I had never seen a newborn before, but they definitely shouldn't look like this one.
Mom has finally given birth to my little brother.
My little brother! How long had Iwaited for this. I will take care of him, I will protect him! We will walk together, play together, and grow up together. He is my brother, and I won't let anyone take him away from me.
With these thoughts in mind, Dad and I continued to pace in the hospital hallway. Dad wasn't allowed into the delivery room because something went wrong, so he was anxiously waiting for the end of the labor, holding a bouquet of flowers in his hands and shifting from foot to foot. For 12 hours now, we had been hearing screams from inside. Something wasn't right; new nurses kept coming in and out of the room. Suddenly, a new doctor rushed in with some equipment. His serious expression made us worry. But after an hour, it finally ended; the doctor came out and said everything was fine, but the baby would have to stay in intensive care. So they took my brother away but promised to return him soon. We were advised to come back tomorrow.
"And here we are!" Dad's voice boomed through the ward when we returned there the next day. His face was hidden behind a lush bouquet of flowers. He crossed the room in a few steps and stopped by Mom's bed. Mom accepted the bouquet with a weary smile; they were her favorite carnations. Flowers are just flowers; he should have bought her candy instead. "Mom! Where's my brother? When will they bring him back?" I tugged at her hand. "The nurse just went to get him; they'll bring Borya soon." As soon as Mom finished speaking, the door creaked open, and a young nurse entered with a blue bundle in her arms. "Here's our little patient; everything is fine with him," she said as she handed him to Mom. Mom accepted the bundle with all the tenderness she could muster and carefully lifted the edge of the blanket: "How beautiful he is! Sasha, look! This is your brother!" Dad lifted me up so I could see my brother better. In my 13 long years, I had seen babies who were one or two months old - pink with chubby cheeks and tufts of hair on their heads - but what I saw now made me freeze in horror. Green and wrinkled, covered in cracks, his skin resembled that of an old oak tree; he looked at me with blood-red eyes. His entire face was riddled with wrinkles as if he had been on this earth for a hundred years already. Black veins bulged on his arms and legs, and his fingers ended in curved claws. This cannot be my brother! "This isn't my brother; it's a monster! He... he..." I burst into tears. Sobs tore at my throat and choked any attempt to utter even a word while he continued to stare at me unblinkingly and threateningly as if he hadn't expected anyone to see him as he was. His mouth began to stretch wide open, revealing row after row of black sharp teeth. "UUUVAaaaaaa!" he shrieked as much as his vocal cords would allow him. "Sasha, please stop crying; can't you see you scared Borya?!" Mom pulled him close: "Hush now, baby; it's okay." This disgusting creature immediately latched onto her breast, greedily snorting like a piglet. Am I really the only one seeing this?
"Sasha, now tell me what happened; why did you act that way?"
"Mom, don't you see? He's green and wrinkled!"
"All babies are wrinkled at first, Sasha; they are born that way, and he's greenish because they brought him back from almost beyond life; besides, he's more pale than green."
"But... Mom..."
"Son, Mommy needs to rest; even the nurses are giving us strange looks already; we'll discuss everything at home, okay?"
We didn't discuss anything at home either; Dad left to finish his shift since he wasn't given the whole day off while he left me alone with permission to turn on the computer. But that's okay; I will find out what kind of creature this is no matter what.
Digging through the internet until evening, I realized that I wouldn't find anything there. No one had noticed that their children were swapped for a little old man, and in cases of complicated births, the baby came out closer to a blue-violet color; there was no mention of green skin at all. And as for teeth, I won't even start on that.
The next morning was unusually hectic; Dad was in a hurry to get to work but still didn't forget to give me instructions for the day ahead.
And so, according to Dad's plan, Mom finally entered our apartment, which was decorated with blue balloons! My heart skipped a beat. Of course, I missed her too much. But everything was overshadowed by that bald monster who tried so hard to pretend to be a baby. Even now he was cooing and blowing drooly bubbles.
"Mom!" I exclaimed, "welcome back!"
Mom smiled tiredly: "Hello, my dear; did you do all this by yourself? How independent!" With these words, she staggered toward the sofa. "I feel so heavy; it's like all my energy is draining away." After saying this, I looked at "Borya," and that old creature just cooed happily.
"Maybe you should sleep?"
"I can, but you have to keep an eye on Borya."
After that, Mom spent another couple of hours outlining a plan of action for every possible scenario: how to check if Borya was clean, how to recognize the reasons for his crying, and when exactly to wake her up. Afterward, she immediately passed out on the sofa without even making it to her bed in her room. Something wasn't right; I had never seen her so exhausted - those dark bags under her eyes made it seem like she hadn't slept in a week.
I stared at that bald monster, but he showed no signs of anything being wrong. I even approached him closer, but nothing happened; only drool dripped from his cracked lips. So I sat with him until late evening, trying to find inconsistencies in his behavior, but apart from his appearance, nothing indicated any falsehood in him. Throughout the day, Mom woke up several times as if on command and fed "Borya" with a detached expression on her face.
