The Other Brother

They say everyone who looks hard enough into their family history will find a secret sooner or later…yet sometimes our brains can trick us into thinking someone was there who never truly was...

Christian and his brothers lived alone in what appeared to be a studio apartment resting above the remnants of an old grocery store that resided on the first floor. There was an old apartment that had seemingly been renovated through a set of stairs that lay just after the entrance to the main door of the store. As you walk up the stairs, there's a feeling of dread and distrust. Here, the boys had been locked away to live their lives, never knowing what day it was....only having...each other.

The room was small and decent. It had all the essentials the boys needed… a bathroom, a bedroom, and a small kitchenette with all the food they would require. It's always just been the three of them: Chris and his little brothers, Anthony and…who was the other brother again?

Whenever he tries to think of the reason as to why they are in this room... he forgets...he gets pulled deeper into the amnesia.

"Who are my brothers? Why are we here?" he questions.

As the brothers wake up one morning in their usual routine, they have this sudden, sinking feeling that something is...missing. They continue through breakfast with this feeling heavily burdening their minds. They remain quiet amongst each other as their minds are in chaos searching for the reason when, suddenly, they hear the water running. Chris stands up and moves towards the bathroom to peek inside only to see a man…that looks almost as he does in both face and appearance. The man is washing his face in the bathtub when he gets the sudden sensation that someone is watching him. He lowers his hands slowly from his face and turns toward his spectator.

The man looks up to see Chris. He quickly rejoices, jumping up to hug his brother whom he had thought had completely forgotten him.

"But how....could I?" whispered Christian, astonished.

All of his memories come rushing back as this mysteriously forgotten brother embraces him.

“But how could I forget you… how could I possibly forget YOU, Connor? What’s happening?” Connor stares at his brother and tells him that they had been placed there by someone else. There had been some sort of "barrier" preventing the other brothers from remembering or even seeing their fourth sibling. He desperately clings to sanity, as even with him being found, he'd be instantly lost. He has been watching his brothers Christopher and Anthony forget his existence over and over because whenever they would stray their gaze from him, they’d almost instantly forget who he was. So he became a ghost...a remnant of something that once existed...just like the shop downstairs.

A scream from the bedroom emerges and Chris remembers that Anthony is in the other room. He grabs his brother Connor by the arm and they quickly scramble into the next room, only to find another man's body laying next to Anthony.

"He appeared and grabbed me," yells Anthony nervously. Christian stares at the man ferociously.

He recognizes him as the real Connor and says…“But how can this be? Then… who is…” as soon as he tries to turn, a blade emerges through Christian’s chest, impaling him. The boys scream and stare in terror to find that the "Other Connor" has stabbed Christian.

"One cannot be forgiven for the sins of forgetting, yet a bigger sin is forgetting someone who was dead to begin with," a voice whispers in an evil tone.

“And now, I’ll have all your souls…” smiled the demon as he ripped off his false Connor face.