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Mum twisted her head to my father and quickly back to me. “Be vigilant.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“Love you both,” I said.
Mum patted Dad's back as she walked by him. “Stop fretting, Daniel. She’s old enough to stay by herself. Let’s go.”
Mum spun to me one last time.
I smiled and mouthed, “thank you.”
She beamed her perfect smile. The one I grew up loving, the one that made me feel more loved than any words.
“Hope you have a romantic evening together,” I shouted as they walked to the car. It was the same excuse I’d pushed throughout the day that they needed this time together and without me tagging alongside them. I raised my hand in a last wave as they got into my mother’s sports car. And as the motor roared to life, I exhaled the breath I’d been holding.
I sprinted up the stairs to my bedroom and pulled on my trainers, grabbing my mobile and ran downstairs. Pulling the door behind me, the soft click of the lock sent a shiver through me, because now I was outside in the dusk evening. But we lived behind the oak perimeter, and I knew I was safe. At least, I hoped I was.
I took off sprinting to Carter’s house because I had to get there quickly and definitely before it was dark enough for my dream to come alive. Because the dream had become so vivid and frequent, starting with a dark shadow, but each dream developed and took a new twist. Each telling me a story and now the story had got to a point that the shadow gave me deep chills that were so cold my bones could fracture like a shard of ice.
I was always so positive the dark shadow turned into a man, but now I wasn’t sure because, in a recent dream, he changed once again. He looked directly at me and smiled as he slowly altered. His height and build intensified, dominating everything around him as his wings spanned to double his height. That’s when I knew he was no longer a man, but didn’t know what he was.
And now, each time it happened, my heart pummelled against my rib cage and I burst from my dream. That was, until my very last dream.
The dream he spoke to me.
My feet ran faster as I thought of his words.
Crunching over the arid grass, and then down the country lane and it was me and each step against the fading light, as I tried to beat the darkness and the shadow that would arise.
I gasped as I reached Carter’s house. The front door to his home was ajar, and I wanted to surprise him, or at least try. So I tiptoed, climbing each step of the staircase slowly, as I held my chest, holding back the laughter that was bubbling inside of me. Creeping my way across the landing and toward his bedroom door with plans to sneak up on him.
Not that I could ever frighten Carter, but it never stopped me from trying.
There was a faint sound of a whimper and my foot suspended in the air for a moment, as I glanced around, waiting to hear it once more.
Nothing—silence.
I continued sneaking across the hallway to his room. The moaning was there again. I stopped at his door and angled my head to one side.
Carter?
Was he hurting? Was this why the front door was open?
I laid my fingertips on the panel of the slightly open door and slowly pushed and was about to speak, but nothing left my lips as my mouth slipped open. I stopped and stared. It was his expression that startled me the most. Etched on my boyfriend’s face was something that resembled pain, but I knew it wasn’t the case.
Right then—I wished it was.
My ears were being thrashed by blood, taking away the sounds from the room, and I should have turned away… I should have run away.
But I couldn’t.
His head dropped back, and he stared up at the ceiling, searching for something—who knows what?
My eyes flooded as I stared at his open mouth and his half-closed, lust-filled eyes. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes as my gaze lowered to the hand that gripped and twisted in the hair of my best friend.
My heartbeat thundered hard and would soon crack my rib cage. But it was my head I should have listened to, urging me to leave, but I stayed, but stood motionless and silent. I thought I’d linger that way forever, just staring, unable to speak as streaks of tears fell and burned my cheeks. Finally, I stepped one foot back and attempted to turn and walk away, glancing across the hallway toward the staircase and the exit.
I took a few uneasy steps before I turned and walked back.
