I slowly backed away from my brother; I could not understand what was happening. But before I had any more time to think about it, Richard leaped out and knocked me to the ground once again. As I looked up at him he was no longer hissing or moaning, he was staring down at me. Although I was gazing into the eyes of an Unlucky, I saw Richard inside. He was there, in control of his actions. I tried to push him away, but by that time he had his hands around my neck choking the life out of me. When things started to go blurry, he spoke to me once more. My brother told me how he hated me, how I horded the family, that I was always the favorite. He wished that I was the one who died from the sickness instead of our father; that everything would have worked out if I had only died.

I felt his hand start to tighten around my throat with each word he said. Richard went on to confess that he knew what he was doing when he assaulted Maria for the cure, and explained he would have done unimaginable things to Renee if I hadn’t stopped him. While he continued his monolog, I was feeling around for some sort of object to use against Rich before I blacked out. Eventually I felt a small stalagmite and prayed he wouldn’t realize what I was up to.

Finally, with one forceful tug I snapped the sharp stone from off its base and in a single motion swung the object and stabbed Richard in his left eye. Dark tarry blood spayed from out behind the dagger-shaped rock. He let go of me and instantly I felt oxygen return to my body. My brother fell backward howling in agony. I got back to my feet as fast as I possibly could. As I stood I saw my shotgun wedged between two stones. I rushed over and tried to pull it from the stone vise, but it was stuck! I looked over my shoulder; Richard was still rolling around on the ground in pain, so I briefly turned my attention to the gun.

For several seconds I tugged on the body of the weapon, but it would not move. When I noticed that I could no longer hear my brother I turned around to find him standing behind me, holding the blood covered stone in his right hand. He swung the rock downward in a stabbing motion, but I grabbed his arm with both of my hands as the bloody tip was only inches from my face.

Rich began growling like an animal as I forced the rock further back. We stood there face to face for a moment or two before I kicked him directly in the stomach, knocking him backward to the ground. I turned back toward the gun and with one strong swift kick the weapon fell out from between the two large stones. I snatched up my shotgun and my brother quickly began to back pedal. He started to beg for mercy saying that it was the sickness that caused him to do all those mean and horrible things, but I was not buying it. I told Richard to say a fast prayer to God. He started to cry uncontrollably, begging me to spare his life. As he continued to weep I noticed that his cuts and scratches were healing before my eyes, and his looks were more human and less Unlucky. Before I knew it, he no longer looked like an Unlucky but was back to the normal human form of my brother.