Sleep Tight, page 14
“I don’t know what you mean. I’m not lying.”
“Fine.” she said after a moment of silence. “Don’t tell me. Just know that I know something strange is going on and I’m going to find out. You might not realize that something weird is going on, but I do.
She had no idea how weird it got. It would be so much easier if she knew what was going on. I wondered how dad was able to keep it a secret from her for so long.
She sighed deeply and tried running a hand through her curls.
“It’s going to be okay mom. I promise.”
“You can’t promise me that Ava. No one can. Pax is still out there, and I have a lot of making up to do with you and your brothers. I can’t even look at you in the eyes, I’m too ashamed of myself.” she hugged herself as she looked out into the sky.
I silently stood next to mom and looked out with her. Dark clouds hovered just above us in large clumps, the smell of rain present in the air. There was something comforting about this scene. Some people hated dark skies and rainy days. To me they’ve always brought peace.
“I forgive you.” I whispered.
From the corner of my eye, I could see mom’s head bow, her hair falling across her face like a curtain ending a play.
“Don’t.” She said so lightly I almost didn’t hear her. Her shoulders shook beneath her hair, but I heard nothing.
“I’ll admit it then. I admit that I had so much anger for you. I didn’t understand how you could pick him over us. Why you would pick him over your children.” I let out a long sigh and then continued to tell her what I had been feeling for so long. “Mom I hate Pax. I can’t stand him. I despise him so much it scares me. I have never hated someone this much and I hate this feeling. There’s so much hate in me… and not enough love.”
Her shoulders shook even harder and now I could hear her cries. She was sobbing so hard I could see she was struggling to breath. Her head was still bowed, her hair covering her face, I knew she couldn’t look at me. She was so ashamed of herself. And no matter what me or my brothers told her she would never forgive herself.
I let her cry and cry until she finally calmed down and started to hiccup. She finally looked up and stared at the darkened sky.
“What I did has no excuse. And there’s nothing I can do to reverse the pain I’ve caused. I don’t know why I picked Pax. Weak, stupid, naïve. That’s what I was and much more.” She took a deep breath. “Gabriel would be so disappointed in me. I don’t know what he saw in me.”
I grabbed her hand and held on with everything I had. “He saw you. Mom you made a mistake. Everyone makes them but you know you made a mistake and are trying to be better. That’s what dad saw. Your resilience.”
Mom’s tears flowed down her cheeks as she turned to me and gave me a sad smile. “What did I do to deserve such an amazing daughter.” She gave me a soft kiss on the forehead and hugged me tightly.
I held on to her for what felt like hours. I couldn’t remember the last time we had hugged. She was so warm and soft. She felt like home. The little girl who clung to her tightly after every nightmare was back in her arms.
Multiple arms suddenly wrapped around us. We gasped in surprise and looked up to see Jesse and Daniel had joined our hug.
“Why didn’t you tell us we were having a group hug.” Daniel said as he hugged us tighter and laid his head on my shoulder.
Mom laughed and started crying again. “Oh, mis bebes. I love you all so much. Never forget that.”
We all held on to each other as a family once again. I wanted time to freeze and for this moment to last forever. A strange feeling was creeping into my heart, that we wouldn’t get a moment like this again and it scared me. Thinking this I hugged mom even tighter.
“Hello?... Where is everyone?” Tia Lusila’s voice reached us from inside.
We all laughed and reluctantly let go of each other.
“We’re outside, be right in.” Mom shouted.
She looked at us one by one, her eyes glistening with tears and smiled before walking back into the house.
“Is she okay?” Jesse asked.
“She’s going to have a tough time but she’s strong. As long as we stick with her this time she’ll be just fine. I believe in her.”
“We believe in her.” Jesse corrected.
I smiled and nodded at him. We wouldn’t leave her again. We would be here to help her through anything. She was everything to us.
Daniel sighed. “I’m glad she’s free from him.”
