Stranger Stories 2

Of Course He Did.

Cody woke up quietly, eyes snapping open to complete blackness.He squinted, beginning to make out faint silhouettes of furniture. The edge of someone's bed. Faint light trickled through heavy curtains beside Cody, betraying whose room it was. Seb couldn't sleep with any light in his room whatsoever, and the only reason he picked his room was because of the blackout curtains that the previous owners of the house had left. Cody wasn't sure if he wanted to get up. He pulled one of the curtains aside to shed more light on the room, the plainness confirming his suspicions. A small yellow note card lay on Seb's nightstand, held down by his phone.

If you're reading this, Cody, yay! You're awake! I couldn't really get you that much to do, and Mindy wants you to stay in bed. I did get you your phone, though. Call Mindy. Then I guess I can't really judge what you do on your phone, so if it isn't going to immediately result in your getting out of bed or your death, you can do as you wish.

Cody fumbled for his phone, dropping it onto the carpeted floor. He sighed. Really?

Ah, well. I guess that doesn't count as me getting out of bed. He leaned over, nearly falling out of bed. He grabbed a sheet and wondered why Seb made his bed as neatly as he did. Scraping the carpet with his fingers in their blind search, they found his phone and pulled it back to where he wouldn't die if he got up to get it.

And... call Mindy. Right. He dialled her number. The call went directly to voicemail.

"Um, Hi Mindy, I'm awake. I'm guessing you were the one who wrote the note to call you, I know no one living here has that neat handwriting. Call me back when you can, I guess. Bye."

Cody hung up, trying to sit up but failing. Should have guessed that I wasn't back at 100% yet. Damn. He coughed, thankful that his hand was free of blood when he drew it away from his face. The phone started ringing again. He picked it up, fully expecting it to be Mindy.It was his father.

"Hey Dad."

"Hey, Cody! How ya doing?" Ryder said. Cody could imagine him leaned against the wall of his bedroom, arms and shirt splattered with paint.

"I'm..." Cody stopped, considering the events of the past twenty-four, maybe forty-eight hours. But he knew that if he told his fathers about what happened, he would have to explain the whole business with the Mother and he would rather not go through all of that when all he really wanted to do was to go back to sleep. "I'm fine."

"Okay." his father paused for a moment. "You know, I haven't been to your house for a while. Is there any time I could come over?"

Cody stiffened, then relaxed, trying to re-convince himself that Ryder couldn't see that he was hiding things over the phone. "Um. Probably not anytime this week. I'll ask when Jake's off work."

"Sure." Ryder said. "Well. Faith's coming over soon, and she'll flip if she sees the kitchen in the state it's in, so I have to go. Love you, Cody. Bye."

"Bye." Cody echoed, and hung up. He put his phone back on his nightstand, burying his head in Seb's pillow. It didn't help him sleep, but the best he could really do was wait until someone got home.