Dreamcatching

Chapter 11

"Oh, Mmmmmm, Nora," Slate groaned in ecstasy. "These cinnamon buns are soooooo good."

Slate closed his eyes and all but made love to his fork as the warm, cinnamon pastry coasted in cream-cheese frosted glory down his throat. "Anytime you wanna invite me over to do Chemistry homework, I'm game, baby."

As Nora laughed at his compliment, Slate yelped. Kaden had elbowed him in the side while Donovan ignored them both. He stole the last cinnamon bun from the tray before anyone could stop him.

"Hey, Frith!" Slate whined.

"Snwoze ywou wose!" Donovan replied through a mouthful of empty but delicious calories.

Nora was so glad she'd cancelled the date to Alex's Pizza tonight, both with Donovan after class and later at her locker with Kaden. As it turned out, she really did need to spend more time on her Chemistry lab report than expected. Something in her notes about the proper mixtures and PH balance had been throwing off her calculations.

To her surprise, when Nora gave in and called Donovan to talk about it with him, for he was her lab partner after all, (even if he did sleep through the entire lesson), and she didn't see why she should have to do the work of two alone, Donovan offered to come over and do it with her.

Even more, Donovan brought Kaden and their friend, Slate, with him. Feeling awkward about cancelling on everyone earlier in the day, Nora was relieved at the second chance to hang out. It wasn't long before her homework was complete and as a thank you for their help, Nora whipped up a batch of homemade cinnamon buns.

As Nora finished serving them, she briefly caught Kaden's smile in her direction. There was something about him that Nora was drawn to, even if she didn't know exactly what it was. She felt right in his company. Not just comfortable but content; happy.

It didn't make sense, (they'd only just met!) to Nora but she was enjoying Kaden's new-found friendship just the same.

"Hey, Nora," Slate asked. "You got any milk?"

"Milk?"

"Yeah, you know," he replied while wiping his mouth on a paper napkin. He balled it up afterwards and tried to shoot it into the nearby waste bin. "Hharhhh, and he scores!" He cheered himself on when it landed inside the can. "...to wash down the cinnamon bun. It's really sweet. I need some milk."

"Me, too, Norie," Donovan chimed in. He was licking the tines of his fork clean of the hot icing and hadn't realized what he said.

Kaden immediately shot Donovan the evil eye. Slate froze in place while putting his dirty dish into Nora's dishwasher.

Nora turned to Donovan slowly. She had a milk carton and an empty glass in her hands. She poured some milk into the glass and absently handed it to Slate. "Norie? No one's ever called me Norie before."

Donovan looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He swallowed the last of his cinnamon bun with difficulty and glanced around nervously. He felt like he needed an escape hatch to open in the floor beneath his feet. "Ah, well..."

"Norie is a common nickname for Nora," Slate said non-chalantly while moving again. "I can't believe you've never been called that before, Nora. Seriously?"

Somewhat defensively Nora wrapped her arms around herself. "No, I haven't, but now that I think about it..."

Something in Nora's mind shifted.

A familiarity about the nickname prickled her memory. She had no idea why. She truly hadn't been called that before. All the same, though, the nickname rolled around in her head like it belonged there. Once again, things didn't make sense. In fact, more and more in her life wasn't adding up.

"What?" Kaden asked.

Blinking, Nora focused again. "What?"

"You were saying," Kaden replied gently. "Now that you think about it? But then you stopped."

Nora shrugged. "I don't know. It's cool. I like it. I just feel-" At that moment, perhaps sensing her internal distress, and without thinking the action through, Kaden reached out to hold Nora's hand.

Instantly, Nora felt dizzy and tilted where she stood. A black wave of terror invaded her consciousness. Demonic laughter ripped into her psyche, weakening her knees. Kaden leapt out of his chair to catch Nora before she fell onto her ceramic kitchen floor.

Instead of helping her, however, Kaden's touch made the voice inside Nora's head grow louder, scarier and stronger.

Blood red swirls formed in her vision and Nora's sense of fear spiked. She whimpered in Kaden's arms as he held onto her tightly.

"I'm coming for you," the voice hissed. "I can feel our connection getting stronger. Soon, mein kleiner engel."

Without warning, Donovan grabbed Nora out of Kaden's arms. "Let go of her, you idiot," he shouted at him.

Slate was by his friend's side in an instant to catch Kaden before he toppled over. "Watch it, Mutt."

Donovan held onto Nora protectively and all but snarled back at Slate. "He's making things worse and you know it! I knew this was stupid. I should never have agreed to-"

"What the hell are you three skwobbling about?" Nora demanded. She meant the words to come out loud and demanding but her voice cracked. A passing dizzy spell left her feeling momentarily drained.

Nora broke away from Donovan and gripped the edge of her granite countertop for support. She was shaking.

In her haste to get it together, Nora ended up knocking over the open carton of milk still sitting out and perched on the end of her countertop. "Shit!"

Kaden moved to help, but Slate pushed him aside to do it himself instead.

"Here," he said. "Let me get that."

Slate grabbed some paper towels from over the sink. The white lace curtains hanging overhead tickled his hair in passing. He knelt down to sop up the dripping milk and then got back up again to put the half-empty container into the fridge.

No one said a word or knew what to do. The tension in the room covered them all like a wet blanket of mold and decay. Nora felt two seconds away from losing it.

"Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?"

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German Translation Provided by Google Translate:
Mein Kleiner Engel = My little angel