The Patron Saint of Monsters

Chapter Three Part Three

Oleanders room was completely dark, she was laying on her side with her back to her window. She had woken with a start but she could not remember what had arisen her.

A sound, she remembered but what type of noise and what had made it?

Was it Trent, was he angry that she and her friends were going to try and expel him from her home? Was she in danger?

Her heart slammed against her chest  as she attempted to assess her surroundings. She was breathing so heavily that it was the only noise filling her ears, she forced herself to hold her breath in order for her to listen for more sounds. Her hair with stuck to her forehead with sweat and her arm was aching with a dull throb, she rubbed her arm which heightened the pain. She realized that a bruise was forming quickly, she was unaware of what had caused it but she knew it had occurred while she was sleeping. She shivered, she was most vulnerable when she was asleep of course Trent would take advantage of that she thought, if it was Trent.

She could not recall Trent ever actually hurting her, in fact she clearly remembered him saving her from walking into a busy street by yanking her backwards when she was younger. She also remembered him reading to her at night, playing games with her, when she was a child he had essentially done whatever she had wanted. It was probably good that she had seen him as a monster when she had, because if she hadn’t she would have probably been completely spoiled by him. She knew she had reasons to fear Trent, but she did not know if he had reasons to harm her psychically. In fact, she was fairly certain that hurting her now when she was considering finding a way to send him away forever was totally illogical. She had been feeling sympathetic for her monster, why would he jeopardize his own well being just to bruise her. She couldn’t think of any justifications so she decided to investigate a tad more before blaming her wound on him, she rolled onto her stomach and closed her eyes. She tossed and turned repeatedly, wishing she could immediately fall back into a deep sleep with ease. She was filled with disdain and irritation, she wanted to go into her parents room and sleep in their bed, they had only let her do so a few times as a child, times that she did not even really remember. Her mother once told her that she used to sleepwalk on occasion when she was younger. Oleander doesn’t know what caused it she only knows that the aftermath of her sleeping movements always resulted in her awakening in their bed. Neither of her parents were home and they would not be returning for a few days, she just wanted better parents and a more normal family. A more normal life.

Oleander awoke once more a few hours later, her phone was vibrating almost constantly with new notifications, she fumbled through her sheets unable to find it she reached for the black charger cord tugging it until she found her phone at the end of it. She saw the time and whispered an expletive under her breath, she was late for school far enough past the point of tardy that she was not going to even bother herself with a half an attendance, her phone was still shaking, going off with every new worried text from her friends. She smiled softly, it only made sense for them to worry. She was facing a fairly major monster problem and her sudden absence was rather suspicious. She wrote a quick “I’m fine, just woke up.” and sent it to her little group. They responded with relief and chastisements and made plans to come over after their last classes ended.

Oleander was glad to have some solitude, she put on some music and decided to pick out outfits for the upcoming days and the party at the end of the week. Clothing to help catch Ian’s eye, she made a pile of fabrics that she was considering figuring that the girls would help her when they arrived. She went into the kitchen and grabbed a jug full of lemonade and the pan of leftover lasagna from the refrigerator and headed back up to her room. She settled in the bed with the extra, extremely cozy, blankets from the guest room that she was never allowed to use and grabbed the first book that she had ever witnessed Ian engrossed in, The Fellowship of the Ring.