Sleep Tight, page 5
Priya took in a deep breath and began introducing everyone. “This is Elijah Force.” She pointed to my angel.
I mean not my angel, the guy I thought was an angel.
Nice Ava.
Priya continued. “His cousins, Blake, and Olivia. And their close family friend, Ethan Velez.”
We only nodded at them still hesitant about who these people were.
Blake had a friendly face, his eyes were blue like his sisters, his hair dirty blonde.
Ethan seemed more reserved. His face more serious. From what I could tell his eyes were hazel, he had dark brown hair and his face was lightly freckled.
I had to admit, they were all good-looking.
Jesse stood up and shook their hands. “Well, it's nice to meet you all. I’m Jesse, at your service, and this is Daniel and Ava.”
“Priya and Sky tell us you have something to explain to us. I have to admit I thought you would be cops, so who are you guys?” Daniel asked, his face filled with reservation.
Elijah smirked and I swear I thought I saw him roll his eyes a little.
What was with the attitude? Jerk.
Definitely not an angel.
“We’re Leki’s.” Elijah held up his hand as Jesse opened his mouth. “Let me save you the trouble of you asking what that means and just explain the basics for you already. Leki’s have been around for centuries. We can wield and manipulate moonlight. Our duty is to protect people from Kryps. Kryps are monsters that appear at night to terrorize and feed off your fear, the ones that take pleasure from hearing your screams and cries. They are the ones that give you sleep paralysis. Any nightmares or night terrors? That’s them. That fear you feel in the dark, the unease, even though you can't see anything there. Ever wonder why that is? We know. The reason people fear the dark is because of them.”
Silence.
That was all you could hear in the room. No one said a thing. We all just stared at each other.
I get sleep paralysis.
Many people were afraid of the dark no matter how old they got and I was one of them. So, is that why we are so afraid? Because of these… Kryps? Are they really the cause of the fear I have of falling asleep knowing that I will experience sleep paralysis or have some awful nightmare?
Jesse and Daniel looked at me and shook their heads in disbelief. They then looked at each other and burst out laughing.
“Aw man you really got us there! For a second I almost believed you.” Jesse wiped away tears from his eyes as he tried to calm himself down.
“Dude I almost believed him too. That was great, I mean we really needed that.” Daniel continued to laugh with Jesse.
I turned to Priya and Sky. “Okay girls, what is this? Is this a prank? Where did you find these guys?”
My brothers snapped me back to reality. There was no way any of this was true, of course not. And I almost fell for it.
“I told you guys to keep an open mind.” Priya quietly mumbled.
Elijah was not amused. He gave me and my brothers a look with so much hate it scared me.
I gave him back the same look when we locked eyes. Staring into his eyes felt like an eternity, the red in the middle of his eyes grew into a flame. I knew he was waiting for me to back down.
Light casted across his face and the room went silent.
There he was, standing there, with a silver light coming out of his hands like flames dancing.
Jesse and Daniel backed away further into the room and stood next to me. The three of us staring at what was happening in front of us. The shape of it looked like a flame but the color wasn’t right.
The flame started to move and shift around, changing right before our eyes into large snowflakes. Elijah lifted his hand and gently pushed the snowflakes out to us.
I watched as they slowly fell. It was beautiful. I could see the different shapes and patterns of each snowflake, but it was pure silver light.
Flecks of blue light weaved in and out of the silver. Like small pulses.
The snowflakes started slowly disintegrating in the air just before they hit my blankets. I stuck my hand out, one landed on my fingers and warmth seeped into my skin.
I swore I could feel it rushing into my veins, making me gasp in surprise. I had never felt anything like that before.
“You felt it.” Elijah said.
I looked up in confusion.
“You felt it right? That’s because you and your brothers are also Leki’s. You have the same powers; they are just dormant right now but with some training of the mind we can wake it up.”
I laughed.
After everything they just told us and what I just saw my mind couldn’t even process right now so the only thing that came out was laughter.
None of this was funny in any way but my mind didn’t know how else to deal with what was happening at the moment.
I stopped laughing and took a deep breath.
Everyone was looking at me.
“I don’t think what I said was amusing in any way.”
“No, you’re right it wasn’t. I don’t even think you know how to be amusing.”
“Then what's so funny?” Elijah glared at me.
“You know my body feels as though it's been through a shredder and you just told me something wild, so cut me some slack alright, my mind just can't process what you're saying right now.”
Elijah looked away, it almost seemed as though he felt bad.
But no way, from what I'd seen so far, he probably had no feelings. His cousin Olivia grabbed his shoulder and gently pushed him back.
“We’re so sorry that you found out this way. This was not how we wanted it to happen. Elijah means well.” Olivia glanced at him before continuing. “We are here to protect you guys and hopefully bring you back with us.”
“We aren't going anywhere with you guys.” Jesse said, snapping back to reality. “We still don’t know you guys to be leaving with you. And yes, I do believe what you guys are saying I mean what he did with that light, just wow, but we still have a lot of questions and you guys are still strangers.”
