Eli woke and was instantly alert. His heart was racing. He could feel sweat beaded along his brow and the unpleasant stickiness of his clothes clinging to his skin. He kept his breathing slow, feigning sleep. He didn’t know what woke him. He didn’t know where the feeling came from. The feeling
Every horror movie he’d ever watched
Eli slowly opened his eyes.
Someone was standing in the doorway. They were a black shape against the light in the hallway, a black shape that was as tall as the door. Impossibly tall. Taller than his dad, taller than Noah – even taller than Jackson.
The outline of its head moved. Eli squeezed his eyes shut.
It’s just a dream.
He knew from the erratic beating of his heart, and painfully heightened awareness of everything around himself that it wasn’t. Something was in his room.
The floorboard next to his bed creaked.
Eli’s mind filled with white noise. He wanted to scream, but suddenly he wasn’t able. He couldn’t move, and even breathing was hard. It felt like something was pressing down on his chest, making it impossible to inhale. Each hot breath down the back of his neck filled his body with unbearable heat, and made it feel like he was boiling alive.
The pressure on his chest disappeared. With a cry Eli jerked up, away from the edge of his bed and into the corner. His eyes flew open as he moved away, and his back collided harshly with the wall as his arms shot up to defend himself. There was nothing there. Eli panted, and looked wildly around the room.
Nothing.
He bit his lip, and stared out into the hallway.
It was the same nightmare again. The one where he could never tell was a nightmare until the moment where he woke up, and even then, it felt too real to dismiss from his mind. Eli could only stay on the bed for another second before dashing off it. He refused to look either way down the hall as he raced into the nearest room. He turned on the light as he firmly shut the door behind himself.
Noah groaned. He rolled over in the bed, and put his arm over his eyes. “It is not time to get up.”
Eli took in a few calming breaths. Seeing Noah, hearing him speak, helped Eli feel like he was out of the nightmare. “I…” Now that he had to say it he felt a wave of embarrassment rising. “I had a… do you mind if I sleep in here?”
“Why?” Noah squinted towards him, but immediately put his arm back over his eyes with a groan.
“I had a nightmare.” Eli felt like a child. A tiny, tiny kid.
Noah didn’t seem to know how to respond. It took a few seconds before he spoke, and when he did, his voice was thick with sleep. “I don’t mind. Do you want the light left on?”
The urge to cry welled up. He did.
“It’s okay, lights on,” Noah scooted over in the bed, “Come on.”
Eli clicked the lock into place before crossing the room. He crawled under the covers, and lay facing the door. It was a double bed, so there was plenty of room for them both. Noah didn’t say anything, but pulled the covers up over his head. Eli pulled them tightly around himself. The layer of sweat he’d had waking up started to cool off.
“It’s a million degrees in this house,” Noah rolled over again, “How are your teeth chattering?” He spoke more to himself than to Eli, hardly raising his voice above a husky murmur. He sat up, grabbed the fleece blanket thrown over the edge of the bed and draped it over Eli.
“Thanks” Eli pulled it tightly around himself. His back ached as he stretched the muscles, and the previous evening came back to him, haunting his thoughts alongside the nightmare. It was no wonder he’d had that dream again. It took a while before he stopped shivering, and he watched the door the whole time. He kept thinking he saw a shadow of footsteps underneath the door, and then imagined the shadow was waiting just outside it.
Eli’s skin prickled, making him uncomfortable enough that he had to look around the room – just to be sure it was empty.
“Do you remember the last time we slept in the same bed?” Noah asked.
Eli was startled for a moment. He’d thought Noah had gone back to sleep. “The last time…” Eli wondered about it for only a second before the answer came to him, “It was the night before mom and I left.”
“Yeah,” Noah let out a deep sigh, “You stayed up the whole night on the DS.”
Eli cracked a small smile. It made the corner of his mouth sting. “I remember that.”
“You were obsessed with Animal Crossings.” Noah chuckled, “It would drive mom and dad up the walls that every time they’d turn around you’d be on the DS.”
