The hallways are dim as it approaches the end of the day. Everyone is already home except for one last person. Mother is brushing Rasmus' hair. (softly, as she brushes)
Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to figure out what you want to be when you grow up. You're still just a kid.
RASMUS
(restless, shifting in his seat)
Yeah, but soon I'll be all grown up!
Their chatter continues but soon stops as the front door opens. Andreas, Rasmus' older brother, walks in.
His brother has been coming home later and later, Rasmus should pay it no mind as his older brother is an adult now, and he would be graduating soon. Of course he should be busy..
“You keep coming home way too late!” Rasmus remarks, moving away from his mother stick his tongue out at Andreas
“Pretty soon you’re going to miss dinner altogether!”
Andreas laughs in off-putting manner, “Haha., yeah sorry, I’ve just been busy with school”
Their parents exchange a worried look across the room. Something has been off lately, but they try not to be too concerned.
As the next day approaches Rasmus is walking home from school, as he gets home he sees his brother.
“What are you doing?” Rasmus asked nervously
'It looks like there's something burried the dirt...' Rasmus thought to himself.
As Andreas gets up from the displaced dirt he almost seems robotic in nature before responding to his brother, “No need to worry about it, man” He smiled, but it didn’t feel real he replied with what looked from the corner of his eye like a stretching of the skin around his mouth.
He got up and just simply passed him as if nothing happened,
Rasmus looked back at the displaced dirt
‘What is going on?’
He thought to himself
But he didn’t want to think about it too deeply, surely things will be ok
As the days passes the
Behaviour doesn’t stop. He keeps coming home later and later,
Sometimes not even coming home at all
He’s starting to miss his brother a lot more than he realized.
There’s something wrong.
He can feel it.
He can hear it with how he hears their parents not so subtly argue about Andreas downstairs.
Rasmus lies in bed, unable to sleep. He hears his parents arguing downstairs.
Mother is "Well, we can’t just do nothing about it! It’s concerning! I’m scared"
As father retorts"Well, what can we do? It’s not like he’s listening to us. That boy just won't listen"
Rasmus wants to sleep he really does, but he doesn’t understand what is happening.
Everything felt fine just a couple months ago,
Rasmus covers his ears, wanting everything to be okay again.
Everything felt fine just a couple months ago,
He just wants to go to sleep
He just wants their family to be ok again,
.
The next day they have dinner alone just his mother, his father and Rasmus, as Andreas was nowhere in sight he hadn;t come last night either, maybe that was for the better as the constant arguing from their parents was sure to cause another conflict.
It was silent , violently uncomfortable, his parents just exchanged glances the entire time, he didn’t like it .
He excused himself from dinner as he got ready for bed, he brushed his teeth, reflecting, unsure of what was going to happen in the future.
It's 8pm now, he should go to bed
As the clock strikes nine, Rasmus feels a wave of unease wash over him. Rubbing his eyes, he senses that something is wrong as he looks out bthe window.
Nobody is supposed to be out right now.
It’s late
He steps downstairs, feeling uneasy, nobody should be out right now
He leaves the house, across the street, there is nothing to hear right now except for the wind rustling in the leaves
There’s screaming, followed by gunshots
its too loud, it sounds too familiar
Running through the thick forest, he knows he shouldnt be going towards it
Rasmus sees his brother standing with a gun in hand.
Their parents' lifeless bodies lie on the ground. Rasmus falls back, shocked and unable to scream.
'This can’t be happening.'
Andreas almost pleading says "Don't go anywhere. Please, stay"
Rasmus wasn’t even able to move at all he just stayed in shock
“I promise after this I’ll get you anything you want, just stay here,”
Rasmus remains frozen in shock. Andreas picks up a shovel and drags the bodies away.
The sound of a hatchet hitting something and a shovel hitting dirt fills the air. Andreas returns, blood on his clothes, and helps Rasmus up.
They walk home in silence,hand on his shoulder,it didn't feel tense.
It's been a couple of years.
The room and house are now dirtied and cluttered. Without conscious thought, It’s, stained with squalor, a testament to neglect. No one ever cleaned the house, least of all hsi brother. A part of him still feels scared, but he can't muster the will to do anything about it.
Over the years, his relationship with Andreas has been strange. Andreas still acts as if he cares, but there's an underlying tone that frightens Rasmus, leaving him on edge. He has lost his appetite. He misses his parents, but this is his reality now.
It's familiar to him.
This is home.