My grandmother passed down her cabin to my brother and me. I've done something unforgivable, and now I don't feel so well. I feel like I'm losing control.

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Blood caught me in the eye and I paused with my arm in the air, still clutching the stone. Jake?s face had been smashed apart, his orbital bones caved in and his eyes rolled from his split-open sockets. I dropped the stone to the ground, heaving breath after breath. I blinked, wiping at my face with my sleeve and looked down to see a thick layer of crimson on my arm.
?Are you finished?? Eric said softly, his voice uneven. I turned around to face him, mouth half-open with a thousand reasons on my lips. Reasons that I had done this. Reasons I had to do this. But they all evaporated when I saw his red, tear-streaked eyes. His hair was even more disheveled than usual, like he?d been tearing at it for the past five minutes and his face was as pale as the moon. He stifled a sob. ?Because I?m pretty sure he?s dead now, Matt.?
I looked back to Jake?s corpse, and slowly rose to my feet. His face was mangled. Bone splinters lay scattered around what remained of his cheeks. I forced myself to look away, but there was something oddly intoxicating about it. The way the blood pooled beneath his head, the way his limbs had stopped twitching after my fifth strike with the stone. I licked my lips.
The medicine appears to be working well. You can go and play with your brother now, Matthew.
?We should be okay now,? I said, swallowing. My head felt woozy. Hazy.
?Should we?? Eric said, pulling off his glasses and dabbing at his eyes with a sleeve. ?Are you okay??
?What?? I shook my head. Of course I was okay, I was the older brother, wasn?t I? I could handle this. I had handled this for years. Just another notch on the trauma belt. No big deal. Why were my ears ringing? ?I?m fine.?
?Okay,? Eric said. Was that? anger in his voice? ?It got a little hard to tell back there.?
?I?? My heart beat slowed and the world refocused. ?I had to?? I looked at Jake and felt a sickness grow in my stomach. Had I really done that to him? ?He was going to hurt us, Eric.? I said the words because they were the words that seemed right to say. ?What was I supposed to do, let him drag us off to god knows where and turn us into ****ing... ?
?****ing what?? Eric said, rounding on me. ?Monsters??
I took a step back, feeling my vindication crumbling against his words. ?No, man?. Cryptids.? I felt off. Strange. Unwell. I licked my lips again. When did they get so dry? ?Just give me a second, will you??
He didn?t say anything, just stared at me with this crushing look of disappointment. Where tears had streaked his cheeks earlier, they were now a bright red, flush with anger. Resentment. Heaving a sigh, I walked off down the riverside, trying to piece together what had just happened. What might still be happening. Above, thunder cracked and I felt rain pelt my face. The storm was worsening. Of course it was.
?He was going to kill us,? I mumbled to myself, hoping that saying the words aloud would help me understand them. ?Or at least he was going to hurt us. Turn us into something horrible, definitely.? I had to kill him first. I had to. ?I didn?t have a choice.?
No, a voice somewhere inside me said. I did have a choice. He was unconscious, wasn?t he? We could have run. Left him there.
I chose to kill him.
More thunder, more rain. I pulled my jacket tighter around me, shivering as I did my best to come to terms with what happened. ?There?s no going back now,? I said quietly, doing the self-talk my therapist recommended. ?I have to accept it and move forward. I made a? difficult choice to protect my brother and--?
Beside me, the river gurgled and a large bubble grew on the surface, popping with a wet slosh. Had the current shifted? I slammed my eyes shut, trying to re-ground myself in the moment. I did my breathing exercises. Focused on the cold rain, the howling wind and the pain in my wrist.
Then a splash. Bigger, louder than any before. Like an entire tree fell into the damn drink.
?Eric!? I called. No time to feel sorry for myself. We weren?t safe yet.
?**** off, Matt.? He was further up the river. Had he not heard it over the wind?
?No, look.? I jogged back to him, doing my best to ignore my splitting headache, the heavy guilt in my gut. ?You?re right man I? I shouldn?t have done that. I don?t know why I did or why I didn?t listen to you but--?
The river?s current grew still, and something rumbled in the water. Stones rolled from the riverbank into the drink, and a dark shadow began to fill the surface of the channel.
Eric took a step back, eyes wide in terror. I knew exactly what he was thinking, because it was all I could think of too. Something was in the water. Had Jake summoned it with the stones?
?Eric,? I began, but he turned away from me. He started clambering up the bank of the river, toward the wood.
?Eric!? I shouted, scrambling after him. ?Can we talk??
?I don?t really feel like talking right now, Jake,? he said bitterly, stalking into the treeline. ?Let?s just get away from the damn water.?
I reached the top of the bank and then ran to catch up with him. ?I just need to talk about what happened earlier! Please.?
?I don?t want to talk about earlier,? Eric said flatly. He squinted up at the rainy sky through the forest canopy. ?The storm?s getting worse, and we?re not exactly dressed for the weather.? He tugged pointedly at his hoodie, wiping a wet mop of curly hair from his forehead. ?We need to find some shelter. We?re not making it down the mountain tonight.?
