Nightmare

I stand on the heath, the wind blowing my hair into my face.
He's late. He said he would be here by now, but he is late.
I wonder if they have caught him, my kind, sweet idiotic brother.
Please...
I turn as the sound of someone swearing floats toward me on the breeze.
He has snagged his jeans on a bramble, and he is hopping on one leg trying to get free.
I run toward him and hold him close.
"I thought they'd got you! Don't you EVER do that to me again!"
He smiles and wraps his arms around me.
The knife feels like a shard of ice as it slides into my back.
My breath has left me; I cannot ask him why.
His skin turns gray beneath my dying hands.
"Oh, but they did..." His voice is dry and dusty. "But this has happened before, hasn't it? And it will happen again, and again, and again..." My brother turns to dust and blows away on the wind.
I fall to the ground.
Everything fades away.

I stand on the heath, the wind blowing my hair into my face.
He's late...