Sleepwalker

Chapter One

"If you are sleeping alone tonight let me be your lullaby."

LUCY 

My parents always had their alarm clock set on six in the morning. That way they could get ready for work and I could get dressed for school. The routine worked well - I never once had a conduct mark for being tardy to class and for an elementary kid that meant everything, almost as much as having the most colors. That was until I came into the third grade and the chaos began. 

It was three in the morning on a Tuesday and my parents woke up to loud crashes from the kitchen. My dad instantly grabbed the house phone and dialed nine-one-one while my mom was the one to speck out the situation. She had dad's hockey stick up in the air, ready to knock the intruder out cold if she had to. The authorities by then were heading out to our house while my dad made his way to my room to get me. 

"You better get out. . . I have a gun!" My mom made the sound effect of her taking a safety off. That wasn't the first time she had been through a robbery and she picked up on tricks to scare them away. She even had a security system installed but it wasn't blaring off, so she figured the intruder must have came through a window or something. 

There was more clashing of metal from around the corner which made my mom's grip tighten on the hockey stick. She had prayed every night for her not to defend her family this way, but it looked like my mom had no choice. It was either the trespasser or our family. 

Sucking in a breath, my mom built up enough courage to peek into the kitchen. In the dark she could barely even make out the cabinets and island yet alone a shadowing figure. 

Another crash made her jump back, flinching into my dad. She turned around, ready to pull back and wait for the authorities with him, but my dad had a different agenda. 

He strode into the kitchen and dared to flick the light on. My mom was horrified up until she followed behind him and found the little intruder. 

Low and behold it was me in my Barbie night gown. 

"Lucy! What in the world are you doing?" My mom dropped the hockey stick with shaky hands and grabbed onto me. 

She had expected a hug back but when she received nothing, my mom spun me around. She was met by two vacant eyes, a mouth muttering incoherent words, and a beautiful stream of drool dribbling down my chin. For some reason in that state of attractiveness it made my parents scared even more than the thought of a burglar breaking in. 

Or at least that was what they told me the hundreds of times they retold the tale. Apparently ever since I began to sleepwalk I suddenly turned into the walking dead and could never hold the memory of it for too long. Because they never stopped retelling it. Never. 

"Guys, seriously. Don't worry about me tonight around my friends. No locks, nightly checks - oh, and definitely no motion detectors. Please no motion detectors. That would be bad considering the fact Cara has the bladder of a peanut." I wrapped up the last of the party favors, eyeing my parents. When I received disgruntled expressions I sighed. "Okay, you can do the nightly checks. Seriously, though. Be quiet. Wouldn't want to wake them up or something. What - why are you looking at me like that?" 

"Why do we need a reason to look at you?" My dad hid his smile well. "You're our beautiful seventeen year old girl, after all."