Family Hunt

1

"Grady, hurry up!" I shout behind me, staggering up the hill paved with palm-sized rocks, my hands reached out for balance. I gaze up from the ground to see mum, dad and our little sister Julie in his arms, about twenty metres or so above us.

"You know dad isn't very patient. This is the fifth time you've stopped." I say, looking behind me at my brother.

Grady was 16. He is two inches taller than me, with dark brown hair and ocean blue eyes, taking after our father. He has broad shoulders and a muscular, athletic body. Interestingly though, he isn't much into sports. Nature and animals are his real passions.

I, on the other hand, am 17, with long, blonde hair reaching down to my lower back, taking after my mother. My name is Cassandra, Cassie for short. I like to think that I'm in pretty good shape. I go to the gym with Grady quite often to stay fit and, y'know, good looking. Ever since I first learned to read and write, I always knew I wanted to be a writer. Books are the things that make me the happiest in the world. Well, maybe right after my brother.

Grady and I always had a special relationship. We were much closer to each other than the usual siblings. We never argue and help each other in any way we can. Some people think it's weird but I would never change the way I feel about my younger brother.

"Sorry sis. A frog got stuck under one of the rocks, I had to free it y'know?" He looks me in the eyes and smiles warmly. "Of course you did. It's just that mum and dad are ahead, waiting. You know dad wants to be at aunt Anne's house tomorrow evening." "Yeah, I know. I'll try my best not to get 'distracted again' " He says, imitating our father with freaky similarity. His grin makes me laugh as I take his hand and we continue upwards.

Aunt Anne was...strange, to say the least. Last time I saw her was about 2 years ago. I remember her short black hair, emerald green eyes, a small but crooked nose and a long scar on the left side of her face. I get goosebumps just thinking about that scar. She says she got it from a car accident but I wasn't too sure if she was telling the truth.

It was the middle of the summer holidays, aunt Anne's birthday. She lived on the edge of a town called Barings, with a large forest in between her house and ours. That is the reason why getting to her house always takes so long. About three days in total.

We could of course take our car back at home and drive around the forest, but dad doesn't like driving for long periods of time and besides, he and Grady love camping so we always just end up walking. I don't mind much. Walking pretty much nonstop for three days is exhausting, but Grady and I always find something fun to do to pass the time.

"Hey Cassie, do you think aunt Anne made carrot cakes again?" Grady's question snapped me from my thoughts and I turned to him with one eyebrow raised. It was a gesture only I from my whole family could do so naturally, I took every chance to do so.

"You thinkin' 'bout food again?" He grins sheepishly. "Yea. These biceps don't grow by themselves you know." He says, flexing his arm. I turn away shaking my head. "Typical boys. Food and muscles. That's all they can think about." He just laughs.

It doesn't take long until we finally make it to the top of the hill where our parents were waiting patiently. Well, one of our parents. The other... "What took you guys so long? I have Julie in my arms and we got here way sooner than you did." I look at our little sister Julie. She was just turning 3 in a month. She was sleeping, but dad's raised voice woke her.

Unlike me, Julie had light brown hair with small brown eyes. She was just starting learning to speak, knowing words like mum, dad, food and...poo. "Cash." She says, looking at me with a baby smile. I grin. Julie wasn't able to say my full name but she tried her best. Her eyes wonder over to Grady. "Gra, Gro, Gru." She says and we all burst out laughing.

Later in the day, probably about five or six pm, we were making good progress on the straight forest walkway. We were approaching a rocky part of the forest. This was Grady's favourite, I knew. There were huge, at least 30 feet high rock walls on both sides of the walkway. It always left me with the feeling as if we were at the bottom of a ravine. I guess that and also the numerous caves and openings in the walls is what made it so exciting.

"There's the bird cave." Grady says, lengthening his strides to get ahead of me. "You remember the crow that burst out of there once we shined the light down there?" "Yeah. You think it's still there?" I ask but he shakes his head. "Nah. It was two years ago. It's either dead or it found a new home." "How long do crows live anyway?" I ask out of curiosity. "Ten to twenty years." He says. "Come on. I want to get in ftont of dad. So he doesn't have to wait for me, you know?" I grin. "You say 'you know' way too much."

"Hey sis, was this cave always here?" I stop in my tracks and look back to see Grady stopped a couple metres behind me, staring into an opening just big enough to squeeze through at the very bottom of the rock wall. "Hmm, I don't know. I don't remember  seeing one so close to the ground before." I say, stepping closer to my brother. "I wanna take a look." He says, pulling out a torch from a side pocket in his backpack.

"Be careful." I say as Grady steps closer to the dark opening. I know that sometimes I worry too much but I just can't help it. Grady is my younger brother and I've always felt a responsibility to make sure nothing happens to him. He's a boy after all, he takes bigger risks than girls do.

Grady has done this plenty of times before. He always crawls into caves and holes to check out the inside, so why did I feel so nervous? Why did I feel like this was a bad idea?

"It's quite deep, I can't see the bottom yet." He says, shuffling closer on his knees and craning his neck inside. My heartbeat rose. "Do you see anything?" It takes a moment for him to answer. "Yea. It's just one hole. Not much of a cave." He giggles. "There's something white at the bottom though. It kinda looks like...bones." And just as he starts crawling back, the soft dirt at his feet breaks away and my brother falls headfirst inside!