Swamp through the trees

Alex’s POV The sun is just going down as Alex settles down into his gaming chair. He’s supposed to be babysitting his younger sister, Kelly, but he’s really just done with her s**t for today. At 16, Alex is only 4 years older than his younger sister, and he honestly can’t understand why his parents won’t just let them be home alone separately. Neither one of them think she honestly needs a “babysitter”, even though it’s just her older brother. Almost as if she hears him getting started on his game, Kelly comes into room. “Alex. Mom said YOU had to make dinner tonight, and they’re gonna be home in, like, ten minutes. Maybe you should get started.” Alex huffed as Kelly flipped her long dark brown hair over her shoulder on the way out of the room, almost smacking him in the face. He rolled his eyes, and practically threw his controller down. He didn’t want to cook dinner, but he knew that his parents would be home soon and he knew that he would get in trouble if he didn’t make it. He walked out of his room, and down the stairs to the right of his doorway. As he strode downstairs, he heard Kelly talking and laughing to some of her friends on the phone. Rolling his brown eyes at the fact that she could just quickly go from irritating him to being so happy, he he continued down the two flights of stairs to get to the kitchen. He crossed the room, opened the fridge, and started scanning for something easy to make for dinner. Of course, his parents had left him basically nothing to choose from. He ran his fingers through his short light brown hair, and thought about how much it might cost to just get one or two pepperoni pizzas. Thinking better of it, he opened the freezer and took out the frozen chicken nuggets and fries. He would do something relatively small and low key, and just make enough for one serving for each of them. As he was reading through the instructions, he heard Kelly’s door slam upstairs. She stomped downstairs, and barely glanced at him as she muttered “I’m going for a run out back.” Before throwing the back door open and slamming it closed behind her. Alex wondered why she was in such a bad mood this time. He hoped that it wasn’t because of that b***h ‘friend’ of hers, Leslie. He contemplated going after her and seeing if she needed anything, but quickly decided against it. If she wanted to talk about it, she would let him know. Plus, he really didn’t want to hear about how whoever’s boyfriend had cheated on her with whatever girl, or whatever it was she was mad about. They were 12, so it was usually just petty dumb drama, anyway. Kelly’s POV As she raced beside the woods behind the house, she took care to zigzag around the small holes in the very back of the yard. Kelly smiled as she remembered how she and her best friend had just been outside the other day making pitfalls for her older brother to trip into. She snorted, thinking of how when Alex had almost tripped over one, they had lied and said that it was the neighbors dog that had made the holes. Alex was a decent older brother, but he really got on her nerves sometimes. He was always prancing about the house, acting like he was so much better than her because he had his drivers license and she was still a couple years off from getting one. Plus, she really hated how her parents always left him home, babysitting her. She was 12 now, and she didn’t need a babysitter. Maybe she had at one point, but she wasn’t a baby anymore. The sound of twigs breaking interrupted her thoughts. The woods to her left suddenly seemed incredibly intimidating. She slowed her pace to a walk, and studied the outlines of the trees. “Who’s there?,” she called out loudly. Only silence met her question. She turned to glance back at the house, wondering if maybe she had missed Alex exiting. Maybe he was trying to scare her. “Haha. Very funny, Alex. Stop it.,” she called out angrily. Still only silence as a response. Almost haughtily, she turned to go back inside. Through the back door, however, she caught a glimpse of her brother pulling something out of the oven. Suddenly, she felt something encircle her waist, and she screamed loudly in fear. Something clamped a hand over her mouth, and she felt a prick on the back of her neck. She tried to escape the arms that ensnared her, but as she struggled, the world began to go dark. “What was that prick? Am I dying?,” she wondered, Unsure whether she was speaking aloud or not. She could feel something wet against her back and butt. She couldn’t tell what it was, though she was trying to figure it out, as the world faded to black. Alex’s POV Hearing Kelly’s scream, Alex glanced up from the hot pan of chicken nuggets, expecting to see his sister grinning back at him. He dropped the pan to the floor as he saw his sister falling limp against.. something. He wasn’t sure what it was, only that it was scaly and green. The creature looked up, almost as if sensing his eyes on it. Oh god those eyes, thought Alex. They were like the pits of hell, red as blood, no sign of anything human in them. And they were glowing. Alex watched as the thing quickly pulled back into the trees. He quickly ran to the door, intending to go after it, but before he could, burning hot pain filled his head as he collapsed onto the ground. The last thing he remembered as he faded from consciousness was that the thing appeared to be going in the direction of the swamp behind their house.