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My brother Robert became a part of our family at two years old. At five years old, I was pretty excited to finally have a kid brother to play with, adopted or not. As most kids, especially boys, it was an adjustment for our difference in years but it wasn’t long before we learned to get along. Our family felt somehow more complete. That is...until Robert started acting strange.
From age two to eight, Robert was just fine. He was your typical, rambunctious boy that was into everything. But for the last two months, some behaviors began to manifest.
First, he would blank out on me. I chalked it up to him spacing out, simply being lost in thought. It wasn’t so much him spacing out, it was the extent of it. Literally I could be yelling while standing right in front of him and he wouldn’t register anything. Mom and Dad noticed it, and told me to let them know if he did it more. So he did, and they took him to a doctor. Apparently the doctor said that Robert was having absence seizures. I was old enough to understand, so I knew I had to watch him even more than usual. Yet, the behavior began to take some other turns.
His voice began to exhibit some changes in emotion. What use to be an upbeat kid began to sound more monotone, as if the very emotion was being sapped out of his voice. Mom and Dad said that he was probably dealing with his condition and not to get too worried. Although I knew of Robert’s condition, it was strange to see him walking and freeze completely in mid-step. After he snapped out of it, he would be seemingly unaware of what was happening. The episodes seemed accentuated by his monotone voice, asking if he “did it again.”
It made me sad and I wished I could do something, but my feeling of sadness began to change into feeling creeped out. I knew it was all explained medically, but you’d be scared too if you woke up like me, in the middle of the night with Robert standing over my bed.
“Ahh, Robby! What are you doing?!” I cried out, jolting up in bed. He responded after an uncomfortable pause, sounded more monotone than ever.
“Oh, I am sorry. Did I frighten you?”
“Yes! What are you doing in my room?”
“I apologize. I simply wanted to understand how you sleep so well.”
Dad came into the room with a concerned wrinkle in his brow.
“Chad? Rob? What’s going on?”
“Dad, I woke up to him standing over my bed!” He turned his head to Robert.
“Is that true, buddy?”
“Yes, father.”
Father? Robert normally didn’t call him that.
“Probably just sleep-walking.” He said softly, and started to usher Robert out.
“Dad?” The tone at which I asked snapped his head towards me. “Is there other things going on with Robby?”
“I...uh...I don’t know son.” His eyes looked heavy, somehow. “Let’s just pretend he didn’t do it for now. I know the sleepwalking is kinda creepy, but we don’t want to make him feel bad about it.”
I accepted his explanation, but something just didn’t feel quite right. When my parents let me get some time on the computer to play games, I looked up anything I could find about sleepwalking. It seemed it was possible to talk in your sleep, but Robert always sounded far away so there was no telling if he was awake or not. His response about understanding how I slept well told me that he was awake enough to understand me, but sometimes people could give lucid responses while asleep as well. The most logical question was to ask him if he remembered our convesrsation.
“Hey, Rob.” I approached him after my internet search. He looked back at me with eyes that saw me, but seemed to look past me. “Do you remember standing in my room last night and talking to me?”
He stared blankly before responding.
“Yes, you asked me what I was doing there. I responded that I want to understand how you sleep so well.”
“What did you mean by that?”
“I meant that....” He looked away from me.
“It meant that what?”
“I....I’m not sure. Perhaps I was....sleepwalking. Yes, I was sleepwalking.” His averted gaze told me otherwise.
“Robert, c’mon. You were awake. You just had to be.”
“I’m sorry to bring you discomfort, brother. I just, wanted to know you better.”
A cold shiver went down my spine.
“What do you mean by that? Stop being weird like that.”
“I just wanted to learn to be more like you.”
“Like me, how?”
“I.....I don’t know.” His head suddenly jerked to the side, and I jumped back.
“Are you okay, Rob?”
“Yes, I am fine. Why do you ask?”
“...nothing. It’s probably nothing.”
I told my parents about it, and they shrugged it off and took him to his room for a nap. That actually seemed to be what they did every time he spaced out for a while.
“Your brother just needs extra rest, that’s all.” My dad would say while gently placing his hand on my shoulder. So my brother acted kinda weird and slept walk...no big deal, right? It seemed that way, until one day things got overly strange.