No, that much was true. It was an hour drive just getting up the mountain, and that was without whatever creatures the darkness had coaxed out. ?We can try the cabin,? I said, not feeling much like I deserved to be making suggestions anymore.
?The Beast knows about the cabin,? Eric argued. ?That?s assuming the cabin?s even still standing.? He shivered, bringing his hood up and over his head. ?But there?s the cave.?
The cave. We?d meant to explore it when we were kids, but grandma had stopped us. She said it was too far from the cabin, and that there were cougars in the woods. Bears.
?Right,? I said. ?Do you remember--?
?Yeah, I remember,? Eric said, stepping off. ?Uncle Jake was the one who told us about it when we were younger. It?s why I suggested it. If she didn?t want us going near it, and he did, then there?s a good chance that?s exactly where we need to be going.? He said the words with a finality that told me the conversation was over.
We walked for twenty minutes in silence. My conscience ate at me, the weather beat at me, and my body ached all over. But it was the small voice in the back of my head that haunted me more than anything. Familiar, but distant. Like a faint echo. My mother weeping.
Matthew, she said. Please.
?There it is,? Eric said, stopping suddenly. I stumbled, nearly colliding with him. I?d been so lost in my own thoughts that the world sorta melted away. He pointed up a small hill, where a pitch-black cave mouth yawned from the earth. It had a large entrance, easily big enough for an entire trailer to fit through, if not two.
Eric reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, turning the torchlight on. He scanned it into the mouth of the cave, and it looked as if the thing went on for some distance. Then the light sputtered, blinking, before vanishing completely. ?****,? he said. ?Battery?s dead. Too many texts to dad. Mind using yours??
?Of course, man.? I fumbled into my pocket for my own, feeling thankful I could be useful again. Feeling thankful I could do something -- anything -- to make our relationship feel normal again. ?Here,? I said, flicking my torch on.
We stepped into the cave carefully, our sneakers not ideal for walking on slick, wet cavern floors. Our progress came slowly, but that was fine by me. I didn?t know what we were likely to find in the cave, but I had my suspicions it wouldn?t be unguarded. I?d rather see the trap before it was sprung.
?Smell that?? Eric said, bringing his finger to his nose.
It reeked, like the worst smell I?d ever experienced. And it was getting worse the deeper we went. ?Yeah. Smells like something died in here.?
?That would be nice,? Eric said. ?But somehow I think it?s going to be much worse than that.?
I nodded. ?Probably.? More steps in silence, just us and the light of my phone dancing across slick cavern walls. ?Did you finish the book?? I asked.
?Most of it, yeah.?
?Most of it??
?I skimmed some pages. It looked like grandma had stuffed her notes into an actual paperback novel, maybe to hide it from visitors??
?But she wrote the novel too,? I said, remembering her name on the cover. ?Seems a lot of trouble to go to.?
?Maybe,? Eric said. He stopped suddenly. ?Wait a second, Matt! You?ve just made me think of something.?
?Yeah??
?Actually though.? He pulled the book from his hoodie and turned the first couple of pages. ?Bring the light over here a sec.?
I came closer, holding my phone aloft so that we could see the book clearly. He slid his finger down the page before jabbing at it with a victorious ?Ah hah!?
?What is it??
?Have a look,? he said, handing me the book. I squinted at the faded lettering.
Dedicated to my three little monsters, Jacob, Alice, and Nolan.
?It?s a dedication page? to Uncle Jake, mom and? Nolan??
Eric shook his head, his face a mask of disbelief. ?I just assumed anything to do with the ?novel? portion I could comfortably ignore. Why bother, right? We wanted to know about the research. What was really going on. But this? Who the **** is Nolan, Matt??
I blinked, trying to pull up any memory of the person. Had mom talked about him before she passed? Had dad? ?I have no idea,? I said, feeling useless all over again.
?This is something, though,? he said, his previous coolness replaced by a sense of academic excitement. If there was one thing that improved Eric?s mood, it was solving a problem, or at least getting part way there. ?She called them her three little monsters, which means?.?
?Grandma had another son.?
He grinned. ?Exactly, and we?ve got another uncle.?
Something moved in the distance. Like a footstep, echoing through the cave.
?****!? Eric said. ?The light, Matt!?
I was already fumbling with it, my fingers swiping the screen in an anxious flurry. Eventually I managed to shut it down. Darkness engulfed us. Eric, right beside me, disappeared entirely from my view. I reached out, grabbing his arm, and he jumped back.
?It?s me,? I whispered. ?I don?t want us losing each other.?
?Right? sure.?
The footsteps echoed closer now, but they sounded distinct from our own. Padded, almost. Like an animal. Like paws. My palms grew slick with sweat. Was it the Beast? Had it found us?
A growl reverberated through the cavern, low and guttural. Monstrous. I squeezed Eric?s arm tighter on instinct. I wasn?t going to lose him. I couldn?t.
Then, a voice.
?It?s dark.?
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