Quiet Enlightenment

Part 1, Chapter 17 - As I Lay Me Down to Sleep...

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

"Good night, dear!" Mr. Kleve said as Mia quietly moped up the stairs to her loft bedroom only to gently close the door behind her. The Kleves looked at one another and her mother sighed as she shook her head. This was sadly starting to become routine.

Once upstairs, Mia kicked off her shoes and plopped down on the bed without another thought. She did what she always did when she was in her room as of late: buried herself under her covers and hoped that sleep would get her closer to a time where she could leave this room and the now painful memories that it held.

"Ker-THUNK!"

Mia opened her eyes and looked at the alarm clock on the table beside her. 3:49 AM. It was a Friday night, so she didn't have to be up early in the morning. But that didn't mean that she had to stay up all night. She curled back up in her blanket and closed her eyes.

"Ker-THUNK!"

Mia's eyes flew open, and she clicked on the bedside lamp before walking to the window. Whoever was doing that was running a serious risk of breaking her window. Wouldn't that be a wonderful start to your day?

She opened the window to see someone familiar holding a basketball in his hands. Her eyes widened as they focused.

"...Elias?"

Her footsteps might have made quite a bit of noise as she raced down the stairs. She didn't care. The odds were impossible, but if she could see what she thought she saw again, it would all be worth it.

And she did.

"Sorry for waking you—" Elias could barely get out before being knocked to the ground by Mia's overzealous hug.

"Elias... is that really you?" Mia said as tears started to build up in the corners of her eyes. The boy standing before her smiled and nodded.

"Oh... How... Why...?"

"Don't worry about that right now. I don't have much time..."

"Oh, yeah... right." Mia said as she wondered what was going on. Maybe Elias snitched out his parents and he was secretly in the witness protection program. Maybe he was coming back to take her with him. Just imagine, a new life in St. Louis or New York...

"So... how are you doing?"

"Outside of the overwhelming sadness... I guess I'm doing okay."

Elias lowered his head with an expression of guilt before looking back at Mia and giving a small smile.

"Well, I hope that this is helping with that."

Mia smiled and hugged her boyfriend once again. "More than you could ever imagine."

"So... what now?"

"Come inside, silly. You can't be seen out here!"

"...I can't?" Elias asked as he tilted his head sideways with that curious look that Mia always found so adorable.

The two of them sneaked back into the house and up into Mia's room.

"I never thought I would see the day that I would be sneaking into your room in the middle of the night."

"Very funny... just because you're not dead doesn't mean I can't kill you."

Elias let out a small chuckle as he sat down on the table where she tried to trick him with a fake textbook several months ago.

"And why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"About your parents!"