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. We’d all finished lunch and went to do our separate activities. Mom was on the phone, Dad was typing up something for work, and I played a video game for a bit. It didn’t even occur to me what Robert was doing until I went into the garage to get something out of the car. When I opened the door from our kitchen to the garage, I was greeted to a most horrific sight. Robert was standing there in front of a group of shelves, covered in what looked like oil.
“Rob?” I said. My brother slowly turned his head in my direction, and I could see that oil was running down the corners of his mouth. A can of what looked like machine oil was clutched in his right hand. He stood near a wastebasket, and when I ran over I could see that chewed up food was inside. “Rob, don’t drink that! That’s why you threw up, what are you doing?”
He only met me with his troubling glance.
“Mom! Dad!” I shouted.
“Why are getting them?” Robert’s silence now broken. Oddly, he now looked mad.
“Because you’re sick.”
“I’m not sick. My brain is working just fine.”
“No, you’re not fine. Give me the oil can, Rob.” He only glared back, a look of anger on his face. “Please, Rob it’ll make you sicker.” I grabbed the oil can and tried to pry it out of his hands. He seemed to have a good grip and I couldn’t get it away from him.
“Rob, stop. Give it to me.” I tried prying his fingers off, but he had a vice grip.
“Hey, what’s going on in here?!” Dad now entered, and his eyes went wide at the scene.
“He’s drinking machine oil, dad! Help me get it off of him!”
Together, we attempted to pry the can away from him but it was extremely hard. Robert had some sort of death grip. For someone three years younger, he was surprisingly strong. After we managed to peel it away from him, Robert did something that shocked us all. He shoved me, and I went flying into the wall. The impact sent a shooting pain through my shoulder, and I yelped accordingly.
“Son!” He rushed over to check on me. Mom now entered.
“Chad, are you.....oh God, Robert!”
“Call the ambulance! I’m gonna get your brother to the bathroom and get him to throw this up. Your mom will stay with you.” He shot a glance at my mom, and I couldn’t place what it meant exactly. Hours later, my shoulder was checked and it was only a mild contusion. Robert stayed at the hospital for a while. Dad said they needed a major psych evaluation since his behavior took such a drastic turn. His stomach was pumped so all was well. It was a whole week before I saw him again.
“So, everything seems to be back to normal.” Dad told me right before Mom brought Robby home. “But we still have to keep an eye on him. If he gets tired or acts strange at all, he just a nap like before, okay?” I nodded. It felt horrible to say, but I was unsure how happy I was to have him home. They said he was better, but something within me didn’t believe them.
But Robert came home, and everything seemed fine. He had an episode here or there so I would tell Dad, who would promptly usher to him to his bed. Maybe six months later, my parents had to gather some things from the store.
“Your brother is still napping, so don’t disturb him, okay?” He told me with a stern look.
’Yes, sir.”
“We shouldn’t be gone for long.”
After they left, my mind began to wander. Video games didn’t sound fun. TV wouldn’t hold my attention. It was one of those days where nothing seemed right. So I began thinking over all the weird events with my brother leading up to now. Something just felt wrong about everything. It was like there were scattered puzzle pieces that were forced to fit together even though they didn’t. So being the curious young man that I was, I found myself slowly turning the knob to my little brother’s room.
Upon entering, I noticed my brother was dead to the world. His breathing even seemed nonexistent. I nosed around his room, not knowing exactly what I was looking for. I’d hoped to find something, anything to explain better what was going with him. After having zero luck, I turned my attention to Robert.
“What’s your deal, little bro?” I whispered, then something caught my eye. He seemed to be wearing ear buds. My eyes followed the cord from around his head to the wall.
Weird...they must not be earbuds. It goes straight to the outlet.
I moved Robert ever so slowly to the side to see where the cord was going, and he didn’t stir the least bit. Afraid of startling him and getting thrown by accident again, I decided to shone a flashlight at him to see if I could wake him up. I felt like the world’s worst brother, but to me it looked like Robert was more dead than asleep. If my parents asked I could always say I was checking on him.
I found a flashlight in a drawer, and flicked it on and off at his closed eye lids.
Nothing.
Hands shaking, I stepped over to him and lifted his eyelids. The sight of his eyes staring back at me made my blood run cold, but he didn’t stir at all. Cringing all the while, I shined the flashlight directly into his eye.
