The Eyes at the Foot of the Bed (Sweet Devil!America x Reader)

Chapter 2: It's Not the House

"Oh, fuck."

   You had fallen asleep reading in the living room that night, Arin and Allen had left to attend a dinner party and you had the house all to yourself. You didn't particularly like that, especially when you woke up to find your reading lamp flickering.

   You cursed inside your head over and over as you reached to turn it off. The moment your fingers grazed over the switch, lightning flashed followed by thunder.

   Now, on a normal night you wouldn't have cared, but you were jumpy in the house and the sudden flash of light and bellow of the sky almost made your Batman shorts turn brown. The real kicker, however, was the shadow by the door.

   Letting out a brief but loud scream, you jumped up from the sofa—your book flying to the floor—and made a dash for the kitchen.

   A string of the same words starting with the letter "f" exited your lips and you immediately went for the knife block.

   Hidden inside the six-inch wood was a stun gun.

   Before you could reach the counter, however, you tripped on something.

   The scent of the ocean filled your nostrils and when you looked down—salt? You tripped on a sack of salt.

   You remembered how you told Arin to organize the pantry that morning. The lazy—

   DAMMIT, ARIN!

   Gaining yourself, you got up, bare legs covered in sodium chloride, and tore open the secret compartment of the knife block.

   You took out the gun and with pulse so loud in your ears, you spun around.

   "Woah, HEY!"

   Arin and Allen held up their hands.

   You lowered the gun, "How'd you get in here?"

   Arin made a face, "Gee, um, I don't know, the door? Now put down the fucking gun!"

   "No, no, no... didn't you see him?" You held the gun tightly, peeking into the living room. The twins had already turned on the lights. There was no one there, and your book was on the coffee table.

   "Camping?" Arin raised her eyebrow "Like open-fire, sleep-in-a-tent, hang-in-the-woods camping?"

   You folded the last of your t-shirt and put it inside your duffel bag, "Yeah."

   You got up and went to get your boots.

   "Tonight?"

   You nodded.

   "But you hate camping"

   "That's not true. I said I hate sleeping with bugs and not taking showers and not being able to use the computer"

   "Yeah," she nodded "that's what camping is"

   "I don't understand" Allen leaned on the door frame of your bedroom "I'm glad but... why so sudden?"

   "Is it so wrong for a girl to just appreciate Mother Nature?"

   "We do that all the time. From a distance" Arin said.

   "Well, I want to appreciate her on a more personal level. So are you coming or not?"

   They shared a look, that dang twin-telepath-thing again.

   You sighed and plopped down on the edge of the bed, "Okay, fine. You want the truth? I need to make sure"

   "Make sure of what?"

   "That this house is in fact, haunted"

   Arin burst out laughing, Allen was more polite about it.

   "Haunted? What?" At least he wasn't laughing.

   "Come on, now, you don't seriously... ghosts aren't real!" Arin said between heaves of breath, "They're just stories used by parents to scare their kids into behaving."

   "I don't give a shit if it's a ghost or a... a demon or the fucking tooth fairy, okay!" You yelled "I haven't been able to sleep for weeks"

   Your pride made you quit sleeping in Arin's room after a couple of days, but when you finally decided to sleep in your own room, you had found yourself unable to. You refused to turn off the lights in your room, kept all the curtains closed, and didn't dare open your eyes until your alarm—set to 7:00 AM, an hour after the break of dawn—went off. You no longer drank anything before bed, not your favorite tea or even water, for fear of waking up at three in the morning with a bladder that needs to empty itself in the bathroom across the hall, or in other words: you just didn't want to remove the covers at night.

   So yeah, the lack of sleep was getting to you, plus the entire intruder thing which the police ruled as an attempted robbery, and now, you're best friends doubted you.

   "I don't care what you guys think, but there's no way in Hell we're staying here another night longer without confirming the situation"

   "Okay!" Allen held up his hands and gently put them on your shoulders, "Okay... We'll call the chauffer and have him pick us up. We don't need to camp, we'll... we'll stay in a hotel for a couple of nights and see what happens, is that okay?"

   Panting, you nodded.

   The car eventually came thirty minutes later, and you've never thought you'd ever be happy to step out of your room.

   The ride was long, about two hours, but it was worth it to reach Rosewater Inn.

   You whistled when you were shown to your suite. There were two bedrooms connected to the living room with the plasma TV; each having a four-poster queen-sized bed. The kitchenette had a six-foot-tall fridge and a fruit bowl with a melon bigger than your head.

   Thank goodness you weren't paying for any of it.

   "You should probably take a nap. It's been a long... week." Arin offered "I'm gonna go watch some TV. Scream Queens is on."

   "You hate that show"

   She shrugged, "I know, that's what seeing them die one by one all the more fun."

   You rolled your eyes.

   "I'll be studying in the other room if you need me." Allen said, satchel already hanging from his shoulder.

   You nodded before rubbing your elbow, "Thanks, guys"

   They shared another look. Then, they smiled at you.

   "Have a nice nap."

   "Sweet dreams, babe"

   "Yeah..."

   They closed the glass door and you kicked off your shoes.

   "Long week, all right..." You sighed and rolled over.

   When you woke up, it was already nighttime based on how dark the outside of the window was. But something was wrong...

   It was cold.

   No. No, no, no, no!

   You couldn't move your hands, not even the tips of your toes.

   Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

   From the corner of your eye, you could've sworn you saw the shadows move.

   You opened your mouth. Tried to. But you couldn't, and your throat was getting drier by the second.

   You heard someone whisper your name.

   Your eyes flew open, much to your regret, as a warm golden light pierced your vision.

   "Hey, wake up! Allen won't let me eat until I wake you up"

   "Arin?" You groaned, "What time is it?"

   "I don't know, three-twenty? Come on! I'm staaaarving!"

   You let her pull you up, your eyes on the window. The sun was still up.