Stake You

Chapter Four

Having so much time off work was unusual for me, and I didn’t quite know what to do with myself. Spending time with Mam could sometimes be hard going, but at least I could keep an eye on her. I limited her drinking, only because our GP had warned me cold turkey would send her system into shock, and made her eat full meals for a change. We watched soaps on the television, and eventually she grew antsy again, her fingers twitching to hold a glass or a bottle.

“You’ll be fine,” I said without looking in her direction.

“I need something before bed.”

“No, you don’t.”

“I do. I won’t sleep otherwise. You know that, Dev. And he might come back again.”

“Who? Tom? Mam, he’s a good person. He was giving me a lift home when he heard you scream. That’s the only reason he was in your room.”

She stared at me blankly.

“Come on,” I said. “You’ve met Tom before. He works with me, remember? He’s the only person who was around apart from me. He definitely didn’t bite you, and I’m pretty certain I didn’t, so it must have been another nightmare.”

 “Not him,” she said impatiently. “The other one. The one with the red eyes. He made me stay quiet. Then he made me scream. He made me remember everything. He could make me do anything. Anything at all, Devlin. Why is it so easy for them to make me do whatever they want?”

The rambling went on for what seemed like an age, but I was used to it. When she drank, she had difficulty separating her nightmares from reality. That’s all it was. So why did I feel so chilled?

Eventually I gave her a watered down drink to settle her down and give me time to catch up on my homework. Although I had plenty of time for a change, I couldn’t concentrate. I had the eeriest feeling that someone was watching me. I turned off my music, removing my headphones to listen intently for sounds of an intruder. I had no idea what was making me so paranoid, although my mother probably hadn’t helped.

I gave up on the homework, made sure all of the doors and windows were locked, watched a little more television with my mother, and then sent her to bed early. My own body loved me for letting it sleep, but typically, I woke up at the usual time even though I wanted to sleep in.

I groaned at the time on the clock and shivered, pulling the covers around me. I glanced at my window and sat up straight. It was wide open. I never opened my window that wide, and I was sure I had double-checked the lock before I slept. I ran to check on Mam, just in case, but she seemed fine.

Except…

She rolled over, and there was a drop of blood on the pillow. Maybe from the other night, but still, it freaked me out, what with all of the talk of red eyes and biting, and waking up to a wide open bedroom window. The doors were all locked, and nothing seemed disturbed. I had to be imagining it.

Maybe I had forgotten to lock my own window, after all. Mam could have opened it during the night even. There was always a logical explanation for everything, I knew that, and yet my stomach kept turning.

Still disturbed, I got ready for school and headed in early to finish the homework that had been an epic failure the night before. I finished surprisingly quickly, probably because I actually had a full night’s sleep, and ended up sitting on the floor, staring into space until Base arrived.

He made his usual racket, but I closed my eyes and ignored him.

“You dying or something?”

My eyelids flung open. He was staring at me, looking entirely bemused.