The Unexplained
I took in a long breath of smoke from the cigarette. I'd been slowly sinking back into my awful addiction. I just couldn’t help myself.
"Those things will kill you, you know." A deep voice came from behind me in the hot, damp, darkness of the smoke smelling garage. I nearly jumped out of my seat from fright. I quickly put the cigarette out, turning my head around to see whom the voice came from. I saw a tall figure standing near the wall flicking on the light switch, illuminating the face of my brother, Ash.
He looked as worn out and beaten as an old wrecked car. His black hair messy, sticking up in all directions. Wearing his leather jacket that he never seemed to take off.
"Ash." I said both astonished and relieved.
"Scared you, did I Sammy?" Ash replied smirking.
"It's Sam, and yes. You did." I corrected, annoyed, which made him laugh a little bit.
"Well, where have you been!? Also, what happened to you!?" I asked, referring the slight amount of bruises and small cuts that were scattered upon on his face.
"What are you doing smoking?" He remarked, flopping down on the seat next to mine.
"You were supposed to be home a week ago."
"I got...held up." He told me.
"With?" I countered.
"Don't worry about it."
"You were gone a month!" I relit the cigarette.
"You need a haircut little brother."
"Don't change the subject Ash! I was worried sick!" I exclaimed.
"Now you sound like mom."
"I just wanna know what happened."
He sighed deeply, "Sammy, I just drove 500 miles here to our house in the middle of nowhere in Arizona, and parked down the road so I could sneak in here and scare you. Which was worth it by the way. Anyways, I'm tired, hungry, and I really don't want to talk about this right now."
"You come home after a week, no phone calls, no texts. Covered in cuts and bruises."
"I've been gone longer." He said flatly, standing up, walking over the fridge to get a Pepsi.
"Still." I said, extinguishing the end of my cigarette and taking another out of the pack.
"Hey, stop that!" Ash snatched the unlit cigarette out of my hand.
"I wasn't kidding when I said those things will kill you. Now give me that." He pointed at the pack that was now on the armrest of the chair.
I sighed in defeat, throwing the pack over to him.
“Fine, but can you please tell me what happened?” I pleaded.
“We'll talk tomorrow, Sammy. Get some rest.” He said tiredly, throwing the cigarettes into the bottom of the trash can and going inside.
I stayed in the garage a little while longer before I decided to follow my older brother into the house, and go to sleep.
As I started up the staircase, I felt something small, moving, and furry brush against my ankle, frightened, I tried to step over whatever it was. Thats all I remember before I blacked out.
I woke up to a bright light shining on my face, blinding me.
“Sam? Sam! Come on Sammy, you gotta wake up!” I recognized the voice as my brother’s.
“W-what? Where am I? What h-happened?” I stumbled over my words.
“You’re at the hospital, you fell down the stairs last night, blacked out. Must of tripped or something, you scared me to death.” He explained as I looked at the room, dark blue and bland.
“No, something hit my foot and I fell. I-I remember it.” Memories started to flood back to me.
“Don’t be crazy Sammy, there’s nothing in the house. I think you should rest.”
“But I know there was. It was a small, a-and furry. It was moving.” I tried to push myself up when a sharp pain shot through my arm.
“Agh!” I yelled out of pain, laying back down.
“Hey, hey, hey, take it easy, you broke your wrist when you fell.” Ash told me.
“You gotta go back to the house, you gotta check, there’s something there.” I said breathlessly.
“Okay, okay. Don’t get your panties in a twist. Stay here, I’ll be back.” With those words, he was gone, leaving me to my thoughts.
“Yeah because I’m just gonna leave with no car and no license.” I said to myself mockingly.
I sat up slowly, making sure not to lean on my the arm with my broken wrist. The blinding light became less of a bother than it was when I first woke up. A doctor with short brown hair entered the room, looking at the clipboard of papers he had in his hand.
“Samuel Blake.” He said in a deep voice.
“That’s me.” I replied, observing the doctor,
A tall, young man, late 20’s probably.
“You should be good to go in a couple of hours. Make sure your arm stays well rested until your wrist heals. Your brother brought extra clothes for you, they’re in the bag in the corner.”
The doctor left and I changed into my new clothes. It was about 2 long hours in a boring hospital before Ash came back.
When he did, he was smiling like the cheshire cat.
“What is it?” I asked him.”Did you find the thing?”
“Kinda.” He said, laughing.
We checked out of the hospital and walked over to his car, a black mustang he got from dad a while back. Ash opened the passengers seat for me as I got in. He got in the drivers seat leaning over into the back of the car.
“Dude what are you doing?” I asked him confused.
“I think I found the culprit.” He said laughing, rustling around in the back of the car.
“Close your eyes.” Ash said to me.
I did what I was told, closing my eyes until I felt something fuzzy brush against my face. I opened my eyes to see a little grey cat in my brother's arms.
“Found her in the basement all alone, gave her a little food, and a little water. Found out the neighbors cat had kittens last week, asked about this little one. Been missing since yesterday morning. She said we could keep her.” Ash didn't stop smiling the whole time.
“Might I say, all these years have made you soft Ash.” I joked.
“Shut up. You can’t deny this kitten is adorable.” He replied as the kitten began to lick his face.
With that, we drove home, the cat sleeping soundly in my lap the entire time.
