Blue eyes danced with mischievousness when they peeked around the other side of the tree at me.
I grinned back, swatting for gripping hands that flicked out of the way.
The kid ran, giggling and laughing as he did while I was right behind him, trying to shove his body so I could be the one to run and hide.
I was good at that. Skin and eyes as dark as the night sky made me an expert at blending into my surroundings. With the extra advantage of arms that could split from my skin and help me reach places he just couldn't, I was unstoppable.
The kid laughed, running further outwards, away from the darkness of the trees. He crossed the shadows to stand in the sunlight, waiting for me.
"Come on!" he gestured "let's play out here! You're 'IT'!"
I peered at the bright sunlight and how open the park there was. There were no areas to take refuge in or trees to shield me. I'd be on display for all the other parents and children to see.
Shaking my head, I kept firm on the line of shade between us.
I wasn't like them. They didn't like things like me going anywhere near them.
"We can play back in here?" I jerked my thumb over my shoulder and smiled "they won't mind for a little while longer..."
The kid grinned, chuckling a little by the temptation. He checked where the adults were gathered at a shelter on the other side of the park and took a few steps forwards, ready to join me again before a voice shrieked through the air.
"Leo! You get away from that thing right now!"
The mother was charging towards us, her yellow sundress billowing with every frantic stomp in her little shoes.
The kid, Leo, turned to me with a grimace.
"We can play next time?" he whimpered to me.
"Maybe" I muttered back, recoiling back as the mother reached her son and snatched up his hand to yank him away from me.
"I don't know what you think you are doing, but you are not coming anywhere near my son!" she hissed at me, jabbing a finger and snarling "stay away from my boy!"
"We were just playing" Leo whined to his mother "it was just fun!"
"You aren't going near that creature" she snapped to him, shaking his arm in her grip before turning back to me "and you aren't going to come out here and try to take him away!"
The woman was so tall. She pushed Leo behind her so she could prowl towards me, her shoes stomping down with each forceful step.
I backed up, desperate to check my escape, but couldn't take my eyes from the fierce woman backing me further into the shadows.
"I'm sorry" I whimpered back "I didn't know."
"You'll stay in your disgusting hole and never leave it" the woman snarled, leaning over me when I fell back and tried to drag myself from her "don't come back here."
I opened my mouth to cry out an answer, letting it hang open when a thundering sound pounded from the trees behind me towards the woman.
Leo screamed out and ran. His mother was the one in the dirt now, crying out when the cause of the sound hovered over her, kicking at her feet slipping out of her shoes.
My saviour was none other than my older brother. His extra arms were fully extended to support him and add the height needed to intimidate the woman into backing off.
He dropped to the ground and snarled at her, picking up her loose shoes to peg them into her back on her retreat.
"A-Avery..." I gasped out, trying to find my feet "I... I didn't mean to..."
"Up" he snapped to me, seizing my arm to lift me "move."
His hand pushed my back roughly to force me back towards the trees he had charged from.
"You know very well you shouldn't be outside the line" he shot from my side "I've told you time and time again to never, ever, go past the trees."
I dropped my eyes and scuffed my feet in shame.
"I know. I'm sorry."
"It's for your own good" he huffed "if I wasn't there, that woman would have hurt you. Is that what you want?"
I glanced up, seeing his anger boring into me, and dropped my head again.
"No."
"Good" he pushed me forward again "I better not catch you stretching even a finger past those trees again, ok?"
I nodded and bit my lip to try and stop it from quivering.
"So..." Avery sighed in annoyance then elbowed my side "...what was his name?"
He caught me by surprise. I checked I wasn't being tricked and felt the smile spread on my face.
"His Mama called him Leo."
"Leo" he sounded it out with a snort "I don't know.... I like Malachi better."
"That's my name!" I laughed back "you can't like it better than anything!"
Avery's hands scooped me up so I could be dumped onto his shoulders. He gripped my legs and I held onto his head for support.
"I'm pretty sure I'm older, so I can do whatever I want" he boasted proudly, justling me "and I say that you need to rest."
I groaned and leant back, making Avery stumble briefly.
"It's still light out" I whined to the sun flitting between the canopy of leaves above "and I'm not tired."
"Well, I need to get us food, and I can't do that with you in the way" he sniggered "rest will do you good."
I whined again in defeat and hunched over Avery's head.
He always got to do all the cool things while I had to stay behind. It wasn't fair.
"Then I can go explore!" I declared excitedly.
"Then you can go have a bath" Avery jolted me again "and after that, you'll practice hunting down your own little animals. I don't want to see anything bigger than a rabbit, ok? No more dogs from people's backyards."
I sighed back and reluctantly agreed. Avery didn't think I could handle anything bigger on my own. Catching rabbits was too easy when they were so naive to begin with. Dogs put up a struggle and were more thrilling, but Avery didn't like the danger that came with disappearing pets.
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Avery followed the path pounded into the forest floor to where our home was strung up between the trees.
