Palpable | Latent 2

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Sophronia

"Soph, nothing bad is going to happen," Dustin said on the other line of the phone. It was close to midnight on New Year's Eve and I was extremely worried because of what happened last year.

"You don't know that," I said. "This could have been why my aunt and uncle didn't do anything. They were waiting until New Year's Eve to strike again."

Dustin sighed. "Soph, you're overreacting. There's a police car outside of your house with two officers to keep an eye out just in case. You're going to be just fine, okay? You're being too paranoid."

"I'm not," I objected. "I'm being safe."

"No, you really are being paranoid," Dustin said. "Like I said, the police is keeping an eye out. You and your family are going to be completely fine. I promise, and I would never break a promise made towards you."

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "I guess I am being a bit too paranoid."

"See?" Dustin said. "Nothing to worry about. Besides, if your aunt and uncle do break into your house, just scream and the police will here."

"Dustin, that really doesn't make me feel better," I said.

"I'm kidding," he said. "If they really are planning something, they would do it completely unexpected, not when they know the police is watching."

"I guess you're right," I said.

"You guess?" Dustin asked.

I sighed and smiled slightly. "You are right, Dustin. Is that better?"

"Way better," he said. "I have to go now. Filly keeps knocking on my door to tell me that I have to go downstairs for the countdown. I'm so over it, but she's not and I would rather not listen to her complain about me not counting down."

"Yeah, I know how you feel," I said. "I'm probably just going to head off to bed, and Ray will be too invested in his video games to care about the countdown."

"Alright," Dustin said. "Call me if you're having a hard time sleeping and just need to talk."

"I will," I said. "I love you."

"I love you too, Soph," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you," I said.

After we hung up, I plugged my phone into the charger and set it on the nightstand before getting under my blanket and wrapping it tightly around me. Dustin was right. There was nothing to worry about. Absolutely... nothing.

Yeah, I was still worrying about it. Most of the night, I spent tossing and turning, trying to find a comfortable position to fall asleep in. Nothing worked.

I finally fell asleep around two, but I woke up suddenly when I heard something tapping at my window. My heart beating fast, I looked at the time. Nine in the morning. Nothing to worry about. It was probably just a tree branch or a squirrel.

The tapping sound came again. Definitely not a tree branch or a squirrel.

"Soph," a muffled voice came from outside the window, and I could recognize that voice anywhere.

I got out of my bed and walked to the window before pushing the curtains aside, pulling up the blinds, then opening the window to see Dustin crouching on the roof below it. "You scared me!" I said. "What are you doing here?"

"You can see me?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah?" I said. "Why wouldn't I..." I stopped midsentence when those words flashed through my mind from eight months ago from when we first met.

"Wait," I said. "You can see me?"

Yeah?" Dustin said, but it came out like a question. "You're acting like that's not normal."

I sighed and looked down. "Believe it or not, it's not normal."

"What are you talking about?" he decided to ask.

"People literally can't see me," she told me.

"My mom and my sister didn't see me," Dustin said. "I suddenly woke up in my front yard and my mom walked out to check the mail, but she didn't see me. Neither did Felicity when I went inside."

"No," I said. "No no no, this can't be happening."

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly," Dustin said.

"I can't believe I never thought about them going for you instead," I said. "They hold grudges, and you're the one who found us. What if they hurt you? What if they kill you?"

"Whoa, you're thinking too much about it," Dustin said. "They're not going to kill me. At least, I hope not. Come to think of it, I might be dead right now..."

"Dustin, don't say that," I said. "Please don't say that."

"Sorry," Dustin said with a sigh. "I meant to only think that, not say it. Can I come in so I'm not crouching on the roof the whole time?"

I nodded and stepped aside so he could climb through the window. Once he was inside the bedroom, I closed the window, blinds, and curtains before we sat down on my bed. "Does your mom know that you're probably not home right now?" I asked. "More importantly, how could my aunt and uncle take you when you were inside?"

Dustin sighed. "That's the thing. I wasn't. Since my room was closest to the stairs, I kept hearing something and I thought it was coming from the kitchen, so I went downstairs to check. Then it turned out to be coming from outside and I so stupidly decided to go outside. That was the last thing I remembered."

"We have to call the police," I said.

"And say what?" Dustin asked. "'Yeah, hi, my boyfriend showed up to my house completely invisible to everyone but me, so my aunt and uncle took him because this has happened to me before'. That's not going to work."

"Well, I'm not going to wait until your mom realizes you're missing," I said before grabbing my phone and calling Dustin's home phone.

"Soph, what are you doing?" he asked.

I didn't reply as Dustin's mom shortly answered the phone. "Hello?" she asked.

"Hey, it's me," I said. "Um, I've been trying to get a hold of Dustin and he's not answering, which is weird because even if he is asleep, he always wakes up by my ringtone. I just really need to talk to him."

"Oh, okay," she said. "I'll go wake him up. Hold on a sec..."

"Okay, making my mom realize I'm missing," Dustin said. "That... actually works."

I was going to reply, but his mom went back on the line. "He's not in his bedroom."

"He isn't?" I asked.

"No," she said. "That's odd. I didn't see him leave. He might be on his way over."

"I don't think he is," I said. "I've been up for a while trying to get a hold of him, so he would have been here by now."

"That's odd," she said. "I'll make a few calls to find out where he is."

"Okay, thank you," I said.

When we hung up, I sighed. She was not going to take this well.