The Unseemly

Chapter 8 - Strange Habitat

Chapter Eight - Strange Habitat

As the first string of sunlight trickled on the thin white blanket, Chimmy felt it was now safe to peek out his so-called "tent of protection." The voice outside his window last night had tormented him for hours. Scratching slowly on that window, the slow tapping. TAP! TAP! TAP! The worst of it all was that wretched long finger- how odd its shape had been. The color and length of the nail that would- TAP! TAP! TAP! Soon after, it would slide its disfigured finger languidly down the window. Once it reached the bottom, it would begin to lift. Or try, Chimmy always kept his window locked. Since his older brothers would still sneak out at odd hours of the night, meeting up with different pretty girls, from what Chimmy could see from the moonlight on those nights. Getting caught so many times, all the windows must remain locked after 8:00 pm pronto. That wouldn't stop that finger from tapping and scratching; it finally had stopped when the sun had risen.

Daytime meant that everything would be safe. All of what happened yesterday was now in the past. What had happened with his visit from who he thought The Unseemly, sunlight would be his protection from them and all the unknown creatures that were hidden throughout Granite Bay. Chimmy felt better when he smelled maple syrup traveling throughout the air, which meant breakfast and breakfast told a sense of regularity, which he needed right about now. When he arrived at the table, the entire family sat with their plates prepared, and there was an open seat for Chimmy. His meal was set and ready. They all waited in silence as Chimmy made his way to the chair.

"Did someone die?" Chimmy asked in a jokingly manner.

"Why is everyone so quiet, especially you, Brent." Brent was the middle child who always had something to say; and something to prove as well. He ever made Chimmy look weak in his father's eyes. That's why he started playing sports. Not because he liked them- quite the opposite. Sure, he was exceptional in all the sports he played, he also had the leadership quality which all his coaches admired.

"Sleep well, Tommy?" Brent said. Only his friends at school had called him Chimmy, which he didn't mind. His parents had named him Thomas, which he hadn't particularly hadn't mind.

"What's that supposed to mean? Was that you last night outside my window?" Chimmy burst out. If so, that would be the best news he could receive.

"What the hell are you talking about? Have you finally lost your mind, Tommy?" he says back. Here was the Brent he knew. "I told you pops; you should have stopped having babies after me. But no, you wanted to have a girl." Brent continued, "Well, Tom-Tom here is close enough, I guess." Their older brother John kicked Brent's leg underneath the table. Brent immediately shut his mouth.

John had been the oldest of the Chimney brothers, eighteen years old, and graduated from Granite Bay high. He had been the football team captain, had a full-ride scholarship to Notre Dame College, which had always been their fathers' dream, he would leave for school in the fall. He was the prize child, and Chimmy and Brent had known that-accepted it actually. John always had Chimmys back, that he had loved about his big brother; admired. Whenever Brent would pick on him, John would intervene and save the day-but; now summer is almost over, and John will be off to college. He'll meet an easy dolly and get married and forget all about his little brother who desperately needed him. Chimmy would never tell John this-oh no, how could he? John had been teaching him how to stay vital for when he left. He said to him that their family needed him to hold them together.

"Don't be silly, Thomas, you must have had a nightmare. I told you not to read those scary novels before bed." His mother had said as she began eating her pancakes.

"I don't read before bed, mom," Chimmy replied quickly.

"Just leave them alone, honey, and maybe they'll let you live," she said in a hasty voice. No one seemed to notice what she had told except Chimmy. Not even John had looked out of place; of course, his father didn't mind. There was moonshine in his glass of orange juice Chimmy would bet his last nickel on it. "Last night was just a warning," she said in that same raspy voice.