(Translated from Japanese by Saya)
It happened just before I entered the primary school.
One morning, I woke up and sensed no presence inside the house apart from me and my brother who slept beside me.
I got up and walked around inside the house, but there was no one around.
I started feeling scared, and tried to wake my brother up by calling his name and shaking his shoulder, but he wouldn't wake up.
No matter how hard I shook him I didn't get any response from him and his body felt limp like a dead body.
I became even more scared and went outside.
It was rainy and gloomy.
I walked around the house, crying, but there was no one to be seen outside too.
I went back inside and was still crying when my parents suddenly showed up.
I asked, "Where have you been?" but they didn't answer me.
All they said was "Father is here," and "Mother is here."
I couldn't understand what was happening, but I was just glad they were back.
Then my brother came in. The moment I saw his face, I drew a sharp breath.
The brother was not the brother I had known. Their overall body shapes were similar, but his face was different from that of the brother of yesterday or of the brother who was sleeping beside me.
His eyes looked sharp. His nose was thin and prominent. His cheeks were hollow.
His hair looked greasy.
That was the first and last time such a bizarre occurrence happened in my life, but to this day my brother has never changed back to his old self and remains a stranger to me.
It happened just before I entered the primary school.
One morning, I woke up and sensed no presence inside the house apart from me and my brother who slept beside me.
I got up and walked around inside the house, but there was no one around.
I started feeling scared, and tried to wake my brother up by calling his name and shaking his shoulder, but he wouldn't wake up.
No matter how hard I shook him I didn't get any response from him and his body felt limp like a dead body.
I became even more scared and went outside.
It was rainy and gloomy.
I walked around the house, crying, but there was no one to be seen outside too.
I went back inside and was still crying when my parents suddenly showed up.
I asked, "Where have you been?" but they didn't answer me.
All they said was "Father is here," and "Mother is here."
I couldn't understand what was happening, but I was just glad they were back.
Then my brother came in. The moment I saw his face, I drew a sharp breath.
The brother was not the brother I had known. Their overall body shapes were similar, but his face was different from that of the brother of yesterday or of the brother who was sleeping beside me.
His eyes looked sharp. His nose was thin and prominent. His cheeks were hollow.
His hair looked greasy.
That was the first and last time such a bizarre occurrence happened in my life, but to this day my brother has never changed back to his old self and remains a stranger to me.
Comments
Nonetheless, it's creepy to imagine a family member changing that way... which makes me think, maybe it was something like a changeling! That's one traditional fairy that sort of became rare nowadays.
That said, thanks for the story as usual! Take care ^^
Probably the people who said they were their parents took and prepare the body of the brother so another strange entity could posses it and take the brother's place.
I feel that it means the narrator's ghost haunts this house, perceiving the person who lives there as their "brother". Every time the present person leaves/dies, the narrator enters a "limbo-like" state, time-traveling until another person starts living in the house, perceiving this new person as "their brother".
In this text, their spirit woke up when the current "brother" died, so the narrator couldn't sense anyone else in the house besides the "sleeping brother".
When the narrator walked around and came back to the house, they found their parents ghosts, who didn't answered the narrator's questions, but greeted the narrator saying they "were there with them", like trying to comfort their spirit.
The narrator then saw this person who they perceived as the "stranger brother" (a.k.a the new person living in the house), and noted how this "stranger brother" was different from "the brother of yesterday" (a.k.a some person who lived in the house in the past) "or" (note that the narrator uses this 'or') the "sleeping brother", (so the narrator said it as if "the brother of yesterday" and the "sleeping brother" were different persons).
The comment "that was the first and last time such a bizarre occurrence happened" is said because the narrator couldn't perceive the change of brothers, aside in this case. This might mean that it's the first time the change of brothers happened with the death of one brother and the arrival of another. The other times might have happened with people moving houses.
Saya's stories rarely disappoint!
Domo Arigato - thank u very much
@Gabriel You should share some of your weird dreams with us! I like anything related to dreams.
Oh, I've heard of changeling before! That theory would fit in with the story! haha
Thank you Gabriel dear, take care! <3
@Shishou You must know about these things better than us, Shishou! XD
@Haem Oh! Maybe the parents are followers of weird cult religion!
@Tiago Poles de Souza Thank you, dear. I'm sorry I've been away for so long but glad you are here again too! :D
Aww that's an interesting and complicated theory, thank you! I think other blog readers enjoy reading it!
I guess all my translated stories sound like cryptic stories even if they aren't one! LOL
@Diogo LOL Actually I should try the closet ritual if it will make my look sharper, because I look too relaxed all the time. XD
@Martin Ly Oh no! That would be so sad :(
@CreanJinSung Oh! Thant sounds like an interesting film! Years ago I watched a Korean horror movie, the story of which revolves around some old closet and two sisters. That was scary! There are some really good Korean horror films around.
@Unkonwn Are you from the Unknown Region in my blog audience stats? XD
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the story! :D
THANKS A BUNCH AGAIN EVERYONE FOR YOUR INTERESTING COMMENTS! <3 Love and Peace!
My hypothesis would be that the boy was so poor, he and his brother can't get anything to eat. And their parents went away and died somewhere while searching for food.
The brother died eventually, leaving narrator alone. When he felt scared, the parents came back as ghost to accompany him and the big bro probably came back as ghost too..
This reminds me of one of ghibli's story about sister and brother during war...
I dunno but stories like these, hurt my heart a bit..
(ok, ok, I`m sorry, I`ll leave now)