“Until he’s caught, she’ll never be completely free.”
It was true. And I hated to admit it, but I was worried that if he ever turned up again, she would go back to him. And if that happened, I was prepared to stay with her, even if that meant I had to deal with him. I wouldn’t leave her again, I had to protect her. No matter what.
“I’m staying here for tonight. If you guys want to go back to the house you can.” I turned to Jesse and Daniel.
“No, we’ll stay here too. No way are we leaving you guys alone.” Jesse said.
Daniel nodded his head in agreement and then looked down at his phone. “It’s Elijah. He wants me to call him.” Daniel put his phone up to his ear.
“No were staying here for the night. We can’t leave our mom or aunt alone.” Daniel said into the phone. After a few moments Daniel nodded his head. “Okay I understand just don’t let them see you guys, my mom is already on edge.”
I looked at Jesse and we both raised our eyebrows in question as Daniel spoke again. “Yeah. Alright I’ll let them know. Bye.”
Daniel hung up and looked at the front door before speaking in a low voice. “Elijah is going to be guarding the house with Blake and Ethan for the night. He says it’s not safe for us, we have two threats now instead of one.”
“Of course.” I said rolling my eyes. We had to learn to have bodyguards now and the problems we needed guarding from just seemed to be multiplying.
“Don’t worry though he said he would make sure that mom and tia wouldn’t see them, they won’t even know they’re here.” Daniel added.
I nodded and sighed dramatically, running my hands through my hair. “Can you guys believe that this is our life now.”
“I always knew life wasn’t as boring as everyone thinks it is.” Jesse crossed his arms. “Well, I guess only for some people it isn’t. Like us.”
“Speaking of our new life. Elijah also said our training starts tomorrow.” Daniel said nonchalantly, as if it was a normal everyday thing for us.
“Finally.” Jesse said clearly excited.
They were adjusting to this new life quicker than I was. Everything was exciting to them while for me I couldn’t help but feel scared and uneasy with all of this. I looked into the window in front of me and stared back at our reflection. The three of us standing side my side. Daniel casually leaning against the porch banister, his body buzzing with eagerness. Jesse with his arms crossed, also casually leaning against the porch, his eyes gleaming.
And then me. Stiff, holding myself with all the strength I could muster, trying my best to hide the worry in my eyes and pretending to be just as eager to start training.
Curly hair and brown eyes stand in our reflection and mom waved at us to come inside. Once inside we started to pick up the rest of the mess from upstairs and then ate dinner, mom’s empanadas. The dinner was nice, peaceful and I couldn’t remember the last time we all sat down for dinner without an argument exploding.
And then suddenly it was time for bed. Already.
“Goodnight mom.” I bent down and gave her a kiss on the cheek and then gave one to tia Lusila next. “Goodnight tia.”
“Goodnight, baby doll. Sweet dreams, sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite.” She winked at me playfully.
She had no idea how bad they could bite.
I nervously smiled at her and slowly walked upstairs with Jesse and Daniel. I looked back into the living room window and as it disappeared from view, I wondered if Elijah was already out there, watching.
As we reached our bedroom doors, we all stopped, our hands stuck on the doorknobs not daring to turn it. Knowing what sleep could bring tonight.
We all looked at each other and nervously laughed.
“Come on guys we’ll be fine. Elijah said they would be outside all night.” Daniel said, but we heard the shaking in his voice even as he tried to quickly clear it away.
“You’re right. And we have each other too. We aren’t alone. I got you guys and I know you guys got me. Through everything.” Jesse said confidently.
“Through everything.” Daniel and I said together.
And together we opened our doors and walked into our rooms. Each of us trying to be brave for the others.
I leaned against my door and struggled to slow my breathing as I looked around. Everything was the same. My small desk, my bookshelf next to my bed, the faded white dresser. Familiar but strange. All of these things were mine but felt as though they belonged to another girl from a different life.
