Panda

Janice didn’t immediately panic, though.  He figured maybe everyone was outside eating; it was a nice day after all.  He went to the sliding glass back door and peeked outside, but no one was there either.  Not only that, but it was dark out.  He was sure the sun was setting when he was upstairs a second ago.  Why was it so dark out all of a sudden, like it's been night for hours?

“Mom?!  Dad?!  Where are you?!” he called out, but no one answered.  He called for his siblings, but still no one answered.  He was beginning to panic when he heard someone call for him.

“Janice?!  Where are you?!” his older brother, Carlton, yelled.

“I’m in the dining room!” Janice yelled back.  He heard footsteps approaching from the front of the house.  Carlton walks into the dining room, his usually bright face now filled with worry.

“Are you ok?” asks Carlton as he looks Janice over.

“Yeah, I’m ok.  Where did everyone go?” Janice says, voice full of panic.

“I don’t know.  I went to the bathroom, and once I came out, they were all gone.” Carlton says, anxiously wringing his hands.

“Where the hell is the sun?  Wasn’t it just beginning to set?” Janice asks with even more panic.  The situation didn’t make sense to either of the boys.  How could the sun have set so quickly?  Where was their family?

“I don’t know any more than you do!” Carlton raises his voice a little, but he takes a deep breath once he realizes just how scared Janice is getting because of what’s happening.  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to raise my voice.  It’s just that none of this makes any sense.  Maybe we should go to the neighbor and see if they can help us.”  Janice nods his head in agreement, and the brothers decide to leave the house.

The outside world is dark and cold, a stark contrast to the warmth and light from earlier in the day.  Their street felt still, as if it was holding its breath and waiting for something to arrive.  It all felt so eerie, like they weren’t supposed to be out there, like something was watching.  Janice stuck with Carlton to feel some sense of safety and to get some extra warmth.  Carlton was always the stronger brother since he played baseball for the high school.  Janice always felt so weak in comparison.

They walked over to their neighbor’s house and knocked on the door.  They waited for a while, but no one answered.

“Are they home?” asks Janice.

“They should be.  Their car is in the driveway,” replies Carlton.  To their right was the neighbor’s driveway, where their grey Subaru was parked.  Carlton knocked again, but once again, no one answered.  The boys were beginning to worry now that no one was answering the door.  What if they were hurt or something in there?

“I think we should break in,” said Carlton.  Janice whipped his head to stare at his brother with shock.

“What?!  Absolutely not!  We are not breaking into someone’s house!” Janice backed away from Carlton, afraid his brother would do something rash.

“Clearly, there is something wrong.  Our neighbors are home, so why aren’t they answering the door?” Carlton says, turning towards Janice.

“What if they’re busy?  What if they just can’t hear the knocking?” Janice tries to dissuade his brother from what he’s about to do, but it’s no use.  He can tell how determined Carlton is to get to the bottom of what’s going on.

“We have to find our family.  I’m breaking in whether you want me to or not.”  And with that, Carlton raises his leg and kicks at the door.  It takes a couple of good hits before the door finally smashes open, but it soon does, and the boys can get inside.

The house feels off as they enter.  The lights are all off, and it looks familiar.  Janice couldn’t ever remember actually coming inside this house, so there was no way it would look this familiar.  He turns over to look at Carlton, but he hasn’t moved from the door.  His brother is frozen with a mix of confusion and growing fear.

“What’s wrong, Carl?” Janice turns to look at his brother, and he spots slight shaking in his hands.

“There’s no fucking way.  Th-this is our house, isn’t it?” Carlton says in a fearful whisper.  It hits Janice like a train.  It was their house.  The furniture, the pictures on the walls, the decorations; everything was the same.  The only difference was that, for some reason, everything seemed to have a light dusting.  It didn’t make any sense.  It couldn’t be possible.  The boys backed out of the house, and Carlton practically ran to the next house.

“Where are you going?!” Janice yelled at his brother, but it was almost as if Carlton couldn’t hear him.  He went to the next house and kicked down the door.  Janice watched him do this to a bunch of houses until Carlton came back with so much fear in his eyes.

“They’re all our house.  How is that possible?  What do we even do?” Carlton plops down on the ground, and Janice can tell how anxious and frustrated he is.  Janice takes a seat next to him, and he puts a supportive hand on his shoulder.

“It’s ok.  We have each other, so it’ll be fine,” Janice says to try to comfort his brother.  As he says this, however, a strange noise comes from the bushes.  It sounds very similar to an animal growling, but it gurgles at the end of it - the boys back away from the bush, afraid of what could be lurking inside.

What pops out of the bush is nothing like either of the boys could have imagined.  It looked like a person, but with long black hair and sharp-looking claws reminiscent of a dog.  It looked extremely skinny, as if it hadn’t eaten in a long time.  At the same time, though, it had quite muscular-looking limbs, like the thing was built to pounce on its prey.  The thing stared them down with its predatory gaze that pierced through its unruly hair.  It also had an unnervingly large mouth that was shaped into a snarl.  It was growling at them, and it looked like it could jump at them at any minute.

“I think we should go,” Carlton says quietly, but loud enough for Janice to hear.  “Like, right now!”  Carlton grabs onto Janice and pulls him away.  They both begin to run from the monster.  They couldn’t run back to their home; that thing was in the way.  They could hear it as they ran.  Its claws clacked on the concrete of the street, and its growls grew louder as it chased them.  

The brothers felt like they had nowhere to go.  It would take too long to break into someone’s house, and it always felt like the creature was just a step behind them.  They had to find somewhere to hide as quickly as possible, or they would tire themselves and be caught.  It seemed as though luck was on their side because they were able to find a playground to hide in.

