The Devil Wore A Brown Suit

I refuse to let my brother win. I refuse to let anyone have any kind of power over me. I miss my brother. My real brother, not this monster he has become. I miss my home. I miss my father. I do not even know

my children. I only have flashes of memories of them.

Brooke comes back into the room. I am still on the floor. Camilla and Daniel are with her.

"Is she okay?" Daniel asks.

"I am fine brother. I am overwhelmed that is all. I am just so happy to be back with you I had to cry it out. I am sorry. Please forgive me." I tell him.

He comes to me and helps me off the floor. "My dear sister you are safe now." He hands me my dress. "Camilla make sure she is dressed and on time. Brooke come with me." He tells them as he rushes out of the room.

"Do you think he believed me?" I ask Camilla. She nods. Why is she still so scared?

"Let's get you ready. We cannot be late. If you are late he might hurt me. Please get ready." She says. She is crying.

"Okay. I will hurry. I am sorry that I delayed you." I tell her as I wipe the tears from her eyes.

I hurry and dress in this hideous white gown. This is ridiculous. I have to remain vigilant for these women who are risking everything to help me. Poor Camilla, I know she is going crazy. She is pregnant by an evil sadistic man. She cannot be okay. I cannot cause her or Brooke any harm. I have to be on my best behavior. I have to mind my thoughts.

Camilla and I rush to the bonfire. I do not even have time to take in how we are getting there.

She is pushing me to hurry. "We cannot be late." She screams.

I am on her heels as fast as I can go. I am trying to see where we are in case I need to run. What am I thinking? No matter what I cannot abandon her or Brooke. They both have to be saved. I need to be saved. There is no one left to help us. We are on our own. We, three women, will have to protect ourselves.

We arrive. Everyone looks tired. They look beat down. Maybe he has them all trapped here. We take our seat in front of the fire. My brother is on my left. Brooke is seated next to him. Camilla smiles at Daniel.

"Brother Daniel, we made it. We are one time." She weakly says to him.

I bet he feels so superior to her. I smile at him. I have smiled way too much at him. He motions for Brooke to go sit with me. She kisses him on the cheek as she leaves her seat beside him.

She slowly walks in front of the fire. She pauses. She looks like she wants to jump in it. Everyone here looks like they would rather be on fire than be here with him. She shakes her head and walks over to me. "Do you mind if I sit with you and Camilla?"She asks.

I nod and move closer to Camilla. She folds her dress under her and sits beside me. "Are you ladies okay?" she asks. We both nod.

I continue to watch my brother. She shakes her head for me to stop. I guess it's obvious I have a gross disgust for him. I am trying so hard to hide my feelings. "Perdition, you have to focus. You need to grow your powers so you can save us." Camilla says.

I feel bad. I am being selfish. I take a deep breath and I try to relax. "Do not panic!" Brooke says to me.

Several young ladies walk among the crowd. I cannot tell what they are doing. "Not my sister, wife, or Camilla." He yells at them.

They continue passing out what appears to be a drink. A nice-looking young man brings the three of us each a glass of wine. I guess we get the good stuff.

"Do you trust me?" he begins to speak to them. He looks at me and smiles. He is a demon. He looks older every single minute. "Who is willing to be the next sacrifice to God?" he asks.

I cannot move. I must continue to sit here. There is no way this is real. Brooke and Camilla reach out to hold my hand. I sit my glass of wine down on the ground in front of me. Brooke gives me a look. I know i means to remain calm. I hope I can.

A young man walks up. "I am willing to sacrifice myself." He says.

He walks to the fire and stands in front of it with his drink. My brother smiles.

"See. It is that easy folks. Who is next?" he asks.

One by one for the next hour they come up and proclaim their love for him and offer to sacrifice their life. I sit here in horror between his wife and his pregnant victim. This cannot be good. This will not end well. A very young pregnant woman comes up to him and begs for her life. "No worries child." He says as he checks the bottom of her drink. "Your drink is safe. I would never harm a child."

She is so thankful. She joins the others at the fire. "Among you, there is one drink. Just one that is poisonous. This person will die." He says "Now I command you to walk out on faith and drink the potion. Sacrifice yourself to me."

Everyone begins to drink. No one is falling ill. No one is fainting. No one is dying. Nothing is happening. The young pregnant lady has not drunk yet. He goes over to her and grabs her

. "Don't you trust me?" he asks. She immediately drinks every drop of it to appease him.

A young man runs to her. "I will take her place."He says.

My brother grins snaps his fingers. Two goons appear. These muscled up idiots grab him and throw him in the fire. The man is screaming from inside the fire. "I am your sacrifice let her be." The young lady is not moving. I want to go to her. Camilla and Brooke have a hold on me. I cannot move.

"Stop" Brooke whisper to me. The goons pick up the lifeless young lady and begin the walk back to camp with her. He motions for them to stop. He walks over to Brooke.

"Do you want the babies or should I throw her in the fire." He asks her.

"I'll take care of them. May I go help deliver them please?" She asks "Can I take Izzy and Camilla?"

He nods. As we get up to leave he grabs Camilla. "See my dear if you disobey I will poison you and take those babies?" he tells her.

"I would never betray you, sir." She says as she walks away. The goons walk with her quickly to camp.

The three of us rush back. Brooke has built a beautiful nursery for children of the fellowship. Blue, yellow, and pink painted beds are lined up against the walls. Each crib made up perfectly against the walls. I walk up to one that is decorated perfectly.

I notice it already has a name on it; Adrianna it says above the bed. "Where is this child?" I ask.

No one answers me. Camilla and Brooke are in the back with the young lady. There are no sounds. Just me talking to myself as I examine this creepy nursery. I walk to the next bed, it says Wallace. I continue to every bed. They all have names on them. I cannot help but wonder where these children are now.