The large, glistening orb of shining webs remained suspended several metres above the ground. Avery checked the dirt around it for signs of intrusion before peeling out his arms to begin the climb upwards.
"I want to see you asleep when I get back" he warned me as I was lowered into the gaping enterance "I mean it."
Flopping back, I grumbled and agreed.
"Remember, if anyone comes past, you stay right in there. Not a sound until they are gone."
We usually had curious pairs of people passing our home on thier jog through the woods. It was no secret we lived here so close to the park and right next to an impromptu track. It made us targets for rowdy teens or curious kids wanting to understand why we were suspended so far from them.
They couldn't touch us and that's all that mattered. I could stay where it was safe.
I nodded, seeing him smile again.
"I love you, Mali" Avery's face softened.
My heart thudded at the affection.
"I love you too."
Avery leant inwards to kiss my forehead I lifted to him. He smiled again at me then began his descent that I watched in fascination from the opening.
"Stay put!" he pointed a finger to me with a quick glare from below "I'll be back soon!"
He took off with his extra arms powering him along through the forestry. I watched him until I couldn't see or hear him anymore.
Laying back, I watched the webs above me in boredom. They glistened in the sun in a way that made them look like steel threads. The amount of meticulous weaving Avery had achieved for this little nest was honestly exhausting. The fact I was expected to accomplish the same standard when I was older just made the weight of it all much more daunting.
I don't think I could ever do anything as well as him. He was the oldest and smartest for a reason.
We had other siblings too, but they had thier own lives and families now spread across many kilometers. I was one of two; expected to form my own ties to a family at a young age. With me being only nine years old, Avery had taken pity on my destined fate and taken me to live with him amongst nature to get a better start in life.
It was better than being turned out at sixteen and expected to find our own purpose in life unprotected. Avery already had experienced that, and didn't want me to meet the same uncertainty. He loved me with all of his heart and made sure I knew every time he had to leave me behind. I bubbled with every declaration, aware that Avery would do anything to keep me safe as his brother.
We only looked human to give ourselves the best chance. In every other way, we were the worst kind of creature.
I snuggled down into the warmth of the webs and breathed in the scent of the sunshine clinging to each strand that lulled me closer to sleep. It smelled like the wildflowers in the nearby field, tangled with the moist dirt below and the surrounding cracked bark of the trees around me. There was even hints of Avery here mixed amongst it all; dried grass and the stinging salt that always clung to his skin.
The scent always made me feel safe. I knew Avery protected me like a father would to thier own child. We were the warmth in each other's lives.
Curling up in the security, I let sleep drag me under until Avery's return.
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Waking amongst the familiar smells alone, there was a new one that made my fogged brain take notice.
It was warm like the sun, but held a sharpness to it that I hadn't experienced before. It was like the bark itself was exploding into the air that sizzled from the rays of light.
That wasn't right. This wasn't a nice scent at all.
It grew stronger, coating the bottom of the nest before climbing up the sides. I saw the spiralling grey fog twist through the opening and pool at the roof it seeped through.
I heard crackling; like all the twigs on the forest floor snapping in segments. When the air bubbled and burned my lungs, I crawled to squint outside at the cause of the strange noise.
Flames licked the wood on the trees, jumping higher to reach for our nest.
The leaf litter on the forest floor was curled into ashes, some of it still alight and spreading to neighbouring trees.
The anchoring webs were still secured higher up the trees for now, but wouldn't survive long. Once the flames caught onto any of the fine threads, everything would be destroyed in seconds.
I needed my brother! I didn't want to be trapped in here!
"AVERY!" I screamed out of the entrance I clung to, recoiling at the heat flicking up towards my face "HELP ME!"
I couldn't see or hear him. His hunts usually led him further from home than expected. He'd still be focused on finding food.
"A.... AVERY!" I wailed out into the air while trying to brave the boiling heat sizzling at my skin "HELP!"
I clutched the sides of the nest in desperation, looking for another way out.
The bottom began to sag, peppered with embers that ate the webbing and snaked through the overlapping threads.
"AVERY!" I squealed and leapt for the roof I clung to desperately to try and avoid the flicking flames fuelled by the new materials "AVERY!"
"Mali?" I heard his confusion spiralling somewhere from the distance "NO! NO! NO! MALACHI!"
"HELP ME!" I wailed and pressed myself to the side of the nest collapsing around me "PLEASE!"
The threads couldn't hold my weight any longer. The nest buckled and collapsed down towards the flames snapping and whipping in thier frenzy below.
"MALI!"
My voice was sizzling within me. My lungs were filled with fire while my throat was scraped raw with the smoke caught there.
I couldn't even see Avery through the boiling tears rolling up my peeling face.
I didn't want to die like this. Not with my brother so close to saving me from it all.
Snatching for the air, my blistering fingers found nothing on my twisting fall to the flames.
Avery, please, save me!
I.... I love you.
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