Brynn felt something brush along her face. Her entire body was freezing and she couldn't see anything.
She could, however, feel things on her feet. Dirt, pointy twigs, wet mud, leaves, tree stump.
The twelve year old's foot caught the side of a tree stump, causing her to topple over and onto the ground below. Her hands were scratched and her head smacked against the rough floor.
Wait, hold on. Tree stump?
Brynn weakly opened her eyes, stunned by her surroundings. Trees were all around her, all covering the sky above, and the air was thick making it harder to breath.
Everything was blurry as she made it back onto her feet to try and find her way out. She stumbled forwards onto her knees before finally rising herself to stand normally.
The little Verlice was cold, confused and scared. She was scared.
Suddenly, there were quick footsteps coming from behind her to which she responded instantly, whipping herself around. Nothing.
Then again, on her left. She spun quickly. Nothing.
She could see something dark behind a tree a few feet away, but her attention on it was dragged when footsteps sounded again from behind her. Nothing.
Again to her left. Nothing.
To her right. Nothing.
Brynn's dizziness increased tenfold, black spots appeared in her line of vision. The footsteps sounds getting louder and closer and then decreasing once again. The repetitive cycle making the girl go insane.
All of a sudden, the footsteps got as loud as they'd ever been and closer. Brynn gasped and fell back, into a tree and curled in on herself.
"Leave- leave me alone," she whimpered out, losing consciousness. The footsteps came right in front of her, until a gloved hand held her chin roughly and gripped her cheeks on either side of her face.
"Please," was the last Brynn could mutter out. She was exhausted.
---
The front door alarm rang through the Verlice mansion.
All the Verlice brothers were up straight away, reaching for their firearms and running out their rooms.
The oldest of them was out first, going across to his sisters room and flinging the already open door wider to see an empty bed. His heart dropped as he lunged through his pile of brothers trying to look in their little sister's room.
They all had the same reaction upon seeing the empty bed, hearts pounding as Callan ordered them places to look. Zaiden, Ezra and Silas downstairs and everybody else the second floor.
The eldest, however, had never ran down the stairs that fast in his life. Skipping half the steps, his breath got caught in his throat upon seeing the front door wide open. Not again.
He ran over to the security lock and disabled the alarm, before running out in the driveway.
"Brynn?! Brynn??!"
There was no sign of her anywhere. No footsteps or tracks anywhere.
Growling to himself, he ran back into the house and back upstairs. He took all the twists and turns to the third floor door, shooting the lock off dead on.
The rest of the brothers turned at the sound, none of them finding anything.
Zayne took the steps up to the third floor, running to the security room like his life depended on it. Because really, it did.
Callan came running in after him, "upstairs is clear." He moved next to his brother to see what he was doing; looking through the security tapes.
Brayden came in after, completely out of breath. "Anything?" Callan shook head, still focused on the screen.
Not long after, the rest came up. "Downstairs is clear. Jacob's and Mika are on their way with-"
Zayne raised his hand up to stop Ezra's rambling, He found the tape he needed and rewinded it to fifteen minutes before the time they were at now.
All of them were quiet now, crowding around the screen.
The tape showed the bedroom hallway, empty and silent. That was until, the youngest Verlice's door creaked open. Said Verlice walked out of her room, leaving the door slightly ajar, and made her way to the staircase. Zayne changed the camera angles when she went out of frame.
She still looked asleep, swaying. Her hand steadily took ahold of the stair railings and the brothers' held their breaths, worried about her going down the stairs in such a state.
Her feet made their way down, two at a time on each step. When she finally made it to the bottom, she stood there for a while. She looked like she'd fallen asleep standing up.
Only a minute later, she started moving again. Straight to the front door, triggering the alarm; she wasn't phased, barely even flinched as she walked out, straight into the drive way.
The brothers were highly confused, their little sister just stood in the middle of it, not doing anything once again.
All of a sudden, her head shot to the right to look into the woods as did the brothers'. The entire estate was surrounded by the woods, a place that was not safe, particularly at night.
They couldn't see anything.
Brynn stared at the darkness in the woods for what felt like an eternity for them, before turning her body fully to it.
"Look," Zach pointed out to the tree closest to his sister. He rewinded the tape and zoomed in closer. The brothers observed the image, rage encasing their entire beings seeing a gloved hand on the trunk. Nothing else was visible.
It was like an invisible string was pulling her as she stumbled forward, getting closer and closer until the darkness fully enclosed her.
