Drakan (The Chronicles of Eli) [#Wattys2015]

Chapter 1 (Edited)

           Eli looked at his watch. Guess it’s time to wake Valen up, he thought to himself. Getting off the couch, Eli turned off the TV and headed toward Valen’s room. Walking down the long hallway leading to the man’s room, Eli paused to look at a picture hanging on the wall. Out of all the pictures, this was Eli’s favorite. It was a picture Valen had taken of him when Eli had broken his arm. Eli had been only seven at the time, and he’d been trying to climb the tree that was once in their backyard. Valen had given him some medicine to take some of the pain away, but it also had put Eli to sleep. The next morning, Eli woke to find his arm was no longer broken.

          That was nine years ago—and in between those years, Valen had always been by Eli’s side, protecting him and working miracles.            

          Approaching the double doors leading into Valen’s domain, Eli could heard muffled moans emanating from the room. Knocking, Eli shouted, “Hey Valen, it’s 10:30!” A few seconds passed but there wasn’t an answer.

Hmm he must be having one his deep sleeps again, because knowing Valen, he would’ve heard me coming down the hall.

           Eli opened the door and peeked his head inside. To the left he could see a dresser and to its right a half empty bookshelf. Slipping only his left foot past the threshold, Eli looked to the right where he saw Valen thrashing about in his bed, clearly distressed. He ran to Valen’s side and shook the man, trying to wake him up. It didn’t take long—Valen suddenly sprang up in a sitting position, eyes wide and fists clenched. Valen’s eyes were shimmery and shining with unshed tears, but once the man realized where he was, he offered Eli a small smile.

                  “Thank you. I’ll be out in a second,” Valen murmured.  

          Eli positioned himself closer to Valen, unwilling to leave just yet. His expression softened before he asked, “Valen, are you ok?”

          Valen softly chuckled before replying, “Yes. It was just a bad dream.”

         Eli smiled, satisfied. Shaking his head, he stood from Valen’s bed and headed to the door. Without looking back, Eli exited the room and allowed the door to swing shut behind him, then took in a deep breath and headed back to his own room.

         Back down the hall, past the living room and up the stairs was his master bedroom. Eli used to think his granite door was a little dull, but that was before he added his own personal touch: a sign saying DO NOT ENTER tacked on in the middle of it. Even though it was just him and Valen in the old two-story Victorian home and neither of them never went into each other’s room without permission, Eli still felt it was necessary.

        Walking inside, Eli was greeted with the scent of vanilla and a hint of dirty laundry. “Ha. Well it did smell good at first,” he said aloud to himself, heading for his wooden laundry basket in the corner of his room next to his closet. However, when he passed his bed, he realized he hadn’t made it after waking up and so decided to do it right then while it was on his mind.

                    “Strange place to put a bed,” Valen had commented when Eli had finally decided on a position. Eli always felt comfortable sleeping in the middle of the room. Being in the center, able to see all angles of the room without being cornered, seemed right.

        After he made his bed, Eli went over to the sliding door leading to his patio, forgetting about his smelly laundry at the moment, and stepped outside. A cool breeze blew through Eli’s short tussled hair and the sun burned in his piercing hazel eyes. The clear sky and bright green trees and the overlook of the valley had all been the deciding factors for Eli when he’d been trying to pick out a bedroom. Valen hadn’t minded, since he liked the darkest room downstairs, anyway.