Again....nothing.
Even stranger, I took note that his pupils didn’t change. I moved the flashlight where I had the light right up into his eye. The pupil didn’t get smaller at all.
This isn’t right.
Now the cord near his head was beckoning. I was in too deep at this point, and if I didn’t see what the cord was going to I was going to lose my mind. Throat dry, I reached my arm underneath Robert and slowly rolled him over just enough to see what I wanted to know. After seeing it, I dropped my brother back on to the bed and covered my mouth to keep from screaming.
No, it couldn’t be.
But what I saw was exactly what it looked like.
The cord was plugged into the back of Robby’s neck...
“Chad, what are you doing?” My father’s voice shocked me into dropping the flashlight.
“I...ehh...did you....”
Before either of us said anything, the look on my father’s face told me all I need to know. He knew.
“Son.....” The tone of disappointment was clear, and he casually entered the room. “I really didn’t want you to find out this way.”
“What do you mean? Why the hell is Robert plugged inot the wall!”
“Language, son. Language.”
“I’m not concerned about....”
“Chad, it’s okay.”
He made his way around the bed to the other side where I was standing, and I froze. There was nowhere to go. He had me cornered, and my dad accentuated that fact by putting his arm around me.
“Son, there’s nothing to worry about. Everything’s going to be okay.” I was so afraid and confused, tears began to rolling down my face.
“I don’t understand.....”
“You will son. Very soon, you will.”
I felt the prick of a needle enter my arm, and I saw my father react to my look of betrayal. Soon, the world began to blur and I felt myself fall into a deep sleep.
Bright, white light assaulted my eyes into awakening. The first sound I registered was the steady beep of my heart rate. I found myself in a hospital room, the stereotypical white-washed institutional walls you see on television. I tried to move, but was held firm with restraints to a bed. A light went green near me, and soon a nurse along with my parents entered the room.
“Mom...Dad...”
“It’s okay, dear. You’re going to be better soon.” My mother spoke, with such a calm voice that it bothered me. She might as well be trying to hypnotize with me with her words.
“What’s happening?” I said, tears welling up again.
“Son, listen to your mother. You’re going to be okay. Your brother is going to be okay, too. Trust us on this one.”
“How can I trust anything you say? You have me restrained to a bed!”
“I know its stressful, but we can’t have you leaving. This is for your own good.”
“Stop saying that and tell me what you’re going to do to me. Are you brainwashing me, is that it? Like you brainwashed Robert?!” Both my parents looked at each other and laughed. I felt like they were strangers to me.
“You’re wrong. We helped Robert. I think it’s better if we just show you. Robert, come in here!”
Moments later, Robert entered and walked up to my bed. My father had him turn with his back to me, then he reached into the back of his head and began pulling. A layer of his skin came up, revealing some sort of receptacle. I felt sick to my stomach.
“You see, son. We picked Robert to be your brother because he’s special. He’s got the most essential part of being a human. See?” He peeled back more layers of his skin until he removed it all from his head completely. A glass dome housed what appeared to be a human brain.
“Family is so important to us that we wanted to find a way to be a family forever.” Dad smiled as he spoke, leering like a mad scientist. “And Robert was the first successful test subject! We were so excited we did the same for us. Now with him, there were some kinks to work out but I got him fixed right up and working again! We wanted to wait until you were a little older to do the same for you, but since you found out about Robert it only made sense to bring you along.”
“So you’re....?” Dad nodded, and he showed his understanding by pulling up the back of his neck to show the same receptacle as Robert’s.
“Don’t worry, everything is completely painless. We’ll erase your memories before we transplant you into your new body. The mechanical vessel accepts your brain better that way. We found out the hard way with too many others that the brain will die otherwise. I’m so glad we got to talk. It just didn’t feel right not to talk before we began. It’s more for me though, because you really won’t remember any of this.”
My head was spinning, and I held back the urge to throw up.
“Shhhh. There, there.” He turned a nozzle, and I felt the world beginning to go hazy again.
“Now, don’t you worry son. Like I said before, it’s all going to be okay. Before you know it, all this unpleasantness is going to feel like a bad, bad dream.....”
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