by BJ Hyman
SLEEP TIGHT
BJ HYMAN
A Mission Multimedia Book
Copyright © 2018 by BJ Hyman
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing, 2018
ISBN-10: 1719302669
ISBN-13: 978-1719302661
http://bjhyman.com/
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For my beautiful sisters, Lee Ann, Tammy, and Cressy. You are my lifelong friends. I love you all beyond reason. You are my lighthouses in a dark world.
As always, for Jim.
Soup. It’s the blanket of food.
Cool.
Cool. Cool. Cool.
PROLOGUE
Last Breath
The dirt beneath her was cold and damp. It reminded her of the days she’d help her grandfather put out a garden. He’d till the soil and she’d lie in it and make dirt angels, packing the dirt back down. He could have been angry, but he was indulgent and let her have her fun. She could still hear his laughter as he brushed the rich black soil off her overalls. She’d wrap her grubby hands around his neck for a spontaneous kiss to the cheek.
She lay there daydreaming of her youth and the good things in her life. She thought of her brothers and their stupid pranks. As the only sister, she was often the recipient of those pranks. She swore that she would come up with a good one to play on them someday to get them back.
They’ll think this is a prank. She wished she could tell them straight up that this wasn’t a joke to save them the shock. It would start with a laugh that would morph into disbelief then despair and finally a mix with shame at the earlier laughter.
She thought of her father and how he always tried to act as if he wasn’t treating her any differently from her brothers, but he couldn’t help himself. After her mother had died so young, she had been the only girl. Her grandmother had already passed so that left one flower in the garden. Because she was the only one, she never had to worry about guys giving her too much of a problem. She had a backing that was five men strong and each of them would willingly give his life for her.
She was glad they had not been asked to make that sacrifice. They were soon going to be missing the softness of a female in their number, but her brothers would find wives and have children. It would be replenished. The flowers would bloom once more in their family. They all had so much love to share. She regretted she wouldn’t be a part of it.
She opened weary eyes to the canopy of leaves above. She was surrounded by greens and browns and grays. The sky shown brilliantly blue when the wind shifted the branches and let her have a peek. There were worse places for one to die.
The person who killed her was still a mystery. She had been stalked and haunted for weeks. She had gotten security for her home. She had been vigilant. Wanting not to worry the men in her life, she kept it to herself. She told a couple of friends but not the men in her family. They were always on the edge when it came to her and there had been nothing truly threatening to lead her to believe she was in any real danger. But she had felt it, nonetheless.
Things went missing. Large things. But they were returned exactly where they should have been all along. Her keys, her favorite mug, picture frames, and the like that were always in the same place were moved. Emails were sent that she had not written. Text messages were deleted. Photos of random things would just appear on her camera roll. Posts to her social media that would sound like her, but she had never posted, would be liked and shared by her friends.
Most of the things that had happened could be reasoned away. But then there were things that were unmistakably someone else’s doing. Flowers in the seat of her locked car. Words written on the walls of her small cottage house (which was also locked). And now this. Her dying in the woods.
She didn’t even know if it was a man or woman. The killer had a slender build but was strong. Definitely not very old. Maybe between 25-35 or 40? These were just guesses. She had seen nothing. Not even today.
She had been working in her own flower garden thinking of how she was carrying on her family legacy of growing things. A jarring hit on the head made her see stars and caused her neck to hurt. She didn’t go under but felt the waters of blackness begin to swim before her eyes. She tilted slightly to the side but struggled to right herself before putting a hand up to feel where she had been struck. The second blow did it.
When she woke, she felt dirt being shoveled on to her. Her groan must have gotten her attackers attention. But, instead of knocking her back out, she saw the figure in a hoodie pull out a knife. She felt the blade before she could do anything. Three slices. One at her throat and one to each wrist. Then this person, the reason she was bleeding out on the forest floor, left. Nothing was said. She could just hear the crunch of their shoes trampling the leaves getting farther and farther away.
It was better this way. She just felt sleepy. Dying under all that dirt that would have been horrific. Waking with it in her eyes, her throat, unable to take a breath, seeing nothing but the soil, that was what nightmares were made of. Now, there was pain, but most was floating away. She felt dizzy as if going under for surgery. She tried to wriggle her toes but felt nothing moving.
