The Girl with the Dead Brother

(Photo by Elia Pellegrini on Unsplash)

I knew something was wrong. Like earth-tiltingly, mind-bendingly wrong when I awoke. Instinctively, my feet shoved the covers off and hit the icy floors running, leaving the rest of my body to catch up. I ran toward the living room and when I arrived the house phone rang. The VCR read 3:12 a.m.

My mother was running too, she made it to the living room with the same frenzied look in her eyes that I imagine I…