This was a familiar place to them, as it was a playground they visited often when they were little.  The boys remembered playing there all the time, especially hide-and-seek.  This playground was perfect for hiding, and they knew all the best spots.

“We’re going to have to split up,” Carlton says quickly and quietly.

“What? Are you crazy?”  Janice whips his head around to look at his brother.

“We have to.  None of our hiding spots can fit two people.  It’ll be ok.  It won’t find us, I promise,” Carlton says with a smile, but Janice can see the fear in his eyes, and he can hear the shakiness in his voice.

“O-ok, I trust you,” Janice says softly, before breaking off from his brother to get into his typical hiding spot.  

When they were younger, both boys had hiding spots that were “banned” when they played together.  These spots were impossible to figure out, and they would make hide-and-seek less fun.  Carlton’s hiding spot was in one of the playground canopies, where he would cling to the ceiling.  No one ever thought to look up simply because they thought it would be impossible, so he would always win.  Janice’s hiding spot wasn’t as good as his brother’s.  It was underneath one of the play structures.  When he was younger, it was a lot easier to get into, but now that he’s older, it’s a little more difficult.

Once Janice was able to shove himself into the hiding spot, he attempted to stay as still as possible.  He kept his breathing as quiet as possible, but he was so terrified that doing so made him feel like he was going to pass out.  He was shaking like a leaf as he heard the creature's footsteps roaming just outside the play structure.  He heard it sniff as it searched for him and his brother.  Janice was afraid that it could smell his fear, and he tried to calm himself down.  The creature seemed to move on after a while, continuing to search the playground.  

Janice couldn’t hear it or see it from where he was, so he just had to pray that it would go away and his brother would find him.  The brothers knew each other's hiding spots, so if Carlton did go searching for his brother, it would be fairly easy to find him.  It felt like hours for Janice as he waited for his brother.  He didn’t want to move, and he felt like he could barely breathe.

All of a sudden, Carlton popped his head into the hiding spot.  Janice jumped in fear and surprise.

“There you are.  I thought I’d never find you,” Carlton said with a relieved tone in his voice.

“Jesus, you scared me!” Janice said quietly.  “Is that thing gone?”

“Yeah, it walked away a while ago.  We’ve gotta go before it decides to come back, though,” Carlton says as he helps Janice out of the hiding spot.  Once he got out, the boys finally got a better look at their surroundings.  The playground was desolate, just like everything else.  Everything was so eerily quiet and still, like the calm before the storm.  It was still so dark, and Janice finally realized the moon was gone, too.

“What is happening, Carl?  Where is everyone? What happened to the sun?  What happened to the moon?” Janice asks frantically.

“I don’t think we really have time for questions right now.  We should find a place to hide before that thing shows up again,” Carlton says, trying to pull Janice away from the playground.

“You’re right, let’s go.”

The boys begin to walk in a random direction.  They have nowhere to go, and they were trying to be careful not to attract the attention of the creature from before.  It was still dark out, but their eyes had adjusted.  It took a while, but they eventually found a nice hideout in the form of someone’s shed.  It was medium-sized, enough to fit them, but not cramped either.  They still made sure not to make a noise because it felt like they were being watched.

“We can’t stay here forever.  We have to find out what happened,” Janice says as quietly as possible.

“It isn’t safe out there.  What if that thing shows up again?  What if something worse happens?  We can’t afford to leave recklessly,” Carlton argues back.  As they quietly bicker, they don’t even notice the door going slightly ajar.  Something slinks in from the outside world.  It’s silent on the ground as it slithers right underneath the boys.  Carlton is so immersed in his conversation, he doesn’t even notice the thing wrap itself around his ankle.

Without warning, the thing yanks Carlton to the floor.  He hits the ground with a thud, and Janice yelps in surprise.

“Carl!” Janice yells.  The creature tries to pull Carlton out of the shed by his ankle, but Janice grabs onto his wrists.

“Janice, let go!  If you keep holding on, it’ll take you too!” Carlton yells to Janice.

“I won’t let it take you from me!” Janice yells and keeps holding onto Carlton.

“I’ll be ok!  I can fight them, and then I’ll come looking for you, I promise!” Carlton tries to smile for his brother, to reassure him that everything would be ok.  Janice looks at him hesitantly.

“Alright, I trust you,” Janice says, and then he lets go.  Carlton gets dragged out of the shed, and an inhuman screech is heard from outside.  

Then, there is silence.  After what just happened, the silence is deafening.  Janice stares at the door for a while before eventually taking a seat on the floor.  The floor of the shed is cold, and it does nothing to calm his rushing heartbeat.  Janice doesn’t realize that he has begun to cry.  Emotions flooded his body as the reality of it all crashed through him.  His parents are gone, his younger siblings are gone, and now his brother is gone.  There’s no sun or moon, and there are monsters that want to hunt him down and kill him.  He’s all alone, with no one but himself to blame.

If Janice weren’t so weak, maybe he could’ve helped his brother.  Maybe he could’ve fought the monster back and pulled his brother out of its grasp.  Janice went through all the what-ifs, but what good would that do?  He needed some sort of plan, or he wouldn’t survive.  Janice may not be strong, but he was definitely smart.  He decided that the best course of action was to stop dwelling on what had happened and focus on survival.

The shed was empty, except for a couple of gardening tools shoved in the back corner.  Janice rummaged through until he landed on a shovel.  It was heavy, but he could manage holding it.  He couldn’t stay in the shed.  What if the creature came back?  He also needed to find food and water as soon as possible, or he would starve.  Janice mentally prepared himself for the journey back into the world and to whatever awaited him.  He took a deep breath and walked out of the shed with a newfound confidence and determination to find his brother, and possibly even the sun.

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