Demons (Jonathan Toews)

Chapter Sixteen

Four Months Later

“Hey Madison, wake up.” A soft male voice floated through my head, causing my eyes to flutter open as I suddenly regained all of my senses that had fallen dormant during my sleep. Sunlight pouring into my sensitive eyes as soon as they fluttered open, I hissed and quickly rolled over in my bed, my body tangling in the warm sheets as I pulled whatever was next to me over my head.

“Go away, I want to sleep.” I ordered from under my sheets as I pulled them closer to my body, closing my eyes tighter in hopes that the darkness would lull my brain back to sleep. Right when my senses were starting to shut back down, the blanket I had pulled over my face was roughly torn from my body, making me growl with annoyance.

Lying on my bed, I kept my eyes shut, hoping that if I tried hard enough the man in my room would just disappear. Minutes later, when no one had continued to bother me; I figured the man had given up.

I was wrong.

“Madison!” He screamed, causing my eyes to snap open and my body to tense up. Flailing my arms from the sudden sound, I shifted my body to the edge of the bed, and promptly fell from the mattress, slamming my limbs against the tiled floor. As the pain radiated from my knees and elbows through my body, I placed my forehead on the cold tile and groaned, unable to move.

“It’s like the middle of my sleep, why.” I whimpered as I carefully pressed my hands into the floor and pushed my body up, slowly opening my eyes as they adjusted to the large amount of light in the room. “I made a mistake giving you a key.”

“Not when I bring you a large coffee and the biggest, shiniest, most organic apple I could find.” The blonde boy sent me a wide smile as I finally got to my feet and turned to him, letting my eyes fall over his bright eyes and huge smile before they took in the large Starbucks coffee cup in his left hand and a large shiny apple in his right.

Smiling, I rubbed some of the sleep from my eyes and took the items from the boy’s hands and sat back down on my bed, placing the plastic lid to my lips and taking a long sip of the hot caramel and coffee flavored liquid. “You’re fantastic, Kaner.” I gushed as my eyes darted to his. Shrugging a little, he took a seat next to me on my bed and let out a small yawn as he leaned back into the bed.

Bringing the apple to my mouth, I took a large bite from it and then turned to him, pulling my legs into a pretzel formation on top of my warm sheets. “What’s going on in that little head of yours?” I questioned as I watched his eyebrows meet in the center of his forehead.

“Nah, nothing really.” He paused momentarily, “How are the paintings coming? Your shows in a month right?” Patrick asked, his bright eyes landing on mine as a small smile surfaced on his lips.

“Yeah, I need like four more. It’s… Going pretty good. I don’t want to think about graduating, honestly.” I shivered at the thought. “I feel like it was just yesterday I was walking into my first class, and now I’m graduating? Bizarre.”

“Do you know what you’re going to do once you graduate?” The boy that had lain down on my bed was now sitting up, his eyes locked on mine, filled with curiosity. “I mean you’re going to stay in Chicago right?”

“If I can find a job, then yes.”

“You can move into my place if you can’t find a job right away, ya’ know.” He offered quickly, his cheeks flashing small patches of red. “I mean if you can handle-“

“You bringing girls home all of the time?” His cheeks were now bright red, “I think I might have to pass up on that one, Kane. I’m glad your sex life is alive and well, but I don’t feel like taking part.”