My Gremlin Sibling

There is a sacred law in a shared household: Thou shalt not touch the leftovers.

For eight agonizing hours at school, I had survived on nothing but a lukewarm juice box and sheer willpower. The only thing keeping me going was the memory of the refrigerator’s top shelf. Waiting there, wrapped perfectly in foil, was a stack of thick, fluffy, golden-brown pancakes from breakfast. I had already planned the reheating strategy: toaster oven for that fresh texture, followed by a reckless cascade of maple syrup.

When I finally burst through the front door, I practically lunged at the refrigerator. I pulled the handle, stared at the top shelf, and felt my heart drop into my shoes.

Empty.

Nothing remained but a faint circle of condensation where the plate used to be.

Deep, primordial rage surged through my viens. I didn’t want to accuse anyone too quickly. I wanted to be logical. But deep down, I knew there was only one creature in a five-mile radius capable of such blatant disrespect.

I marched down the hallway and pushed open my brother’s door. The blinds were pulled tight, plunging the room into a cave-like darkness. And there, sitting right in the center of the floor, was my Gremlin sibling. I call him a gremlin because, frankly, he looks like one. He was hunched over, backlit by the eerie glow of his computer monitor, aggressively picking his teeth with one of his gnarly claws.

On the floor beside him sat the empty, sticky evidence.”Did you eat my Pancakes?” I demanded, my voice trembling with hunger-fueled fury. He didn’t even look guilty. He just smirked, smacked his lips and leaned back. “Oh, those? Yeah. They were delicious. A little cold, but the syrup really held up.”

My eyes traveled down from his smug face to the object beneath him. He wasn’t just sitting on the floor. He was treating my hard-shelled, expensive travel suitcase like a lounge chair.

That was the finaly staw. “Get off my suitcase!” I roared, lunging forward and snatching the handle. I yanked it away so fast he nearly toppled backward into his laundry pile. “You are the most rude, greedy creature on this planet! Do you have zero respect for my personal property? Or boundaries? Or basic human decency?” He just chuckled, completely unfazed by the lecture.

Realizing words were useless against a monster, I decided to deploy heavy security. I stepped out into the hallway and let out a sharp, authoritative whistle. “Pounds! Come here, boy! Guard!” A heavy rhythmic thud-thud-thud echoed from the living room. Seconds later, Pounds—our massive overweight sauage-shaped-dog waddled into view. He looked at me, looked at my brother, and then looked at the floor.

With a heavy sigh that sounded remarkably human, Pounds collapsed. He didn’t even make it all the way into the room. He just dropped onto his side, his back half in the hallway and his front half in the bedroom, instantly drifting off into a deep nap.

I stared down at the snoring roadblock. What a guard dog. My brother broke into a loud laugh. I glared at the gremlin, then at the dog, and realized I was completely on my own. The Pancakes were gone..And justice wasn’t won. THE END.