Sweet Sleep (The Children of Ankh Book 1)

by Kim Cormack

  Kevin had been the one to watch her dream day after day. She seemed peaceful, almost smiling. He could tell she lingered just beneath the surface of her closed eyes.

  “Look at all these flowers you have. I bet you had no idea this many people loved you.” Kevin said as he sat by the side of her hospital bed. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Kevin wanted to kiss her lips as she slept, but he needed her to be present the first time his lips met hers in that way.

  He leaned in and whispered in her ear, “I think I have always loved you.” He started to dig around in his backpack, saying, “I have your iPod here and all your favorite songs are on it. I added some Rascal Flatts to it.”

  He stood up and leaned over her in order to put the speaker buds in her ears. “I know that was your mom’s favorite group. It was always blaring all through your house. I thought it might make you happy.”

  He paused again, glancing at her heart monitor as it beeped rhythmically. He willed his conversation to reach her wherever she was. “You and Chloe went to that concert with your mom. Do you remember?” he asked as he put the speaker buds in her ears.

  Kevin spent at least an hour with her every day, talking to her. He would tell her about his day, and about how girls were hitting on him suddenly at school. “It’s very creepy. The chicks are digging me big time now. You should see it.” He knew he was most likely talking to himself again, but not much caring who heard him.

  In the weeks after her attack it was as though each morning he would awaken to a buffer version of himself. He would take his shirt off in the mirror and think, what in the hell is going on? He wasn’t complaining, but it definitely wasn’t normal. In those first months he had shot up a good three inches in height. Kevin had started to work out with his brother at the gym. Never had he thought he would go out of his way to spend time with Clay, but after that night it was as though they had found the sense of brotherhood they’d been missing.

  The police had not come close to catching her attacker—not even one strange fingerprint at the crime scene. They had no leads and no suspects. A piece of him feared that someone would show up to finish Kayn off. The police had nobody watching her room. Maybe that was why he spent as much time by her side as he could. Kevin knew she had brain activity. That meant she still had a chance.

  He was working out on a daily basis now and had started running. Doing the thing she loved to do made him feel closer to her. He listened to the same music she had on her iPod. He felt like these small things kept them connected. Like somehow wherever she was inside her mind, they were doing the same things. He wanted to be strong enough to protect her when she woke up. Kevin wanted her to feel safe with him whenever he was around. On some level he wanted her to wake up knowing she was protected and nobody would ever be able to hurt her again.

  Kevin stroked her hair. Her face had healed without scars except a very small one hidden under her jaw line. Her body had healed in an amazing way. Her stab wounds had been dealt with by a plastic surgeon; they were thin lines now. It was amazing the work they had done on her. He suspected she was sleeping to heal her mind now. There was a chance of permanent brain trauma, but they wouldn’t know until sleeping beauty awakened. He imagined her dreaming of happy peaceful things like catching bumblebees as a child. She would be surrounded by the music she loved as she slept.

  He had dreamed at night of five-year-old Chloe and Kayn catching bees. He dreamed of climbing trees and looking at a bird’s nest. They never touched those little blue eggs. In his dreams he could talk to Kayn, and feel whole again for a few hours. He would dream of watching clouds and guessing what they looked like. Kayn would eventually come up with something dirty as an answer. He would pretend to be disgusted by her sometimes crass behavior, yet always be secretly impressed.

  Kevin smiled as he plugged the ear pieces into his ears and slipped off to sleep.

  Chapter 7

  While She Lay Dreaming

  Dreaming

  — A succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep.

  — The sleeping state where this occurs.

  Kayn awoke with a jolt. She had been making small mews and cries during her sleep. She focused in on her mother; she looked so young. She rubbed her eyes groggily. She was lying beside her sister; she felt confused for a second. They were young, maybe five or six years old.

  Chloe lay in the bed on her back, blonde curls fanned out behind her. “Mom, she’s wrecking the story.”

  Her mother scooped her up into her arms and snuggled her to her chest, “It’s okay, sweetheart. You had a bad dream.”

