold sodden ground. Her thin body sways along with the wind but she kept her gaze to his beloved brother on the ground. Tears fell on her paled face as she had the one last look on his brother and fell on the ground and lost her consciousness.