My Brother’s Keeper
“What did you do? Turn my brother back into his human form,” Kyrie demanded the witch.
“Kyrie? That is your name correct?” asked the witch.
Kyrie nods his head. Struggling to focus his eyes on anything other than the bumpy faced witch. Her teeth were brown. Only a few left hanging in the inside.
“Ah yes your brother,” the witch smiled. She could tell Kyrie couldn’t be fooled like the other children. “You have until midnight tonight to return my belongings. If you fail, not only will your brother be my dinner, but you will also join along to make contribution to my hunger,” her voice was harsh and high pitched.
“I will find your book and bring it back. Just please don’t eat us,” replied Kyrie. He scooped up the hairy bat and placed it inside his backpack.
He could still hear the witches cackle ringing like sirens in his ears. The book was nowhere in his brother’s room. Kyrie destroyed the house searching. His brother barely let him get a look at the book when they stole it. The doorbell rang, interrupting him. Its Carlos. Kyrie opened the door for his brother’s friend.
“Hey where’s your brother, I been calling him. That book that we found—,”
“Wait what about that book? Do you know where it is?” Kyrie interrupted.
“Man, that book is bad news. We must return it,” Carlos told Kyrie.
Kyrie grabbed his bag. “I think the bad already happened,” Kyrie said, showing Carlos the bat. The bat fluttered out knocking a lamp the floor. Heading towards the window, Kyrie’s sharpness abled him to close it just in time.
“What is that a bat?” question Carlos.
“Unfortunately,” replied Kyrie.
“How.”
“A witch.”
“The witch did this?”
“Yup and if we don’t return her book by midnight tonight, we will all be bats.”
The bat hovered in place nearby the hallway while the boys arranged where and who will search. It chirped as if wanting to get their attention. They ignored it. The bat’s patience grew thin flying into Kyrie’s head, chirping louder.
“What gives you pest?” yelled Kyrie.
Back in the direction by the hallway, the bat led him to go inside their home library. The light came on as they entered the room. Carlos caught up after hearing the commotion.
“Was this what the book looked like?” Kyrie asked holding it up for Carlos to see.
“Dude that its. We got to go, the clocked showed its almost nine pm.
The boys froze when they heard a car door close. Kyrie’s mom was home. The boys ran upstairs to Kyrie’s room as they heard the front door unlocking. Kyrie signaled the bat inside his backpack. Opening his window to escape facing his mother. They could hear her yelling for him as they were creeping around on the roof. Getting closer to their bicycles was their jump off point. When their feet touched the ground, they were up on the bikes and down the dirt road in an instant.
“Only a couple miles to go left,” Kyrie seemed to be flying on the bicycle compared to Carlos. Either that or Carlos just peddles slow.
Arriving back to the witch’s hut. It appeared a bit creepier than it did in the daytime. Kyrie knocked on the door until it flung up. Her face was still full of bumps and lumps as she invited them in. Water boiled with herbs swimming around in her large cauldron. The witch stood by her shelf she filled with jars. Carlos was grossed out seeing one of the jars carrying eyeballs. Her faced brightened as Kyrie held up her book for her to see. She reached out to grab it.
“Not so fast witch,” Kyrie pulled back the book. He pulled his bag from his back. “My brother is still a bat.”
“Are you sure you want me to turn him back? You won’t miss him,” the witch replied.
“That was the deal,” demanded Kyrie.
She smiled. “But I already have my water boiling to cook him. What will I eat.”
Kyrie held a piece of the book as if he was going to rip out the pages.
“Don’t you dare,” ordered the witch.
“Turn him back.”
They stared at each other. Neither of them blinking an eye. The witch usually has her way with children, tricking them to their entrapment. Kyrie was different. More of a challenge for her to trick.
“You’re stalling,” Carlos jumped in. He looked down at his watch. “She’s trying to stall the timing out. We got here before midnight.”
Her smile disappeared from her face as Kyrie grabbed more papers threatening to rip out. She snatched the bag out of Kyrie’s hand. “Zoom ping, zam wow, return the human boy now.” The witch waved her wand towards the bat flying around. Suddenly, the flying bat turned to a naked boy crashing into the floor shivering in terror.
“Brother!” Kyrie threw the witch her book and ran over to his brother. The witch was honorable. Kyrie kept his word and returned her book. He gained respect from her. Most children fail the task she gives them, but he didn’t. She allowed the boys to leave safely but only if they made a promise with blood to never return.
End
Jahvaris Dukes works and lives in Kissimmee, Fl. With extra time on his hands, he writes multiple kinds of writing, whether its music, poems, or even short stories.