  She’d been having an extremely bad dream, though she couldn’t remember what it was about. It didn’t really matter. This felt wonderful. She loved to snuggle with her mom. Kayn could smell her mom’s perfume and took a big breath in. “I like this perfume. It’s a keeper.”

  “You’re a keeper,” her mom said as she started to tickle her.

  Kayn squiggled and squirmed around, giggling uncontrollably as her mother tickled her.

  “People, please control yourselves. We are reading a story, okay?” Chloe said in a bossy and completely frustrated tone.

  “Oh, really,” her mother said and began to tickle Chloe, too.

  Chloe was giggling as loudly as Kayn when their father walked in and said, “There was a story on the news today about a wild animal that escaped from the zoo. It was last seen in our neighborhood.”

  The girls were silent for a second waiting to hear what had escaped. “Do you know what it was?” he said with a scary voice.

  “No, what was it?” the girls said in unison. They sat up and looked serious.

  “It was a tickle monster,” their dad yelled as he jumped on the bed and tackled the three of them.

  They tickled each other until Chloe squealed, “I’m going to pee.”

  The memories were so real and they flickered through Kayn’s brain like changing the channel on a television set. Every once in a while in the background she could hear a familiar voice talking to her. She heard it in the distance, and music, there was always music.

  Kayn peacefully lay in the grass next to her sister watching the bumblebees, quietly feeling like maybe someone was missing from the picture. Every once in a while she would touch one and smile with a feeling of pure joy. They were just fascinating creatures. If she watched really closely, she could see the pollen stuck to their tiny legs.

  “I don’t want to ever leave here. Let’s stay here forever, Chloe,” Kayn whispered to her sister.

  “You can’t stay forever, Kayn. You have to go home soon,” Chloe whispered to her sister.

  “I can’t go anywhere without you,” Kayn said, still mesmerized by the furry bumblebee in front of her.

  “We can always be together. I can go back with you,” Chloe said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “We can stay together always. I can go there or you can stay here,” Chloe said as she offered up another option. “We can just watch the bees,” Kayn said peacefully. “Where are Mom and Dad? I don’t see them!” Kayn asked, suddenly feeling panicked.

  “They had to leave without us. It’s okay though because they are still close by,” Chloe said in a whisper like it was a secret.

  “I’m so tired,” Kayn said, and yawned stretching her arms above her head so high that she could almost touch the clouds. The sky swirled above her head.

  “Go to sleep then, Kayn,” Chloe said, still staring at the bumblebee in front of her. Its chubby pollen covered legs were making flying away difficult.

  “But they might sting me. I’m allergic remember?” Kayn said. The other bees were delicately dancing from flower to flower.

  “They can’t hurt you here, Kayn. Nothing can hurt you here,” Chloe whispered.

  Kayn lay down amongst the flowers, her blonde locks in the grass cushioning her head as she slept. The fragrant smell of cherry blossoms from the surrounding trees began to soothe her senses. She slipped into a gen
tle slumber.

  She awoke from her nap because she could feel a tickle. Kayn couldn’t open her eyes. Bees covered every inch of her, carpeting her entire body. She wanted to scream, but calmed herself. Remain calm, she thought. They will not sting you, if you’re calm.

  She could hear her father’s voice talking in her head, Be calm, Kayn, and Stay calm, my sweetheart. She couldn’t move, yet she was peaceful in this moment. Her even and steady breathing continued as millions of tiny feet tickled her face and body.

  Was Chloe okay? She thought. Where was Chloe? She could hear Chloe close by laughing hysterically.

  “It’s okay, silly. They won’t sting you. Trust me, Kayn, you just need to believe they won’t sting you,” she heard a man’s voice speaking softly that she didn’t recognize.

  Chloe kept laughing as she tittered, “This is hilarious. I bet you’re freaking right out. I asked them to land on you and they all just did … isn’t that cool?”

  Ask them to get off me then. This is not very nice, Kayn thought. She couldn’t talk. She was afraid to move her mouth; after all, she was covered in bees. This isn’t funny, Chloe. I’m scared.