“You’re right and we can answer any questions you guys have but you aren't safe, you guys need to come with us. The Kryps have been after your family for years. You guys haven't met any of your family on your dads' side, right? Well, you never will because the Kryps got to them all. You three are the last of your family and the Kryps won't stop until they have you too.”
“We are the last ones? What are you talking about? Why are they coming after us I still don’t understand?” Daniel was clearly frustrated.
We all were.
Before any of them had a chance to respond mom burst into the room with Pax right behind her. She rushed to my side, her arms wrapping around me tightly.
“Are you okay? I’m sorry I wasn’t there but I came as soon as I heard. Have you spoken to the police yet? Do they know anything?” Mom rambled on completely oblivious of who was in the room.
I grabbed her hand tightly. “Mom I'm fine. Why is he here?” I glanced behind her to the doorway where Pax was leaning.
“Really? That’s the first thing you tell me?” Mom looked around the room at everyone in confusion. “The real question is who are they?”
I ignored her question. “Pax you can leave now.”
“No. Pax stay right there.” Mom’s hands landed on her waist. “Ava Luna, Pax came here because he was also worried, and this is how you treat him? Now tell me who are they?”
“Their....friends.” I glanced at them and silently asked them to go along with it.
They all started to shake their heads in agreement and all mumbled, “Nice to meet you.”
I looked at mom. “See they are friends, so they get to be here.”
I pointed at Pax. “He isn't a friend, so he has to leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere sweetheart.” Pax started walking toward me.
Jesse and Daniel rose up and stood between him and me preventing him from getting any closer.
Elijah, Blake, Ethan, and Olivia tensed up and looked at each other, they slowly moved up a couple more inches toward us.
Pax looked at my brothers and then at the group and chuckled lightly.
“You and Daniel think you're so tough now that you have these guys backing you up huh.” Pax meet Jesse's eyes.
The tension in the room was rising quickly. Mom stood and got between them.
“Alright that’s enough! Pax let’s go down to the cafeteria for some coffee okay. Ava I'll come back up later, and we can talk then. Alone.”
They leave the room, awkward silence following them.
Priya cleared her throat. “Well, that was their mom Layla, and her lovely boyfriend Pax.”
Sky sat next to me and grabbed my hand. “You okay?”
I gave her a small smile and nodded.
“There's something wrong with that guy.” Olivia said as she stared at the door.
“What makes you say that?” Ethan asked.
Olivia turned to me, her eyes softening. “Woman’s intuition. We can tell when a man is a creep.”
“Amen to that.” Priya agreed.
“There's so much we have to explain, and we know you guys have a ton of questions, but I think it’s best if we leave it for today. Ava, you’ve been through a lot and you need rest.” Sky said.
I nodded, agreeing with her. I hadn't realized how exhausted I was until now.
“You’re right but this conversation is not over. We need answers.”
“We’ll be here to answer anything.” Sky leaned in and gave me a big hug.
Priya is right behind her, wrapping me in her arms tightly. Her and Sky then started to lead everyone out of the room.
Olivia turned and smiled at me. “It was nice meeting you Ava.”
I smiled back at her. “Nice meeting you too.”
She seemed a lot nicer than her cousin, Elijah. I liked her.
“Alright we’re going to go and look for mom and let her know your resting. See you later.” Jesse headed for the door with Daniel behind him.
I waved goodbye to them with my good hand. “Bye guys. I’ll see you later.”
Once the door closed, my head landed hard against my pillow and a huge sigh left me. What was happening? How is this happening to me? Monsters and powers. They were all real somehow. I had a million questions and none of them could get answered until tomorrow. The mixture of exhaustion and pain meds was making my eyelids heavy. I gave in, letting sleep take me to a place where all these thoughts and questions weren't.
Knocking woke me from my sleep.
I opened my eyes and looked at the door.
Mom opened it and walked in, cup of coffee in hand. She sat on my bed and took my hand, giving me a sad smile.
“How are you doing chiquitita?” She kissed the top of my hand.
“I’ve been better.” I squeezed her hand and felt my throat tighten. Mom and I have been constantly fighting for so long I forgot that there was once a time where we weren't fighting all the time. A time just like this. Peaceful.
“I hate to see you hurt like this. I’m sorry you had to go through something so awful.” She wiped a tear from her cheek. I hated how everyone was apologizing, but I also got that they all felt bad about what happened. It was a natural response. I couldn’t help but let the tears I had been holding back fall.
Mom just held me as I crumbled in her arms. The fear I had inside me was now all pouring out into the open. My body shaking so hard, my chest ached from the sobbing. Sometimes all a girl really needs is her mom. Mom held me tight for a long time letting me cry while occasionally murmuring soothing words.
I lifted out of mom's arms and started to wipe my tears away; mom reached over to the nightstand beside me, handing me the tissue box. We both started to compose ourselves as we wiped away our tears.
“I’m sorry I got your sweater all wet.” I gestured to her blue sweater, the front of it soaked in my tears and snot.
She glanced down and laughed. “Please, don’t worry about that, I changed your diapers. And you needed to cry it all out. Do you feel better?”
I nodded; I really did feel better. I wanted this peace with mom to go on forever. “I miss you.”