I quickly changed and snuggled into my old sheets. I didn’t think I would be able to sleep tonight but as soon as my body was wrapped around the soft familiar sheets my eyes closed almost right away and as I drifted off into a deep sleep, I thought maybe, just maybe tonight there wouldn’t be any nightmares, no visits from Kryps.
I see her in the distance and that familiar giddy little feeling is rising inside again. She’s struggling to run away from me, her movements slow and sluggish.
Foolish, foolish girl. When will they learn that we will always be stronger, faster, smarter than they ever will be.
Her long brown hair is clumped from sweat and tears. I followed at a distance, taking my time, relishing the little tastes of fear I get with each movement, each sluggish step.
Playing with them was always the best part. It ripened the fear, the taste of them at the end that much sweeter.
No, I will not go through this again. I will not be this monster.
Cold air hits me with such a force, it’s like I’m coming up for breath from a frozen lake, the air savagely biting my face.
I don’t dare look behind me.
No longer was I the monster. Instead, I was the prey.
Maybe this was a bad idea.
Alone in what looked like a dark cave with only a monster right on my heels for companionship.
A monster who I knew could easily catch me, easily devour me, easily end me right here.
I needed to keep moving or wake up from this nightmare. Why was it so hard to wake up on my own?
As I stared down into the long dark cave, a head quickly peeked out at the end of a corner and then just as quickly disappeared. Giggling erupted in the silent cave. But this wasn’t a little girl or boy giggling. This giggling was coming from a man. It was deep and dripped with malice.
I took a deep shaky breath; it came out in a soft white cloud. When was I going to wake up? I didn’t want to be here anymore.
I tried turning around but my feet were planted into the ground now. As I struggled to get my feet to obey a tall figure walked out from around the corner I had seen the head peeking out, his head bowed.
I slowly looked up as the figure slowly walked out and then suddenly stopped. He stood there for so long just breathing heavily with his bowed.
Up, down. Up, down. Up, down.
That was all I could notice. His chest and shoulders moving up and down, his breathing so heavy.
I was frozen. There was something very wrong with this man. Unnatural.
“Oh Ava.” He breathed deeply.
“Ava.”
“Ava.”
“Ava.”
“Ava.”
“Ava.”
“Stop!” I lifted my hands, covering my ears. He kept repeating my name over and over again. I just wanted him to stop. That voice.
Rough, sinister.
“Ava.”
“Ava.”
“Ava.”
“Just stop please.” I was trying so hard to block him out.
“Open your eyes mariposa.”
“Dad? Is that you?” I kept my eyes closed, afraid to open them and be wrong about who I heard.
“Yes Ava. Don’t worry, I’m here. Just open your eyes and see.”
I summoned all the courage I had left and slowly opened them. Just for a second, I smiled, happy for just a second. Dad was really here only a few feet away from me. He looked the same, just as I had seen him last. He was smiling at me.
But something was wrong. His smile wasn’t genuine. It looked forced and almost painful to him. My eyes quickly moved over his face taking in everything. His skin was pale. Like he hadn’t seen the sun in many years, he looked sick and gaunt. A ghost. That’s what he looked like.
But that wasn’t what scared me. It was his eyes. Those dark but bright green eyes I would stare into when he told me one of his adventure stories, the same eyes I have, were now gone.
Replaced by dark clouds. As I looked closely his eyes seemed to be moving. The dark gray color was completely covering every inch of his eyes, swirling like smoke.
“Dad?” I looked at him confused, not sure if the man I was looking at was even my father.
He stopped smiling then and the look on his face broke my heart; this wasn’t the man who took care of me when I was scared. He might have his face, but this man was not my father. That’s when I saw the tall man next to him. I was so focused on dad that I didn’t even notice him there until it was too late.
He was still breathing hard with his head bowed but the second I turned his way he stopped breathing, even the air in the cave stopped, everything froze.
A whimper escaped my lips.
