Prey on the Weak

By: Wheels

Ep.4 The Truth Hurts

We crawled our way to the car, chugging some extra water that was stashed there. As I drank, I felt faint, and drifted off to sleep. Blissfully unaware of reality.

I awoke to sirens, as a rescue and paramedic team arrived. Confused, I assumed I had fallen asleep on our way to the trip, and dreamt up the bugs. I rubbed my eyes, and was surrounded by EMTs. They began checking my vitals, and in the distance I saw them checking my brother and sister. My sister's friend was nowhere in sight, but an older lady was there as well, speaking to the rescue team. My other brother was missing from sight as well.
“Where is my other brother?”

“The others are looking for him now.”

“Looking for him? Is he hiding? Where is he?”

My head was killing me and I felt uneasy. They loaded me and my brother into the back of the ambulance, and pushed liquids while the others continued the search. I checked in with my sister and looked at my brother in confusion, as if to ask what happened. Surely my dream wasn’t reality. Did I truly leave my brother to die? I’ll never forgive myself for leaving him.

…

My sister looked puzzled by the situation which I expected. She had contracted heatstroke and got a concussion on top of that when we fell into the ravine. She had been living in her own twisted reality talking about giant bugs and death matches and air vents, as if she was beside me, but we were seeing different things. If that lady hadn’t heard my cries for help we might have starved to death there. My sisters only had minor injuries, if you can call head injuries minor. But I feared for the life of my brother who I had to leave in the ravine. We had no means by which to safely lift him out, and with two delirious girls, and no supplies, we had to get help as soon as possible.

I’m not happy about this situation, but it had to be done, and god willing they would get to him in time. However I think I already knew what happened to him as they drove us away in the ambulance. I had left my brother to die alone in a cave. This sibling backpacking trip had turned into our worst nightmare.

The family was never the same after this trip. The girls hardly remembered the trip, whether from their head injuries or wanting to forget, I’ll never know. We hardly see each other anymore, and I fear they blame me for his death. And, to be honest, I’m not sure they’re wrong. Sometimes I wish I was the one who died, or at least not the one who consciously made the decision to desert a sibling.