Sleepwalkers

I hesitate,

My arm extended out into the darkness of the hallway, inches away from his skin.

Something deep within my subconscience is telling me to retract my arm and run back to bed but I can't, I keep watching him. This is the third night that my brother has been sleepwalking, but this is the first night that I decided to get out of my bed and attempt to wake him. Before I have the chance to make up my mind, he disappears into the darkness towards the direction of the kitchen. I follow him.



I remember my grandmother telling me how I should never wake a person who is sleepwalking. I never asked her what this would do but now I'm wishing that I would've. Terrible thoughts begin to form in my mind about what the consequences might be but they are interrupted as I hear my brother walk back into the hallway. It's too dark to see him completely, but I can tell he is facing me. He starts to breathe deeply, without noticing I realize that I am too. I feel sweat dripping down my back and my hands are shaking. I have no idea why I am so scared, it's like my body is telling me to just get away from my brother and go back to bed. I start the long walk back to my bedroom, moving as quietly as I can. I hear my brother also start to walk back to the kitchen. I have to say I am a little relieved.

I open the door to my room and freeze. A dark figure is standing beside my bed. I gasp uncontrollably and my eyes widen farther than I thought they could. I can tell the figure is facing away from me. How could this possibly be my brother? The only way he could've beaten me back here is if we somehow passed each other in the darkness of the hallway, and that didn't happen. As my eyes frantically try to focus, I lose sight of my brother. I turn of the light and find that my room is empty. Okay, this is getting ridiculous, I just need some sleep. I turn back off the light and get into bed.

My mind slips into a dream. My brother is yelling something at me from a great distance away and I can see his lips moving, but I can't hear him. My grandmothers voice echos around me, she is says " If you wake him up, you wake ''them up." ''over and over.

I wake up suddenly. There is a loud banging sound coming from the kitchen. How is he still sleepwalking? Instead of feeling scared I'm starting to feel very tired of this shit. I'm going to march straight into the kitchen and wake that bozo up. I walk down the hallway not even trying to quiet my steps. It sounds like he is opening all of the droors and slamming them back. When I get to the area where the hallway meets the kitchen, I see my brother moving around in the darkness. He stops and faces me. I flip the light switch and the bulb explodes, sending sparks everywhere. In the quickly dying light of the bulb, I see my brother open his eyes, they are all black. In the darkness, as I am frozen with fear, a growling sound begins to grow louder and I hear footsteps coming in my direction. I gulp.