A little late because I’ve been pretty busy the last couple of nights:
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Chapter Seven
“Hey!” Aidan yelled at the stranger. If there was one thing he remembered from the safety lectures the police gave at school every year, it was to make noise if someone is trying to kidnap or abuse you.
He scrambled out of bed and got to the door. He twisted the handle but it didn’t turn–it took Aidan a moment to remember he had locked it.
“Dad!” shouted Aidan, hoping he was loud enough to reach his father’s room down the hall.
“Fear not, I will explain,” said the stranger. His English-accented voice sounded vaguely familiar.
Aidan looked back over his shoulder at the man. “Stay away from me, you pervert!” His trembling fingers finally managed to unlock the door, so he yanked it open.
An identical stranger in chain mail stood outside the door.
He was being attacked by twins? Glancing back at where the other stranger had been, he saw that the man was gone.
Aidan slammed the door shut and leaned against it with all the strength he had. After locking the door, he stepped back and stared at the door, hoping the stranger wouldn’t break it down.
The floorboards in the hallway creaked, and steps drew closer to his room. Aidan jumped when a knock sounded on his door.
“Aidan?” said his dad, through the door. “What’s going on?”
Aidan rushed forward and opened the door to see his dad standing there wearing pajamas. “There’s some weirdo in the house. I woke up and he was in my room looking at me.”
“Where did he go?”
“He was in the hall. I locked him out.” Aidan felt a growing puzzlement. “You didn’t see him?”
His dad shook his head. “I heard you yelling and I came. I didn’t see anyone.”
“He was wearing chain mail.”
For a long moment, his dad stared at him. “Are you sure it wasn’t just a bad dream?”
It had seemed real at the time, but Aidan started to doubt what he had seen. How had the man vanished from his room to appear outside the door? How had the man gotten into his room in the first place, since it was locked?
Aidan sighed. “Maybe it was a dream.”
The door to Jessica’s bedroom opened. “Some of us are trying to get some sleep,” Jessica said.
“There may be an intruder,” said his dad. “I’m going to check the house.”
#
The clock on the microwave oven showed 3:12 AM. From his seat on a tall stool next to the kitchen counter, Aidan watched idly as Stephanie poured herself a bowlful of puffed wheat and then added milk. Jessica was slumped at the kitchen table, chin resting on her hands.
Carrying an aluminum baseball bat, their dad came back into the kitchen from the living room. “The doors are all locked and no windows are broken. I think it was just a nightmare.”
Aidan shook his head. “I could’ve sworn I saw him after I was awake. But I must have imagined it all.”
“Perfect,” said Jessica. “You’re going crazy like Mom.”
Aidan’s mouth dropped open.
“Jessica! Never speak of your mother that way again!” Their dad’s voice was stern.
Jessica sat up in her chair and pointed at their dad. “You’re the one who put her in the ‘institution.’ Don’t blame me ’cause she killed herself.”
Their dad brought his hand down on the kitchen counter with a flat slap. “Enough! Go to your room!”
“Fine.” Jessica rose from her seat and walked to the doorway between the kitchen and the front hall. “But I’m locking my door, in case Aidan goes loopy and decides to murder us all in our sleep.” She walked into the hall, and after a few seconds she stomped up the stairs. Her bedroom door slammed shut.
Aidan looked at his dad, who was standing rock-still with his lips pressed tightly together. “I’m not going crazy, Dad. Am I?”
His dad stepped over beside him and hugged Aidan’s shoulders. “It’s just the stress of starting high school, giving you nightmares. You’ll get over it.”
I hope so, thought Aidan. He usually tried not to think about his mother, about the way she had talked to voices only she could hear.
Aidan looked over at Stephanie, who had paused with a spoonful of puffed wheat halfway to her mouth.
“Eating a midnight snack,” she said. She picked up the cereal box and waggled it. “Want some?”
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