It reminded her of when she had to get her tonsils out as a child. Her mother sat at her side with her beautiful auburn hair flowing around her heart shaped face. Mom held her hand as she slowly drifted away. I’ll just focus on what that felt like. And instantly she could see her mother. She was still as beautiful as her memories of her. She appeared to be beckoning her forward. She reached out her hands for the last time toward a mother who was only there in her memory as her spirit left her lying in a shallow grave.
CHAPTER ONE
Circle of Friends
Charlie Ray looked at the mismatched group she claimed as her people. They all had multi-colored neon drinks in front of them and those were not their first. The empties had a rainbow of drizzle in the bottoms of the glasses. All would add to that number before the night was through. Appetizers of all kinds littered the table. She could tell that the fried cheese was the most popular since there was only one left. She snagged it along with the marinara on the side before it disappeared to someone else’s plate. Eli, her most recent regular date (“Aw, come on now…call him a boyfriend already will ya,” her sister would say) was sitting to her right, eyeballing the gooey cheese with envy. Kellie, the intrusive sister, was to her left sporting bubble gum pink hair for the time being. Next week it might be neon green. She has mood hair. Whatever her mood, she’ll find a way to display it with her hair. Her boyfriend, Mitchell, quietly sat beside her, the perfect example of opposites attracting. His straight-laced demeanor caused him to frequently be mistaken for a college professor. But they completed each other.
Across the table, Charlie faced her employee, Craig, and his “friend” Megan. Charlie had her suspicions that their relationship was more than what it looked like at face value. She really wished she could be a fly on the wall when they were alone. Craig’s lanky blondness reminded her of Stephen Merchant of An Idiot Abroad fame. The petite Megan had a blond pixie cut that perfectly suited her well-proportioned tininess. Craig, given the chance, would tell the world that he was more Charlie’s partner in her business but without the money invested and she would be hard pressed to deny him that claim. He was indispensable for her and she prayed he never found a better job.
Sabrina, in all her exotic glory of long, dark wavy hair and honey colored almond shaped eyes, sat between Megan and Eli, rounding o
ut the group. Charlie and Sabrina had been besties since high school and couldn’t pull anything over on each other. There comes a time when the secrets known only by a few become mutual threads that would unravel both if ever spoken out loud. These two had such secrets.
The bar was a regular hangout for the group and today was no different. They all liked the atmosphere and even had a “usual” table. All the wait staff knew them by name and by tips. They had earned their VIP status.
The Arctic Circle Bar looked just like the name implied. If you were to look at it from above, you would notice circles inside circles inside circles. The outer edge was made up of massive circular booths. The next concentric circle contained round traditional height tables which could seat four to six. The next circle toward the middle was a mix of larger and smaller round pub tables. All the tables were white or blue acrylic with chrome bases flanked by either clear acrylic chairs or vinyl benches in the booths. In the very center of the bar was a circular dance floor that was two steps lower than the rest of the space. Blue light shined from lights embedded into the surround and a cool breeze of constant fog filled the space. The effect was like a frothy swimming pool at night. The almost planetary motif was simultaneously soothing and hip and had a nearly 80’s vibe.
“You just need to shut your trap. I know my Walking Dead trivia and you’re wrong.” Charlie shifted in her chair with a squeak that punctuated her self-righteousness.
Craig warmed to the argument. “Just because you watch the show does NOT mean that you know all the trivia. Did you ever read one comic?”
Kellie’s pink hair bounced as she turned to quickly defend her sister. “So, that’s the definition of being a Walking Dead-head? That you’ve read some of the comics? Please. It’s got similarities, but they use it as a guide. It’s not the same thing. I’ve heard Daryl isn’t even in the comics.”
“What do you know? You don’t even watch the show!” Kellie’s eyes cut over to her traitorous boyfriend, Mitchell, who instantly regretted saying one word. He shrugged at her a millisecond before she punched his shoulder.
“Doesn’t mean I don’t know about it.” She hit him again as punctuation.
Charlie pulled her phone from her bag and typed furiously on it. Craig narrowed his gaze at her. “What are you doing now?”
As she blew a cherry-cola colored lock from her eyes, she spoke without even looking up. “Googling it.”
His hands flew up in exasperation as he leaned back in his chair. “Seriously? You’re that desperate to prove me wrong?” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine. See for yourself. They play the whole series over every fall before the new season starts and I always watch. How many times can you say you’ve seen each episode?”
