Don't Fall Asleep

Chapter 11

Awake

Friday. July 25, 2014. 2:38 AM

Laughter.

It can be such a beautiful and happy thing. Sometimes, however, it can be horrible and frightening.

This laughter was frightening.

The first thing Zena heard as she awoke in the damp grass was this laughter. The laughter that sounded so familiar, yet so absolutely terrifying and foreign. The laughter whose source was standing right in front of her in the shadows of an all too familiar house.

"You did it. You found me. You're smarter than I thought you were," the voice was painfully familiar, but it had a tone to it that Zena had never heard before.

The source of the laughter and the familiar voice stepped forward out of the shadows and Zena gasped. Her cousin, Astronia, stood before her with an evil grin spreading across her face. Zena couldn't help but wonder where the tone in her voice had come from that she's never heard before.

"Don't act so dumb. Can you honestly tell me you didn't suspect me once? Maybe you are as dense as I thought you were. Yet, you managed to find me in your sleep."

"What are you talking about? Suspect you of what?" Zena's voice trembled as she spoke.

"Seriously? So you really do have no idea what goes on while you're sleeping..."

"Astro, please explain to me what's going on. Why am I here? What happened?" her voice was pleading as she had to blink back the tears forming in her eyes. Nothing was making sense to her.

"My name is Astornia. Stop using that stupid nickname. God, I can't stand you. That's why I framed you for murder. I'm the one who killed that person, Zena. Not you."

"You... What? You would never... How could you do something like that? That's not like you at all," Zena couldn't hold the tears back any longer. They were now steadily falling down her cheeks.

Astronia laughed. " You're so dumb. It's called acting, genius. People aren't supposed to think that I could do something like that. That's how I get away with it. You caught me, though. Or your other half did. Either way, it's your choice to turn me in or not. If you don't, you will be blamed for the murder. If you do, I'll confess everything."

Zena was silent. She didn't have any idea what she was supposed to do or what she was going to do. The most reasonable choice would be to turn Astronia in, but she didn't want to throw away her cousin like that. She had no idea how her family would react or if they would blame her for turning Asatronia in or not. If she didn't turn her in, however, Zena would be blamed. Both ways, her family gets hurt. Zena would either end up in jail or with nobody. That was a hard choice to make.

"I probably shouldn't be trying to convince you to throw me in jail, but you wouldn't be betraying me. I never even cared about you. You were always a tool for me to use and now that I don't need you, I don't care what happens to you. It shouldn't be such a hard choice. Just throw me away like I did with you and get this over with. I never had much interest in the world anyway," Astronia leaned against the wall of her house as she talked. She sounded bored.

Every memory Zena had of Astronia went through her mind at that moment. She wondered if Astro had always been that way. If every single time they were together meant absolutely nothing to her. Zena realized now that she didn't care what happened. Either way, she was left with nothing. So she made the smarter decision, despite the pain it left her with.

"Then, I'll turn you in. You don't seem to care either way and our memories are as good as gone. Nothing mattered to you, so it doesn't matter to me either. I trusted you and you laughed behind my back because you thought that was stupid of me. Now, I'm done being stupid. I'm done trusting you," Zena held her hand out to Astronia. "Give me your phone."

Astronia took her phone out of her jacket pocket with a smile. As she handed it over to Zena, she said, "You're finally standing without being held up."

Zena took the phone from her hand and dialed 911. As the phone rang in her hand against her ear, she tried not to think to hard on what Astronia had said. "911, what's your emergency?" a lady was on the other side of the phone.

"I have the murderer of Faith Johnson with me. She is turning herself in. Please send someone to get her," Zena said as calmly as she could and Astronia laughed.

"Oh my. Alright, can you give me an address? I will send someone right away," she sounded very surprised.

Zena gave the lady the address of her very own cousins home and the police arrive in five minutes. Even though she had told them she had the killer, the police were still surprised to see the two girls. "Which one of you is the killer?" said the man who walked up to them from the police car. Zena recognized his voice as the one that came and questioned Astronia.

Astronia laughed again and walked up to the man. "It was me officer. I'm the mastermind, the killer. I fooled you pretty well, huh? You thought it was my innocent cousin here. As if she could hurt anyone," she put her hands out and after a moment of staring at her in complete shock, the officer cuffed Zena's cousin and only friend.

As the police car drove away, Zena broke down. The shock had passed and reality back handed her across the face. She sat in the grass and cried for at least an hour. Eventually, she had to get back up again. Zena wandered around for about and hour until she finally returned home. When she got there, she saw her family sitting on the front steps sleeping. Seeing her family like that made her realize how worried they must have been while she was gone. They were probably out in the cold right now waiting for her to return. Zena couldn't think of any other reason for her family to be sleeping there in front of her.

Wiping away her tears, Zena walked up to them and hugged them. Her parents woke up and took a moment to proccess their daughter hugging them. When they realized what was going on, they both began to cry and hug her back.

Zena felt her mother shiver from the cold and that made her realize that she was freezing as well. "Let's go back inside. I'll tell you everything that happened once we're warmed up."

"I'll make some hot chocolate," her mother smiled and looked over to Zena's father. "You bring some blankets to the living room."

Her father smiled and went inside. Zena and her mother went in after him, with one arm still around the other. Once inside, her mother went to the kitchen and she went upstairs to see her brother. She wanted him to know that everything was alright now and that she would never leave again. As soon as she got to the top of the stairs, he came out of his room and his eyes lit up at the sight of his big sister. Zena began to cry once again and he ran into her arms.

"You should be sleeping, you know," Zena said and gave her brother a kiss on the forehead.

"Daddy came and woke me up. He told me you came home. You won't leave again, right?" he looked up at Zena with his tear filled eyes.

" I promise, I'll never leave you again."

Together, they went back down the stairs and sat on the couch in the living room. Zena's parents came soon after with blankets and hot chocolate. When they were all warms up, Zena took a deep breathe and explained to her parents everything the happened. From the day she woke up next to a dead body, up until Astronia being taken to the police. After she finished her story, everyone was silent for a long minute.

"I can't believe Astronia could have done this... She was such a sweet girl. To think someone in my own family could be so deceptive and heartless. I'm sorry you went through this alone," Zena's mother sounded angry, but not towards her. She didn't sound like she blamed Zena at all.

With a sigh of relief, Zena realized that she had been worrying about the wrong things. She was worried that her family would blame her for Astronia being sent to jail or that they would disown her for disappearing the way she had, but they were only relieved and sad. Zena smiled at her parents and laid her head back on the couch then closed her eyes. She hadn't realized just how tired she was from crying and walking back home. Her parents looked very tired as well, and her little brother was already asleep on the couch with his head on her lap.

Standing up with her brother in her arms, Zena told her parents that she was tired and needed to sleep then walked up the stairs. After putting her brother to sleep, she went to her room and smiled at the comfort of her bed as she lay down.

As Zena lay wide awake on her bed in her cold room, she though to herself that she would never fall asleep again.