  Chloe let out an exasperated sigh, “Okay, man you are not going to let me have any fun are you?”

  She spoke again in a commanding tone, “Bees get off Kayn right now.” They lifted off in unison. The sound of buzzing filled her ears. The bees grouped into a swarm and flew away.

  Kayn sat up absolutely furious, every pore bubbling with fury. She yelled, “They could have killed me. Why would you do that? How did you do that?”

  “I have been able to do that for a long time, Kayn, as long as I can remember,” she stated.

  “You never told me you could do that,” Kayn said with utter amazement.

  “You never believe any kind of hocus pocus, mumbo jumbo. Isn’t that what you always say, Kayn?” Chloe asked back in a saucy voice.

  “You could have just shown me like you did right now, Chloe,” Kayn replied.

  “I have a confession to make,” Chloe said quietly.

  There was a guilt ridden pause as she gathered the courage to tell her sister of her misdeeds.

  She continued to speak after a moment of silence. “I asked a bee to fly to a certain flower, and it did. So I asked the bee to land on my arm so I could touch it, and it did. I didn’t know if it was just dumb luck, so I asked the bee to sting you, and it did. I felt so horrible. You swelled right up. You almost died. How could I tell you I asked the bee to sting you? It was my entire fault, Kayn.”

  Chloe had known that Kayn was not a big believer in mythical creatures, mystical things or anything she couldn’t touch to believe in its reality.

  “I really wanted to tell you, but I had to show you, so you would believe,” Chloe whispered.

  Kayn looked at her sister in a moment of clarity and asked, “Are we dead? Is this heaven? Is this a dream?”

  Chloe looked angry all of a sudden and said sternly, “I am not allowed to talk about this, Kayn.”

  “We aren’t children?” She took her sister’s hand to show her she held no grudge over her actions as a child.

  Even though Chloe looked upset, Kayn was persistent and kept digging for answers from her. “I know I am not a child. I am sixteen years old! Our birthday is in three months and we will be seventeen.”

  Chloe had been sitting right in front of her. She was holding the hand of an eight-year-old version of Chloe. Chloe disappeared as Kayn was talking, vanishing into thin air. Kayn stood up in the enormous field of buttercups and clover. She was completely alone and feeling panicked as she frantically turned in a circle looking for her sister. She was alone in the field that spanned as far as she could see in every direction.

  “Chloe, where are you? Please don’t leave me here alone,” she hollered.

  She turned again in a circle; calmly this time, feeling confused, and noticed the flowers were suddenly gone. The yellow buttercups had vanished in the blink of an eye. She was barefoot standing in the grass. Suddenly the temperature of her feet changed. They were icy and cold. She looked down at the ground and snow began to appear in a circle around her feet where she stood.

  The icy circle grew until the field was covered in snow. Her feet hurt. Standing in the snow barefoot was shockingly painful. She started to jump around trying to get out of the snow but there was nowhere to go. She was still in the white sundress and so cold she was shaking uncontrollably now. Kayn wrapped her arms around her chest knowing this must be a nightmare. She was sound asleep and safe in bed. Her brain was still trying to make logical sense of her surroundings turning from spring to the dead of winter in a matter of seconds. The snow was up to her knees and packed around her feet. She couldn’t move. A dark figure strode toward her in the distance. She felt a spine chilling sense of terror. She was never afraid of strangers, but this place, or nightmare, made no sense. As the dark figure moved closer, a rush of survival instinct from deep inside told her to run. You have to get away. She felt terror to her very core. It racked her body with a panic that was giving her a strange déjà vu.

  It was far too late to run. She was trapped. The snow was turning to ice around her legs. She could see the white ground’s texture changing on the surface around her, and hear the crackling sound of the ice as it solidified. It began to squeeze and burn her flesh. She had to get out of here. She had to get away. She was hypothermic. Her legs were now completely entombed in ice. Her stiff, blue lips barely let her voice whisper into the icy air, “Chloe, Chloe, help me, please. I’m sorry. I won’t ask any more questions.”

