I stood in place, watching my nerdy brother bolt off after some lizard or bird or something that he claimed was a dragon. Sighing, I grabbed his backpack, which he had left behind, slung it over one shoulder, and began walking after him. But after a while, I lost track of where he was, deciding to call out.

"Hey, Luke, where are you?" No response. Probably ignoring me again, I thought, continuing to call his name as I moved on. Still, I got no response, and after ten minutes, I began to get worried. Then out of nowhere, I heard a scream. But it wasn't just any scream. It was Luke's.

"Luke?!" I yelled questioningly, beginning to panic. Where is he?! And why did he scream?! I bolted in the direction of the sound, coming to a semi-large hole in the ground. "Luke, you down there?!" I called down. Still I got nothing.

"He's not going to answer." I froze up at the sudden voice, unsure if I imagined it or not. My eyes darted around me, seeing no one. Slowly, I turned around to face...nothing? Now I was confused. I could've sworn I heard a voice, but there was no one.

Great, I think Luke's nerdiness has messed with my mind, I thought. Sighing, I began walking again, still calling for my brother. After a while, I gave up, deciding to go home and wait to see if he came back. I mean, it wouldn't have been the first time he ran off due to a supposed sighting of some creature. Usually, when that happened, I'd head back, only for him to come trudging home later with a saddened expression at his failure to find what he went after. But I couldn't shake the feeling that something bad had happened.

When I got home, my mom immediately questioned where Luke was. I replied with telling her that he ran off again, and would probably be home soon. This was proved wrong when the sun began setting three hours after I got back, and Luke was still missing. Worried, I told my mom, and the two of us set out into the forest in the dark to look for him.

An hour later, we came back, unsuccessful. As soon as we entered the house, my mom grabbed the home phone and called 911, reporting on Luke's disappearance. When she hung up, she told me to go to bed and not to worry about finishing my homework. So I did.

That night, I barely got any sleep. I just couldn't diminish the voice in my head that screamed that this was my fault since I left instead of helping, and that I wasn't there when he needed me most. Well, I was a year younger than him, so he usually said that he should be looking out for me, not the other way around. But I wasn't the ignorant one who paid no attention to their surroundings.

At around three in the morning, I finally dozed off. The next day, I didn't go to school, since I was too tired and stressed to be able to pay attention in class. So I decided to go back into the forest to look for Luke. My mom said the police had it covered, and that I didn't have to go, but I went anyways.

I headed back to the hole in the ground I had noticed before, staring down into it. It was a far drop, around fifteen feet. If he had fallen down there, that would explain the screaming, but not the fact that he never responded when I called.

Suddenly, the dirt below one of my feet gave way, sending me tipping over the hole. But instead of falling, I felt something grab onto the back of my shirt, holding me up.

"Hold on!" said a muffled voice, one I had heard before. I nodded and stood as still as a plank, feeling myself being pulled backwards towards stable ground. Finally, I was pulled away from the hole, left to fall back onto the hard dirt. Moaning, I sat up, looking around for whomever had helped me.

Then I noticed a creature, around a foot tall, standing beside me. It looked like a bird with an arrow shaped head, a large, blue, feathery body, white wings, and a bare skin tail with red, blue, and yellow feathers at the tip.

"Are you ok?" it spoke, giving me a worried look. I stared blankly at it for a second, before punching it. Immediately after, I scrambled to my feet, putting a few yards between it and me. "Hey, what the heck!" it yelled, anger replacing the previous worry. "I save you from falling down that hole, and you repay me by attacking me?!"

"Y-you talk..." I said, paralyzed in a fighting stance, hands balled into fists. I was ready to strike this...thing...in a moment's notice if necessary.

"Yes, I can talk," it said in a matter-of-fact tone, looking at me like I was stupid.

"But...you aren't...human..." I said. "Animals can't talk."

"Well, I can," it replied, stepping closer. I tensed, crouching slightly more, ready to attack it. It raised its wings in the air in response like any human would do in surrender. "Woah, calm down. I'm not going to hurt you." Slowly, I lowered my fists as it continued. "Besides, you're like, five times my size. And you're human. Fighting you would be really dumb on my part."

"Ok..." I said, still completely stunned. Luckily, I was able to relax, seeing this creature couldn't hurt me, or wouldn't. As far as I knew, it could poison me if it wanted to. Yet I wondered why it thought attacking a human would be dumb. It could probably take me down, seeing that it had the strength to pull me up from the hole.

After a minute of silence, the thing spoke in a joyful voice. "Well, my name's Meeka! Nice to meet you!" It, or she, held out a wing to me. I hesitated to grab it, unsure what to do. But eventually, I did, and she shook my hand like a human would.

Pulling my hand away, I awkwardly asked, "Uh, not to be rude, but do you mind telling me what the heck you are?"

"I'm a cymaris, a creature from..." She trailed off, looking into space for a few seconds, before shaking its head. "N-nevermind."

"Ok..." I said unsurely at her suspicious behavior. "So what's a cymaris?"

"A creature that looks like me, and a myth by human standards," Meeka replied. Wait, a myth?!

"Luke was right?" I quietly asked myself.

Hearing me, Meeka asked, "What?"

"Oh, nothing..." I replied, attempting to hide what I said, but deciding to say it anyways. "It's just, my brother Luke always believed in mythical creatures. I thought they were just...you know...myths."

"Well, I'm real," she said, smiling. But then her expression changed to worry as she said, "You were looking for your brother, Luke I think, right?"

"Yeah," I said, surprised she mentioned it. Does she know something about it?

"Well, I-" She was cut off by someone yelling, causing the two of us to freeze.

"Who's there?!" Oh, good. Just the police, I thought. For a second, I thought that it was another mythical creature or some other wacky thing that shouldn't really exist. However, Meeka didn't look relieved. She looked, worried.

"Oh no," she muttered, staring in the direction of the cops. Turning back to me, she said, "I really have to go."

"But what about-"

"No time," she said, cutting me off. Looking again in the cop's direction, she said, "I can't let them see me. I've already risked enough trusting you to know about me, but them...I can't let them find me." Then she took off into the trees, but not before stopping mid flight to say, "Don't tell anyone about this." I nodded in confusion and watched her fly off, disappearing from sight.

Just then, the police came bursting out of the brush, scanning the area before their eyes rested on me.

"Kid, what are you doing out here?" one man asked.

"I was looking for my brother," I replied. He shared a glance with another cop, before turning back to me.

"Look kid, you need to go home. I could be dangerous out here. We've got the search covered, so don't worry about having to find your brother yourself." I was about to argue with him, ready to yell that I was not a kid and, that I wanted to be helping to look for him, but then I realized that arguing with an authority figure would be a bad idea. A really bad idea.

"Fine," I muttered, angrily heading home. On my way there, I took the time to think about the cyphis, cymarius, whatever it was called, named Meeka. I didn't know if she was real or a hallucination. Possibly a dream. I was up late last night, so hallucination or dream seemed most reasonable. But with the realism of the situation, all reason was thrown out the window.

Reason would say that these creatures aren't real, and that this was all a figment of my imagination. And I followed reason. Or, I used to. But after that day, I began to question all I knew, and the possibility that these things are real. But the fact that Luke was right was insane. Or maybe I was going insane. Who knew.

When I got home, I immediately went up to my room. I let myself fall onto the bed, physically and emotionally exhausted by the day's events. I decided to just get some sleep and hope that this was all a bad dream. But no matter what I told myself, I knew, deep down, that this was really happening. Luke was missing, myths were apparently real, and all I knew was beginning to fall apart.