I should go check on Camilla. She is fragile. I cannot imagine how she feels helping Brooke deliver babies out of a dead woman. I walk past all the cribs again. I don't even look at the names this time. I just walk past. I hope they all lived.

As I start down the hall, I hear my brother's voice. I can't make out what he is saying. I keep going down the hall. I need to check on Camilla and Brooke. As I get to the end of the hall there is a door with a lot of light shining underneath. This is it.

I reach for the doorknob and Daniel grabs me. "Are you sure you want to see that?" he asks.

"I do not want to see it, but I thought they could use my help," I respond.

Daniel puts his arm around me to guide me down the hall. He is trying to keep me away. I wonder why.

"Are you sure brother?" I ask in my sweetest voice.

"Yes, Izzy. I am positive you do not need to go into that room. It would break your little heart." As the words come out of his mouth the light catches his eyes behind his dark sunglasses. His once beautiful blue eyes are now black. What happened to my brother? He is gone.

"Are you okay sister? You look a bit frightened?" He pushes my hair out of my face as he looks in my eyes for answers. I smile.

I am scared to death at this very second, but I do not want him to know. "I am fine brother. I just wanted to help." He stops me before I can say anything else.

"My dear sweet sister, You have always been a helper. Haven't you? You always want to help those beneath us." He continues to push me toward the nursery. "Brooke is a helper too. I think that is why I love her so much. She wants to help everyone. She can't, but she wants to." He stops talking as we reach the end of the hall. He scans the room of all the cribs. "She wanted to help all these children. She wanted to give them life. She wanted each of them to live to their full potential. She can't save them all."

He speaks in a wicked manner. I am not sure it is even him speaking. He sounds like a completely different person. Is he the same boy I grew up with or did he become something sinister when he left me in the void to die?

"Daniel!" I hear a voice scream from the back of the nursery. He walks toward the voice. I watch him as he goes down the hall toward the voice. It has to be Camilla or Brooke. He goes into the room he stopped me from entering. I can hear him arguing with them. I can't understand them. I know it's not going as planned. I can't take it anymore. I am going to look for myself. Something is going on in there he doesn't want me to know about it.

It seems like forever when the three of them come out. The goons follow with the lifeless body of the young lady wrapped in a sheet. The goons walk out the door with her. One of them stops just outside the door waiting for instructions.

door.

My brother yells "The fire will be fine. Make everyone watch her burn before you release them to their cabins." The goons leave with her.

Camilla and Brooke are devastated. "It is twins, but only one lived," Camilla tells me.

My brother is annoyed. "The girl is alive. I will bury the boy in the morning." She tells my brother.

He stomps down the hall and goes into the delivery room. When he returns he is carrying the baby boy and girl. "Burn these things with their mother." He throws them in the first crib and starts out the

Brooke runs behind him. "Please let me keep the girl. Please let me keep her." She can't murder a child. I can see she is not going to murder anyone. She is way too precious for my brother. How in the hell did she end up with him? How did any of them end up here? It has to be a trap.

He stops at the door and turns to her. "Listen to me very carefully." He grabs her tight, "you can keep her but she had better not be a problem. Burn the boy" she agrees.

"Thank you." Camilla and I are huddled together around the babies, one dead baby and one living snuggled up to its deceased womb mate. This is horrible.

"I have to take care of the boy. Can you two please give her a bath and dress her?"

Brooke picks up the boy and takes him into the kitchen. She is singing to his lifeless body and dressing him. She is planning to bury him. I can see it in her eyes. She has no intention of burning this

baby.

"Camilla bring me the powder," Brooke instructs Camilla.

Camilla goes back to the delivery room and brings out a syringe and a powdery substance. She starts mixing it and draws it up in the syringe. She gives the baby boy a shot and he is awake. She looks at me. "I need you to call Labith now." I am in total shock.

"Wait. What? How am I supposed to do that?" I ask.

"You know exactly what to do. So do it. We do not have much time?" Brooke says,

Camilla takes me by the hand. We walk outside the door. Sarge approaches us. He has my mother's bracelet with him.

"How? This is my brothers' piece." I ask.

"Just call her." They both demand. I take the piece from Sarge and Call to Labith.

"Labith my guardian please come to me. I am the child you raised and we need you." I lay the piece on the ground.

We wait.

It seems like forever before Labith appears. I have missed her. She immediately goes to Brooke.

"I am here for him." She takes the child into her arms.

She comes to me. She hugs me. The precious boy in her arms smiles in his sleep.

"Why are you taking him?" I ask.

"I have taken every boy child born at this camp. It's hard for Brooke or Camilla to call me. We have almost been caught by your brother a few times. You can reach right into the underworld and bring me out, my child." She begins to walk into the night. "Come Sarge she calls to him. Your journey here is done." Sarge licks my hand and leaves with the baby boy and Labith.

"Will one of you tell me what is going on?" I ask.

Brooke picks up the baby girl and hands her to me. "He would've used them to make everyone suffer. The girls he will spare but the boys are in for a horrible life. I send them to Labith. She cares for them. He needs a set of twins to open the door. You already know this. He needs two he can sacrifice. Two will open the door and two will hold it open. The two that hold it open will die. Their lifeless bodies will hold the door just long enough to bring hell on earth." She says.

"What about Camilla's baby?" I ask.

"Babies." She speaks up. "There are two. He will kill me if we don't figure a way out of here. We need you, Izzy. The children of this camp need you to pull yourself together and fight." Camilla and Brooke gather around me and the infant.

"Get us out and I will take you to your children Izzy." Brooke pauses takes a moment to nod at Camilla that it is okay if I know the truth, "We know where he is keeping them."

My devious brother has them. "Okay," I respond. "I can do whatever you need me to do."