Locked Away

Chapter 4

Kara

I never liked storms. They always sent shivers down my spine, and I didn't like how they'd shake the house. It was to ominous and to say the least I was scared. I laid awake in my new bed that didn't help since it was harder then my old one and just stared at the ceiling. I had tried a multitude of natural ways of falling asleep, even some that felt weird to be performing in this new bed. I was out of options.

In the adjacent room to mine I could hear the wood of the floor creak. That can't be the wind pushing the house can it? I questioned the words in my mind as I listened to the howling gusts outside the small window in my room. The rain banging on it like a billion little pebbles. It should have been relaxing as I closed my eyes to take in the variant of white noise when I heard the creaking wood stop and then a few moments later was greeted by a light tapping on the door.

I was completely dazed, my body was mid-shutdown and my body weighed heavily on me. However my curiosity got the best of me and while standing up I was thankful to have my big T-shirt on that covered the majority of my body. Putting my hand on the doorknob, I twisted it and the door gave away opening my room up to an intruder.

Not knowing what shadowy figure I was going to see on the other side. I didn't know what I actually expected maybe my subconscious had something in mind, but right now in front of me was Ryan, holding his teddy bear. I had never been so happy to have been covered up, and hour earlier it might have been a different story.

My brain though was struggling to register the fact that he was standing right there in front of me. I rubbed my eyes in hopes that it would wake me up more as another lighting bolt illuminated the night sky as well as my room quickly followed by another aggressive thunder clap. In the brief second that I could see Ryan's face, he looked how I felt. Exhausted.

"Ryan...what are you doing down here? It's the middle of the night." I managed to finally say as I lowered my hand from my eyes.

In the dark I could see his head tilt up as he went to reply but another duet of lightning and thunder interrupted him, and in his eyes I could see the tears that had swelled up in the darkness. It was a rarity to actually see my brother cry but now I had seen it two days in a row.

"I'm sorry Kara, I just wanted to talk to someone." He cried as he looked down at his feet.

It was clear that he was embarrassed, but yet for once I actually felt sympathy for someone other then myself. I placed a hand on my brothers shoulder and looked at him in what I believed were his eyes but in the dark it was hard to tell yet I hoped my smile would be radiant in the dark and it must have been because I could feel the warmth of his smile reflecting back to me.

"Come on, you can sit on the edge of my bed." I said calmly as I walked back to the bed and put my legs under the covers making my exposed half covered.

In front of me I watched as my brother placed the bear down on the white cover of the bed and then sat down himself. He kept his eyes looking away from me, and focused on the door. I knew he was probably uncomfortable being in a girls room, and the different smells that he was probably inhaling from all the different fragrances I had placed on the desk in the corner. I laughed a little observing his emotions as he turned to look at me, the light from the window now illuminating half of his face.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I asked him quietly as he looked down at his feet.

"I can't stop seeing mom's face from the moment she died. Every time I close my eyes all I see is...her." He whimpered as the words left his mouth.