"Oh my god, she's in the woods," Brayden choked out, his hand coming to his mouth.
---
Everybody searched for hours. Jacob and Mika showed up just before they set off into the woods. Zayne ordered everyone to look. He didn't give a fuck what time or how cold it was, he was going to find his sorellina if it was the last thing he ever did.
Now, here the Verlice brothers were. Trudging through the woods in their pyjamas, using their phones as flashlights and looking strenuously for their sister.
The occasional "Brynn" was yelled, until it was said again, only this time much softer and weaker.
Callan was following a clumsy trail, praying to god that it wasn't a dead end. In the end, he round a large tree; his breath hitched in his throat when he saw his sister, curled up against the tree and on herself, looking impossibly small and shivering.
"Oh my god Brynn," he fell to his knees and dropped his phone, shuffling closer to her. Delicately bringing his hands up to her freezing face, he brought it up a little.
The second brother's breaths came out so shaky as he shouted to everybody else, "I found her!"
In not even ten seconds, they were all there. Zayne was on the opposite of Callan, Ezra and Zaiden stood just behind him and on the other side by Callan, crouched Zach and Silas.
They left room for Brayden to get in the middle, who started looking over the smallest.
He felt her forehead and cheeks, afterwards he let out a shaky breath as he checked her pulse. He almost cried hearing the faint beat, "she's alive." A harmony of breaths being let out sounded.
"She's cold as ice though, could be hypothermia," he started squeezing down her arms, feeling nothing but coldness.
He tore his shirt over his head and clasped it under his chin as he slid his hands behind Brynn's back, bringing her to sit up. He got his shirt and used his teeth to open the bottom of it before sliding it over her.
This wasn't going to warm her up enough. She was only in a vest and pyjama pants.
"I'm going to need another shirt," he ordered, getting anxious about time.
Within two seconds he looked up to retrieve the shirt he asked for, instead finding six shirts shoved into his face, their owners looking at him desperately and helplessly.
He nodded at all of them, understanding their worry, "that'll do. Zach come help her sit up please."
Said brother wiped his eyes and did as he was told, coming up and warming her from behind. He held her back upright as Callan did with her shoulders, allowing Brayden to slip the six other shirts on her.
Ezra looked around the woods after hearing a twig snap. He took his phone out and shone his flashlight at where he heard the noise and clenched his right fist.
He turned back to his vulnerable sister being coddled at and his gaze trailed down to her feet, where he saw another trail. One much bigger than his little sisters could be.
He crouched down to get a full light on the trail, confusing his brothers. "What? What is it?" Silas whispered, trying not to be too loud for Brynn.
"There's another trail," Ezra muttered. He followed the trail with his light for about eight feet, stopping when he saw it began to go in a straight line down a set path, in between the trees.
He clenched his right fist tighter as well as his jaw. Somebody wanted to die tonight.
"Where are you going?" Zaiden hissed at Ezra when he started following the trail. Ezra took out his handgun and cocked it, "to kill the fucking bastard."
They let him go, all too focused on tending to Brynn. Zayne got his phone out and called Mika, giving him clear instructions about where they were and to take some men to follow Ezra and see what they find.
Brayden finished bundling his sister up checking her forehead and cheeks once again. "Still freezing, we need to get her home now."
"I've got her," Zayne stopped each of them reaching out to carry her, doing it himself.
He reached under her arms and pulled her up, shoving her head into the warmth in his neck. "Zayne her lips are turning blue, hurry," Brayden stressed pulling her bottom lip down to get a better look.
Zayne had never ran so fast in his life, out of the woods and into the mansion's warmth. He kept muttering small reassurances into Brynn's ears, knowing she couldn't hear him. He was more telling himself them if anything.
When he got to her room, he ripped the covers back and put her underneath them, hearing Callan enter and then Brayden closely behind. He now had his medical bag and hands full of heat pads.
"Here put these on her arms and chest," he handed three to Zayne, who did so as Brayden got out his stethoscope and checked Brynns' heart and lungs.
Zaiden, Silas and Zach came in next, standing glumly by the door. Zaiden looked down at his crossed arms, "is she alright?"
Brayden took a deep breath but nodded nevertheless. "Yes."
Ezra came in next, all heads going in his direction. "Anything?" Callan asked,
Ezra shook his head.
The atmosphere was filled with relief and anger. Yes, their sister was fine but by god the Verlice brothers had never felt fear like that before in their lives.
A sense of something washed through all of them. Isn't this a weird feeling a deja vu?
---
<3