Dad returned only closer to evening. As soon as he stepped through the door, he started bustling around the house; he gently carried Mom into the bedroom and then began preparing dinner. By that time, Mom had woken up and was sitting on the sofa cradling "Borya."
Days went by like this; Mom became increasingly unavailable, reacting only to the baby. Dad grew worried and called doctors several times; they only said it was a consequence of childbirth and that postpartum depression might be developing. Therefore, they strongly recommended not leaving her alone whenever possible. For this reason, once again I accompanied Mom on her daily walk with that green abomination. But this time the walk went differently; instead of just strolling around, we ran into our neighbor. She considered herself a healer and witch while everyone else in the building thought she was crazy since she often meddled in others' affairs and "predicted" people's futures. Today was no different; as soon as she spotted us, she hurried over in our direction. But upon seeing the baby, she immediately screamed out incoherent curses about a green changeling. I'm not the only one seeing him! This news shocked me so much that I remained silent all the way home. Standing at the entrance to our apartment, I asked Mom if I could take another walk while secretly heading down two floors to visit the crazy old lady; maybe she wasn't so crazy after all.
She opened the door reluctantly only after I pleaded with her for about five minutes.
"What do you want?" came from behind the door; "I don't give money to beggars."
"I'm not here for that, Grandma; I don't need money!"
"What do you need then?"
"You saw him! You recognized that monster pretending to be my brother!"
The lock clicked immediately; a bony hand grabbed me and pulled me inside.
"This is a changeling. Your brother was taken by the Fae!"
"Fairies?"
"No! Fae! The wicked fae folk who steal children and raise them as servants and slaves while their elders live out their lives instead of infants. They will drain your family one by one until there's nothing left of you except living mummies."
It felt like dozens of centipedes were crawling down my spine, and the chills made me shudder. Could we really do nothing?
"But there is a way to turn everything back; you just need to get a promise from the changeling that he will leave the family and return the child."
"Is it really that simple?"
"Of course not! Did you think you were just going for a walk? This creature will fight for its place under the sun."
"But how do I defeat him?"
"Come back tomorrow; I will give you everything you need."
After those words, she pushed me out the door, making it clear that the conversation was over.
Could everything be resolved tomorrow? Filled with grim determination, I walked home. I would get my brother back, no matter what.
The evening passed uneventfully; Dad tried to cheer Mom up, but she didn't respond much. After dinner, I went straight to bed, but sleep eluded me entirely. I tossed and turned for about four hours before finally drifting off. In the morning, I woke up feeling shattered; thank goodness it was Saturday. But the weekend didn't stop Dad from going to work. Mom was still asleep, which helped me slip out the door unnoticed.
The old witch seemed to be waiting for me at the threshold because as soon as I raised my hand to knock, the door swung open. She shoved a bottle of water into my hands; despite my visible outrage, she assured me that the water had been blessed by the church and was the best remedy against this plague. I walked home as if going into battle; I was in a combat spirit, and I knew that today everything would come to an end one way or another.
Mom was still asleep, which played into my hands perfectly. Soon he would disappear from our lives. But... where was he? Had he suspected something?
He wasn't in his blanket or next to Mom; it was as if he had vanished!
In the next second, I screamed. It felt like daggers had plunged into my back. The pain was so intense that I dropped the bottle of water and fell to the floor. Towering over me was that green creature. His voice slithered into my ears like a snake: "You will die, and no one will know how. Everyone will think you simply disappeared."
Waves of terror washed over my mind, making it tremble like a candle flame in the wind. Not only had they taken Borya away, but now they were going to take me too? "NOOOOOO!" Adrenaline surged through my veins like a river, enabling me to perform a miracle. Pushing myself off the floor with my hands, I flipped over and fell onto that disgusting old man. The crunch of bones only added confidence to my actions. With a swift motion, I pulled the bottle toward me while removing its cap on the go. The old creature lay there like a broken doll, not even attempting to get up.
"Listen here! You're going to return Borya to us and never show your face here again, or you'll find out how fairies react to holy water!"
The old fairy merely growled gutturally. At that moment, several drops of holy water fell onto his face. His soul-piercing scream made the windows rattle as I prepared to splash more water on him.
"I agree! I'll give you the child; just let me go!"
"Swear it!"
"Let the Fae King himself be my witness."
For a moment, it seemed like I went blind; I couldn't even see my fingers when they were close to my face. The angry murmur of thousands of voices made me press my hands painfully against my ears; it felt as though reality itself accepted this oath.
When the voices finally quieted down and light illuminated everything around again, I saw him - my little brother. He lay on the floor babbling baby nonsense. It was all over. I leaned down to pick him up while chuckling softly. Hysteria gradually took hold of me, increasing the decibels of my laughter. While i was sitting on the floor with my brother in my arms, he looked at me with big eyes of an unnatural golden color.