“What do you mean?” Her head tilted. “I’m sitting right here.”
“You know what I mean mom. You aren't the same person anymore. You changed when dad died, which I understand I mean you lost someone you love, your husband. And then you meet Pax and well, at first you seemed happy and he seemed so good for you but that soon stopped. You changed again but this time it was a much worse change... mom you seem miserable with him.”
“Ava, you don’t know what you're saying. I am not miserable.”
“Then why do you always look miserable? Pax doesn’t treat you like you deserve to be treated mom. You act like you are blind to his behavior.”
“Just stop! He isn’t perfect I know that, but he loves me in his own way I know it.”
“No, he doesn’t. He doesn’t even know what love is. He’s a narcissist who uses you, the second he knew how good your heart was he snatched you up like the vulture he is.”
“Please stop pushing this.” Mom turned her head away, the movement causing her sweater to move near her neck. There was a small patch of purple on her shoulder.
I reached over, snatching her sweater down to reveal my worst nightmare. Mom flinched away covering it up quickly, giving me only a second to see it, but it was long enough for me to know what it was.
“What is that mom?” Anger was quickly rising inside of me. I wanted to cry, scream, punch. So many emotions were running through me all at once. Tears started rolling down my face.
Mom stood up, backing away from me as if I was the one who gave her that mark.
“I hurt myself at work. Please don’t cry.” Mom whispered.
“Work? Work!”
“Calm down.”
She tried to avoid my gaze, her hands fumbling together. I could see right through her. No way did she get that from work. She was trying her best to hide the truth, but I knew what that truth was. She couldn't hide it from me.
“Mom you have to kick him out of the house and report him right now.”
“There is nothing to report. Please let this go.”
I stared at her in disbelief. The woman standing in front of me was a stranger. Her once bright brown eyes were now sunken and dark. It's as if I were witnessing the life get slowly sucked away from her and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't do anything to save her.
Helpless was all I felt. It was all I ever felt now.
“Mom please I'm begging you. Don’t stay with him. Leave him mom. Please, please. Think about us. Don’t you remember us? Your kids? Please, do it for us.”
If I could get on my knees I would.
For a moment she seemed to come back to life, her eyes widening, the life behind them returning. But then it was gone, she shook her head as if snapping out of a dream. “I’m not leaving him Ava. I can’t.”
Just when I thought I had her back she goes back to him. I never wanted to leave mom alone with him, but I just can’t bear to stand by and watch. I won't witness it any longer.
Mom moved to the door ready to walk out.
“You have to choose mom. If you choose him and walk out that door, I leave the house with Jesse and Daniel. But if you choose us then stay here. Stay with us. Please.”
Mom stood with her back to me; her head hanging low, her curls limp. My gut was telling me something awful was about to happen.
Minutes ticked by before she finally spoke.
“You can start packing your things when you get out of here.” And without another word she was gone, just like that my world was crumbling. I would have to leave the only home I ever knew.
Now I understood why mom acts the way she does. She needed help, she was being treated like an object and she didn’t deserve that. But I didn’t know what to do anymore.
Never in a million years did I think she would pick him over us. I thought that when the time came, she would pick us.
The pain of losing mom and seeing the hurt she has had to endure becomes unbearable. I break down crying. I’m sobbing so hard I couldn’t even breath. I don’t care if the nurses hear me. I don’t care about anything anymore; I feel so numb inside.
The door to my room opened but I barely hear it. I don’t even bother to look up to see who it is. I’m curled up into the smallest ball possible, my head buried in my legs. Whoever it is walks across the room and wraps me in their arms. They don’t say anything.
A rough hand grasped mine and I held onto it. I was drowning in a sea of bitter cold sorrow and their hand was my only lifeline. My tears fell until I couldn’t cry anymore, exhaustion eventually taking over sending me to sleep with they're arms still wrapped around me.
“Do you have everything?” Jesse asked.
I gave the hospital room another quick scan. “Yeah, I'm all set. Let’s get out of here.”
Three days had gone by since mom picked Pax.
I was being released from the hospital today. I had sore ribs and a badly sprained wrist but I was alive. All I did was sulk in my hospital room, I didn’t even let Elijah come back to explain everything else to us. I didn’t want to think or talk about anything.
Ignoring was my coping mechanism at the moment.
Having to tell Jesse and Daniel to pack up their things was heartbreaking. But I couldn't tell them the full story. Priya and Sky saw how devasted I was, so they volunteered to pack up my things. Now I had no reason to go to the house, not that I would be able to anyways, it was all too painful.
In the meantime, Sky’s parents were letting us stay at their family cabin until I could find a place of our own. Sky and Priya's parents were awesome, they always treated me and my brothers like family, I could always count on them. The drive was a little long since the cabin was on the outskirts of town, it was secluded and private but that was perfect for me.
Jesse pulled up to the cabin, until my wrist healed, I couldn't drive. Jesse was still learning but he was a good driver already. Sky, Priya, and their parents were already outside waiting for us.
“Ava, sweetie, how are you? How are you feeling?” Dana pulled me into a hug, her warmth making me want to cry.
