A World of Their Own

Chapter 2: Dark Eyes

Jaiden was afraid.

He wasn't sure how long it had been since Serena had gone to the market to buy food. They were in severe need of some, since Toby and Michael constantly ate it if they could get their hands on it, and they had been running out of it in the pantry. He mentally reminded himself to tell Serena to store the food on the highest shelves, since only he and she could reach that high. The twins had only just turned eight years old just a few weeks ago, and they still had yet to hit their growth spurts. Compared to their thirteen and sixteen year old brother and sister, respectively, they were short.

Together, they were both unnecessarily loud. The walls in their one-story house were thin, so he could hear almost everything the two of them were yelling about from where he sat in his shared bedroom in the corner of the house, at all hours of the day. He wondered if their neighbors could hear them; their voices were too loud, far too loud –

"Jaiden? You in there?" A familiar voice interrupted his train of thought, and he looked up towards the door. He nodded slowly.

"Come in, the door's unlocked," he said quickly, wrapping the soft, gray blanket around him more tightly. Serena promptly entered the room and shut the door behind her.

"Serena, do you think the neighbors can hear them?" Jaiden asked, waving a hand towards the door, where he could hear his younger brothers playing, probably trying to play tag in the hallway.

His sister frowned. "Jaiden, we have an old couple living on one side of us, and another family with kids Toby and Michael's age that are just as loud. Even if they could, do you think they'd care?"

Jaiden tilted his head to the side. "What are you talking about? I thought we lived next door to a family of demons."

"Jaiden!" Serena exclaimed. "For the millionth time, the family next door isn't a bunch of demons! They're a normal family, just like us!"

"But we aren't a normal family. Mom's kidnapped and Dad's sick. The demons are getting to him," Jaiden responded solemnly. "And those kids all have red eyes. I've seen them before."

Serena sighed audibly and buried her face in her hands. "Mom's in the military and has been for the last two years or so; yes, Dad has been sick for a year and we can't figure out what's wrong with him, and they're just kids. Have you been seeing things again?"

Jaiden shook his head. "I told myself that I was going to remind you about something earlier... I think I've forgotten what that something is."

Serena's dark eyes peeked out from between her fingers, meeting her younger brother's gaze. "If it was about putting the food on a higher shelf in the pantry, then I've already done it."

"Good. Then the demons won't get it."

Another sigh.

The two siblings sat in silence for a while, neither of them knowing exactly what to say. Serena wanted to leave to check on her two younger twin brothers, but she couldn't bring herself to leave Jaiden alone for a while, even if it was only for a few minutes.

There was no one in the world who would take care of her younger brother except for her. Her younger twin brothers wouldn't know how to, her father was unable to take care of any of them at the moment, and her family simply didn't have the money to send him to a place where he'd be cared for properly.

Unlike the rest of her siblings, who were too young, she remembered her grandfather. He had been the same as Jaiden, although not quite as reclusive.

If she was to be quite truthful, even her younger brothers would tell her that were afraid of Jaiden. His constant talk about "demons" and "watching red eyes" terrified them, and rightfully so. They were only eight years old.