His head snapped up. He took one hard breath and sprinted for me.
In only three strides he was in front of me, tackling me to the floor. But I didn’t hit a cold hard floor. I was hitting nothing. We were free falling into dark space.
The man’s face was only inches from mine, his breath was cold as he breathed heavily on me. As we continued falling into nothing, I saw his face was blank, no eyes, no nose, no mouth. He lifted his hand and with one sharp finger he ripped open two long slits, one on each side where his eyes should have been.
Black liquid seeped out.
He then went to where his mouth should be and ripped open a hole. A long black tongue slowly poked out. By now I was trying to scream but nothing was coming out. I couldn’t move or speak. Trapped completely.
His tongue reached my cheek, and he breathed in deeply. His black tongue lazily fell on the rest of my face, I squirmed around finally able to move my body even if just a little.
“You are ours, Ava. Forever. We will have you.” His voice rasped against my ear.
A hand from behind me grabbed my shirt, pulling me away violently.
He screeched as he reached out for me, but I was falling faster now, away from him.
Suddenly I wasn’t free falling into nothing anymore, instead my back hit something soft and warm. I gasped and sat up quickly, my hair covering my eyes and face.
Strong hands grabbed my shoulders. I threw a punch, thinking it was the man again.
There was a small grunt and then someone grabbed my hand and held on tight.
“Whoa. Ava, it's okay. It’s Elijah. You’re awake now.”
I ran my hand through my hair, moving it away from my face. He was right. I was awake. Elijah was sitting on my bed, his hands holding me in place, his gaze steady on me.
As my adrenaline slowed down, I stared at Elijah and started wondering how he even got into my room.
“How did you get in here?” I whispered. “My mom or aunt could have seen you.”
“Don’t worry they’re still sound asleep, your mom is even snoring. Blake said you we’re trapped in a nightmare with a Kryp so I came to wake you up, but you wouldn’t so he had to step in.”
“Step in? How did Blake know I was having a nightmare?”
“Blake can dream walk. It’s rare for someone to be able to dream walk and he doesn’t do it often. It really drains him.”
“Oh, is he okay?”
“I’m sure he’s fine.” He looked down at his hands, still on my shoulders, before quickly dropping them.
I cleared my throat. “What did you mean when you said I wouldn’t wake up?”
“Sometimes people can get stuck in nightmares. Especially if the Kryp is strong enough to trap you in them. Blake had to go inside your nightmare and pull you out. Jesse was also having a nightmare he was stuck in.”
“What?” I started to get out of bed, but Elijah quickly stopped me.
“He’s not stuck anymore Ava. Blake went into his first and pulled him out. He’s fine.”
“But I should go check on him, he must be terrified.”
Elijah gestured for me to stay put as he went to open my door, popping his head out, a second later Ethan walked into my room.
“Jesse is knocked out; he woke up for only a couple of seconds, thanked me and then went back to sleep. He’s okay Ava.” He looked at Elijah. “I’m headed outside, I checked on Daniel too and he’s good, Blake says he hasn’t had any nightmares.”
Elijah nodded. “Good, I’ll be right out too.”
“Goodnight, Ava.” Ethan silently walked out. They were all so quiet, I couldn’t even hear their footsteps, it was like they were all just floating.
“Is that another power you guys have?” I asked Elijah as he slowly closed my door.
“What power?” He asked titling his head and crossing his arms, instantly making them look even bigger. I gulped looking down at my hands and twisting my fingers together.
“You guys seem to be floating, I can’t even hear you guys walking.”
“Oh that? Hm, I don’t really think of it as a power, but I guess it sort of is.” He shrugged. “It comes with our light, Kryps are sneaky and slippery, so we have to be too.”
“Oh, that’s cool.” How lame did that sound? That’s cool? Why was I getting flustered?
He didn’t seem to notice though, of course not, why would he notice me in any other way. Not that I wanted him too anyways.
He moved across my room to my window.