  The dark menacing figure now was only thirty feet away from her. It crouched down into a crawling position. She was completely helpless. She squirmed in place. “Chloe, please,” Kayn’s voice cracked. Blinding terror now flowed through her veins as she tried to dig herself out. Her legs were burning; her fingernails were broken and bleeding. Still she dug and clawed at the ice with mounting terror as the dark figure crawled as stealthy as a cat toward her. The figure stopped moving for a second and cocked his head like an animal contemplating his next move.

  Kayn yelled, “Who are you? What do you want?”

  The figure was only ten feet away now. He stayed there and sat cross legged on the ice before her. Kayn recognized the man. She was sure she’d seen him before. The dark man looked like he was in his mid to late twenties. He was muscular, athletic, and agile like a dancer. His clothing was black and tight and there was something strange about his movements. It was like he was a large cat hunting some kind of prey. His quirky mannerisms reminded Kayn of someone, yet she couldn’t place who.

  “Cleaning up my sister’s mistakes is beginning to piss me off,” he said with a sarcastic tone.

  Kayn looked down at her hands. Her nails were bleeding and torn. Her fingers were throbbing. She was in pain.

  “It’s possible you thought I was someone else. You don’t remember anything do you, Kayn?” he said as he moved close to her. “Give me your hands,” he said as he extended his hands towards her.

  Kayn kept her painful hands wrapped around her sides. She was freezing and not entirely sure he wasn’t going to bite a finger off her already wounded hand.

  “For heaven’s sakes, I was just being polite. It’s not like you really have a choice,” he held his hands out and her hands moved to the same position out in front of her. “You look confused. No need to be, dear. You will simply do as I say. It’s for your own benefit,” he stated and gave her a charming, almost trustworthy smile. He placed his hand over his other hand stroking it across, without actually touching her. Her pain instantly went away and her hands were healed. “Has anyone ever accused you of being overdramatic?” he said with humor.

  “No,” Kayn said, looking at her healed hands in utter astonishment.

  “A woman of few words,” he said, smiling in a way that made her feel almost at ease.

  Kayn was still looking at her hands and trying to process her surroundings. She thought, i
s this heaven or is it hell?

  He answered as if she had spoken, “It’s not heaven or hell. Have you ever been waiting at the doctor’s office for your turn? It’s kind of like that.”

  “So I am dead then,” Kayn said, searching for an ounce of fact she could understand.

  “Well, perhaps they have accused you of jumping to conclusions?” he scolded kindly as if she were a child questioning him. “Are you still cold?” he asked, almost with a caring tone of voice.

  “Yes, I’m freezing. I’m up to my knees in ice.” Kayn was shivering as she spoke.

  “No, you’re not,” he answered as he shook his head.

  Kayn looked down at her legs which were suddenly warm. She was standing in warm beach water. In the sand brightly colored starfish in stunning purple and orange surrounded her. She wiggled her warm toes in sand. A crab scurried over her toes making her jump a little. A few orbs of light swirled around and flashed past her feet in the water. They startled her and she jumped out of the way. The sand was shining with sparkles, almost as if there were tiny diamonds instead of pebbles mixed with it. The sun’s rays hit them and made them gleam underfoot through the warm water gently caressing her legs.

  “What is this place? Am I dreaming?” Kayn whispered.

  He said, “Do you fancy a swim my love?”

  He leaned down and ran his hand through the first couple inches of water, creating tiny ripples that, as they moved away from them, turned into large waves travelling in each direction. The waves grew larger and larger as they headed away from the small circle of the now dry land they were standing on. It was like the water had vanished in a ten-foot circle around where they stood. The sand now fully exposed to the sun’s rays shone like stars beneath Kayn’s feet. Kayn gasped in awe and got down on her knees to have a closer look. She ran her fingers through the now warm dry sand. They are diamonds, she thought, as she scooped up a handful of sand. In her memory she traveled back in time. Again, it was like a movie on the big screen while staring at her handful of brightly shining, diamond-filled sand.