The air was thick, sulfuric, and unmoving. Crimson skies stretched endlessly above, casting an oppressive hue across the broken, scorched landscape. Two figures young, dirt-covered, and trembling hurried across the barren ground.
Arthur, fourteen, gripped his brother's hand with white knuckles. Tobi, twelve, kept pace beside him, eyes darting across every rock and shadow. Behind them, shrieks echoed inhuman and ever-closing.
They didn't know how long they'd been there. Hours? Days? Time twisted in this place.
Eventually, they found shelter in a jagged cave mouth that opened like a wound in the rock. Inside, they collapsed. For a long time, there was only the sound of breathing, ragged and hollow.
"Why…" Arthur began, his voice breaking.
Tobi looked up, eyes wide, lip trembling.
Arthur saw the tears gather, saw the question land like a stone. Tobi looked away, curled tighter in the shadows. Arthur said nothing more.
They survived. Somehow. Drinking cold water that dripped from the cave ceiling, crunching beetles in silence. When the creatures outside passed, they stayed still. When they came too close, they held their breath.
On the fourth day maybe fifth Tobi laughed. A full, open laugh. It startled Arthur.
"This is kinda better than home," Tobi said, still giggling. "No more leaking roof, no more broken heater, no more screaming… We're rid of them."
Arthur stood, tense. "We were rid of them because of you."
Silence followed. Cold and sharp.
The next days passed in a fog of hunger and fear. Then, Arthur found a weapon rusted, scratched, but real. A pistol. It lay in a pile of ash and bone. He picked it up and held it for a long time.
That night, as fire flickered from the sky, Arthur stared at the flames. Tobi sat across from him, legs pulled up to his chest.
"Why?" Arthur asked.
Tobi's smile returned. "Why I killed them, you mean?"
Arthur didn't answer.
Tobi continued, softly, as if telling a bedtime story. "I wanted to see what would happen if I pushed Mom down the stairs. She cried a lot. She always cried. But she didn't die right away. So… I helped. And then I staged it for Dad made it look like a burglar. Cut my cheek to sell it. He believed me. He snapped when he saw her. You know what happened after."
Arthur stared into the fire.
Tobi added, almost cheerfully, "Guess I broke him too."
Arthur's hand tightened around the pistol. He didn't lift it. Not yet.
"I know," Arthur whispered. "I knew it before you said anything. I'm not asking why you killed them. I'm asking… why you killed me. Why you dragged me here."
Tobi tilted his head. "I couldn't make it without you."
Arthur raised the gun, slowly.
Tobi's eyes glinted in the firelight. "What, you gonna shoot me? Get rid of me? You don't have the balls."
Arthur turned the barrel toward himself.
Tears blurred his vision. "No… I'm going to rid myself of you."
The cave went still.
And the crimson sky burned on.