The Light That Shines From Above

Chapter 18

My eyes slowly open as my body ached from the stiff position I had been in all night.

I gasped and sat up. My body shoved me back against the headboard as I looked around the room. I was still in my mother's bedroom.

"What?" My voice was groggy.

No, I groaned, I was supposed to be taken.

It didn't work. For whatever reason I was still on earth. I assumed they didn't even show up considering I was able to stay asleep.

I hopped out of bed then stupidly. "Mom?" I called out.

I went into the hall. "Mom?" I walked the house again. It was exactly the same as when I went to sleep. She wasn't here.

That confirmed they weren't going to return her like normal.

Sighing I contemplated what to do. I really thought they would take me last night. I grinded my teeth and started to pretend like it was a normal day. I would have to wait for tonight again.

The day went by painfully slow. I ate all three meals while constantly checking the time or position of the sun. I scrolled through my phone between meals. Mostly I googled different cities to visit. I usually picked by population. Each one started to look the same after a few hours. When the warm orange glowed through the window I went outside to prep the house better.

I could feel the chill of the air though my new hoodie however I quickly warmed up as I moved around.

Circling the house I pulled open all the shutters. They were latched in the middle so I threw that and swung them until they rested on the side of the house, hooking them to the siding. My mothers was harder. I had to get a hammer to remove the nails in the boards. She had nailed hers shut with one large plank across both wooden shutters.

I let the rusted nails fall to the snow, then as the last one was out I grabbed the board and leaned it against the house. I tossed the hammer to the side and repeated my previous actions. I made sure they would stay open with the hooks before moving aways from the window.

I walked further away from the house, turning around to see if it really blended in too much. With the snow the answer was yes.

My thoughts went through things I could do to make it more obvious. The biggest thing that made the house almost invisible from above was the fact that my mother painted the roof white. If there was any patch the snow didn't touch you couldn't tell.

I moved towards the wood pile that was stacked under the overhang. I gathered a few small logs then ducked out of the makeshift car port. Taking a few steps back I started tossing logs up onto the roof. Some rolled all the way back down, landing around the sides of the house, others stuck.

I did that multiple times. Collecting armfuls of sticks and logs then launching them onto the white roof. I tried to dig up some leaves that had been covered by the snow and do the same but they would just blow back onto me.

After a few minutes I moved to see the house from afar again. It wasn't much but I hoped it would help. I knew they knew where I lived but I didn't know why they hadn't taken me last night.

I figured the minute I got back I would have to find my mother, at home or in a hospital, and flee. I thought I wouldn't have one minute to pause for at least a year. They had spent so long hovering around Occolla for me and suddenly they acted uninterested. It pissed me off.

They should have realized I would have to come back. That Ikzo wouldn't—couldn't protect me forever. But instead they took my mother. And it would seem they planned to hold her longer, if not she would be here.