Short Story Monday, Sisterly Love

"Eric," Everly groaned in exasperartion as she snapped the book she had been reading closed, and jumped down from where she had been perched on a fallen tree, basking in the dappled sunlight of the late summer sun as she read Terrors of a Small Town in her what she liked to consider her own personal secret garden. "What are you doing here? I told you not to follow me."

"So."

"So that means you don't follow someone when they tell you not to."

"You're not supposed to be in the woods, anyway, Everly."

"Who says?"

"Dad."

"Do you want to know why he doesn't want us in the woods, Eric?" Everly stalked toward her little brother, weeds and brambles pulled at her clothes, and when she was almost nose to chin with him, a crow lurched from where it sat on a branch above their heads, seeming to echo Everly's, "Do you?"

"Because we won't hear him call for us, duh."

"Wrong, because of the Granny Slayer."

"You're crazy, there's no such thing."

"Am I? Think about it, have you ever wondered why there are so many empty cat food cans littered around?"

"Yeah, so?"

"She lures little kid's cats into the woods with food, and then she steals them."

"I don't believe you."

"No? Remember when Kit Cat disappeared?"

"Yeah?"

"I found her in the Granny Slayer's basement, she locked me inside, and I had to climb through a window to get out."

"You're lying."

"Don't believe me? Look at my nails, I broke them all clawing at the window trying to open it."

"I'm telling daddy."

Tilting her head to the side, Everly put a shushing finger in front of her mouth, "Do you hear that?"

"No."

"It's her. Run, Eric! It's the Granny Slayer. Run!"

Dashing past her brother, Everly ran, she could hear his heavy breathing as he tried to keep up with her. Slowing down, she watched him pass until the foliage swallowed him from view. Leaning on her knees, she let out an exhausted breath, "That'll teach him to follow me around."

A voice wispy with age spoke from behind her, "Little girl, have you seen my cat, Mr. Clawsby? He's lost... Dear, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."