Sleep No More

Chapter One

S

Silence can be painful sometimes. It can make the most softest of sounds seem loud.

I could hear my heart thundering in fear. I could hear him getting closer and closer to my door. His shadow appears in the doorway, just as I lean down to pick my dad's baseball bat off the floor. The shadow steps into the light of my room; fury burning in his eyes. As he steps closer I feel my heart jump into my throat.

● ● ●

I'm sitting on the front porch looking at the horizon, lost in my never-ending thoughts. I can hear Dad moving around in the kitchen through the open door. After a while, I hear footsteps approaching. I look up to find him walking out the front door with two mugs in his hands. He settles down beside me and hands me a mug of coffee. I nod my head in thanks.

"The same nightmare?" he asks. I nod my head in reply trying my best not to think of it again. A shiver works its way down my spine making me clench my hand around the mug. I rest my head on Dad's shoulder, suddenly finding myself very tired. Too tired. I feel him take my hand. He starts tracing the scar on my wrist as we sit in silence. We take comfort in this silence knowing that we have each other. And that no matter how long it takes we will be fine.

"It will be all right, Harley," Dad says standing up. He ruffles my already messy hair as he stands quietly for a while staring straight ahead. His face looks conflicted almost as though he wants to say something. Before I can ask him about it, he shakes his head and walks back into the house.

I stay seated for a while, drinking my coffee, letting the hot liquid heat my cold body. I watch our new neighbourhood come to life. The lampposts switch off and the cars start to drive past. I'm so lost in my own thoughts that the neighbouring house's door slamming shut startles me. Expecting the worse, I shakenly stand up and stumble backwards towards our open front door. But instead of seeing something horrible or terrifying, I see a little girl not much older than six walking down her driveway to get the mail. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and visibly relax.

Inhale. Exhale. 1, 2, 3. Inhale. Exhale. 1, 2, 3.

I look towards the girl again and see that she is wearing a glittery blue fairy outfit complete with sparkly wings and a silver wand. As she walks back up the driveway towards her house she starts skipping. A large grin on her face. I watch in fascination as she plops down onto her porch and goes through the mail. She can barely suppress her excitement. Her tiny feet are tapping the ground and her body is shaking with it. Her face lights up and her gets even bigger (which I definitely didn't think was possible) as she holds a pale blue envelope in her hand and a small, brown package in the other. The neighbour's door opens again. A woman comes out this time, anger written on her face. But when she sees the little girl smiling at her, she stops in her tracks and smiles back. The woman says something and the little girl gets up, handing the blue envelope to the woman before skipping happily into the house with the small, brown package in her hand.

I walk into the house feeling guilty for invading my neighbours' privacy. I'm not always such a peeping Tom. But I couldn't help myself. The girl's happiness was so pure and genuine , I just couldn't look away. And the woman, possibly her mother had looked so sad looking at the envelope and I had seen her wipe away a stray tear before she also disappeared into their house. But yet, I couldn't help but wonder what all of that was about.