“They’d take it off me, and you would always steal it back.”
“That’s because you wouldn’t stop crying until I did,” Noah grunted. “I got into more trouble over it than you.”
Eli let out a tired breath of amusement.
“I can’t believe you forgot it.”
“Forgot what?”
“The Nintendo.” Noah said, “You only had the one bag, and you checked it a million times before getting into the car. I went to bed that night and there it was, sitting on my pillow.”
Eli recalled driving away from the house with tears streaming down his face. He’d sobbed in the backseat, and his mom had stared ahead with a stony face with tears silently falling. Eli knew now that it was leaving Noah was the reason for her tears. Noah had been crying too. Dad had been the only one to keep it together.
Eli’s chest grew tight. Thinking about it now was still enough to upset him, and reliving losing half his family wasn’t something he wanted to do right now. He wouldn’t ever want to do that again.
“You’re really different.”
“I was ten back then, of course I’m different.”
“I know that,” Noah shifted on the bed, his voice had lost its grogginess at this point. “You were always so spoilt before, and demanding – everything had to be the way you wanted it or else nobody got any peace.”
“I was an absolute nightmare.”
“You’re the youngest, I think it comes with the position. But even if you were bossy, it’s just how things were. Now… ” Noah hesitated, as though struggling to find the words he wanted, “I can’t figure out how to act around you. I feel like no matter what I do I wind up upsetting you.”
Eli’s chest warmed, and at the same time guilt twisted his stomach. Hearing that Noah cared enough to try get along with him felt good, and hearing the effort he was putting into it felt even better. It was also that effort that brought out the guilt. Noah was troubled about this. It was obviously from his voice and his stumbling words that it was bothering him. “You don’t need to worry about that kind of thing.”
“’That kind of thing’,” Noah repeated with a scoff, “See this is what I mean, you don’t ask for anything, you won’t let anyone do anything for you.”
“I let Jenny buy me a laptop.” Eli wanted to kick himself as soon as he said it. He didn’t even know why he said it. Noah dragged in a sharp breath. Regret settled into his bones. Why couldn’t he just keep his mouth shut? “I’m going back to bed.” Eli mumbled quickly as he sat up.
“Wait,” Noah caught his wrist.
Pain exploded down his arm. It wasn’t anything he could ever hope to hide. He shuddered and a sound hallway between a whimper and a yelp left his mouth. It was probably loud enough to wake up Jenny and his dad.
“Eli?” Noah sat upright and released his arm immediately, “What’s
Eli tried to shake off the tremors of pain still racing up and down his arm. Noah’s wide eyes were devoid of any sleepiness. “Is there a mark?” Eli feigned a normal
“Yes,” Noah looked aghast, “There is a mark.” He brushed aside Eli’s bangs, and he drew in a second sharp breath. “What happened?”
“Before I came in
Noah didn’t comment on Eli’s story, and instead silently appraised the marks on his face. He spent a long time looking at his forehead. “That needs to
“Noah.” Eli groaned.
Eli pulled it out of his reach. “I already wrapped it.”
“Let me see it.”
“No,” Eli was sure there would be handprints, “
“I’ll re-wrap it after.”
“Why don’t you look at it later?” Eli switched to stalling tactics, “It’s the middle of the night.”
“You want to go back to sleep?” Noah’s face scrunched up, “Not a chance, that mark on your head
It took a moment for Eli to realise what Noah was leading towards, and when he did, he did not like what it was. “I’m not going to a doctor.”
“I’ll get
“Stop,” Eli caught his arm, “It’s the middle of the night you can’t go waking him up because of a bruise or two.”
“Eli,” Noah gently pried his arm away, “Look in a mirror, it’s worse than you think it is.”
Eli glanced to the full-length mirror tucked away in the corner of Noah’s room. He peeled back his hair, which was still sticking to him, and looked at his forehead. There was a swollen lump going straight across, and discolouration covered everywhere until it disappeared upwards into his hairline. The amount of damage was startling. It looked a lot worse than it felt.
Noah returned with their dad. His dad was half
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