My brother used to tell me there was someone following him. I thought he was crazy, of course, and didn’t believe him. I just figured it was his imagination. After all, being only ten years old your mind can craft the wildest ideas. Day after day he continued to talk about this person.

My parents grew weary as this wasn’t a harmless idea, it was concerning. They ended up taking him to a doctor, who quickly diagnosed it as schizophrenia and prescribed meds. A few days passed and the medicine seemed to have no effect. He continued to ramble about someone following him.

At night I could hear my mom crying and my dad offering comfort. They were at a loss with what they could do to help my brother and his wild mind. I feared for my brother as I heard them mention a mental facility. Is my brother really crazy? I thought to myself as I turned my light off.

The next morning, I slowly got out of bed and walked down the stairs as if I was a zombie who just crawled out of their grave. I sat down and put a little of each option of food onto my plate. After my plate was full and my cup was filled with chocolate milk, I looked across the table and saw the empty chair.

“Where’s Charlie?” I asked, puzzled that he wasn’t already here devouring his Eggo Waffles.

“I let him sleep in. With all that’s going on with him right now I didn’t want to bother him. Would you actually go and wake him up now, please?” My mom said “Sure,” I said as I took one last gulp of chocolate milk.

As I walked into his room, I was instantly met by a cold chill. I looked over and noticed that his window was open. Without a second thought I went over and closed it. “Charlie, why was this open? It’s freezing in here.”

“Charlie?” I said as I turned to look at his bed. “Wake up!” I said as I pulled the blanket from him. To my surprise, my brother wasn’t there. Just two pillows masquerading as him. Panic flooded my body like a broken dam. “MOM! DAD!” I screamed. “What?! What is it?!” They yelled as they bounded up the stairs. Shock immediately took charge as they entered his room. Guilt struck us all like a knife. We should have listened to him...