My older brother and I were inseparable after our parents passed away.
He promised me we would always stay together.
“No matter what,” he used to say.
And for a while… he meant it.
He helped me find work, helped me move into my own apartment.
He called me every night just to check on me.
He was my only family left.
Then, little by little, he started to disappear.
First, he would miss a few calls.
Then he stopped answering completely.
His door was always locked.
His curtains always closed.
And when I asked if everything was okay, he would just say:
“I’m fine. Don’t come over.”
That was the first time I felt something was wrong.
One night, I couldn’t take it anymore.
I drove to his house.
His car was outside.
The lights were off.
The house looked… abandoned.
I knocked once.
Nothing.
I knocked again, harder.
Still nothing.
I was about to leave when I heard his voice.
From the other side of the door:
“Go away.”
I froze.
It was his voice… but weak, shaky, like he hadn’t slept in days.
Me: “Open the door. It’s me.”
Silence.
Then the lock clicked.
The door opened only a few inches.
Just enough for me to see one of his eyes.
It didn’t look like him.
His eyes were swollen, red, terrified.
Me: “What’s happening to you?”
He spoke in a whisper, barely moving his lips:
“I’m not alone.”
My heart dropped.
Me: “Who’s in there?”
He shook his head slowly.
“They’re listening.”
Me: “Who?”
He swallowed hard. I could see him shaking.
“Don’t come back here. Ever.”
And just like that, he slammed the door.
I stood there on the porch, cold, confused, sick to my stomach.
I called his name.
No answer.
No sound at all.
I walked back to my car… numb.
That night, I reported a welfare concern to the police.
They checked his house.
No one was inside.
No signs of struggle.
No signs of him.
Just an empty house.
But the police told me something I can’t forget:
The locks were inside.
The windows were sealed shut.
And there was no possible way someone could have left the house without being seen.
My brother was gone.
And to this day… I still don’t know if he walked out on his own…
or if something else walked him out.