Charlie flicked a look at Craig. “Bold words from a man about to be proven wrong.” She read for a moment and yelped with glee. With a self-satisfied smile, she shoved the phone across the table. “Ha ha! Suck it! Daryl and Carol never hooked up in seasons one through six and Negan was only in the final episode of season six. Not any earlier! Bite me!” She pointed a finger at him as she leaned back in her chair. “You owe me a drink.”
He took the phone with a frown and looked at the screen. “That can’t be.” After a second, he slapped it back on the table and slid it like a hockey puck back to her. “Ugh. You’ll never shut up about this.”
She smiled at him from over her bright pink drink that nearly matched Kellie’s hair. She took a long sip before answering. “Nope. I’ll spend all day at the shop crowing over it. I win. You lose.”
Megan patted his arm. The face that he turned in her direction could only be described as overwrought. “Never be friends with your boss, Megan. They are the worst.”
Charlie hopped down from her stool. “I gotta pee. Anybody with me?”
Kellie slipped from her chair with a hand to Mitchell’s chest. “Get me some potato wedges while I’m gone, please.” He leaned in for a quick kiss before she followed her sister.
Craig targeted Eli with his ire. “I hope she’s worth it in the sack for being such a pain in the ass.”
Eli smirked and leaned in as if sharing a secret. He used two fingers to call the men at the table toward him conspiratorially. Once they were all close, he spoke just as loudly as if they hadn’t leaned in at all. “Oh, she’s worth it. Trust me.” He sat back with an eyebrow raise.
Sabrina gave the jeering men a look of disgust. “You are all pigs, you know that? Shut up.”
“What?” Eli looked genuinely confused.
“Be a gentleman. That’s all I’m saying. If you can’t figure that out, then I’ll lose the little faith I have in man.”
With a lean around Megan, Craig said, “He didn’t give details. That comes after you aren’t around to bitch about it.”
Megan shoved him back from around her as he laughed. Sabrina hid her smile by taking a sip of the electric green alcohol in front of her. After several minutes, the waitress made it back around and took more orders. Megan and Craig discussed the music that played, as was their usual. They both loved music enough to have maybe chosen it as a career. It was part of the glue that bound them as friends. The current song was a rock band from England called Royal Blood. They both marveled at how two men could sound so rich and full as the others just listened to them talk.
Mitchell noticed Charlie and Kellie coming back from the ladies’ room as they headed around the circle. He called out. “Get your ass over here! It took you long enough.” He winked knowing Kellie loved it when he was out of character for her. She left her sister behind as she ran toward the table.
Charlie watched her and plowed right into a man in a hoodie. His hands steadied her as she stumbled and almost fell. “Geez! Sorry! I should watch where I’m going.”
With a dip of his obscured head, he spoke half under his breath as if he was under the weather. “It’s fine. Enjoy your night.”
The assholes at her table hooted and whistled at her as she shame walked to them. Craig, of course, was the first one to take a crack. “Sleepwalk much?”
Kellie almost spit out her drink. Her hands waved signals in the air in Kellie drunken sign language. They were all used to her wild hand gesturing the further into the night it got. “She can’t! She sleeps like the dead.” She dove right back into her drink.
Craig turned to Kellie with his eyebrows a full half inch higher in surprise. “For real?”
Charlie picked at a forgotten platter of chips and rotel. “Oh, yeah. It’s been a family joke for years. I’ve even slept through a tornado before.”
“We’ve had a lot of fun with it.” Kellie took a quick sip before continuing. “Once we moved her entire bedroom outside to the front yard with her still in the bed! She woke up the next morning with the garbage truck rumbling by.”
“Yeah. It’s been a blast,” Charlie half-growled.
Looking over at Sabrina with a wink, Eli spoke up. “I think you could shoot a gun off by her head and she’d sleep through it. I once tripped and broke a lamp. Nothing. I turned the light on so that I could clean it up and she never even twitched.” He leaned forward excitedly. “I used the vacuum!”
When the laughter died down, Craig reached out and snagged a fried mushroom. After popping it in his mouth, he said, “Wait. So, you’ve spent the night?” He grunted when Megan elbowed him in the ribs.
Mitchell slid his glasses up on his face. “Kellie told me once that it was like Charlie goes into a coma every night. I thought she was kidding until that blackout about a year or so ago. We all stayed with Dean that night for safety. He had a finished basement and a generator. The sirens screamed all night long and she slept through every bit of it. Kellie wasn’t much better. Dean and I didn’t sleep a wink.”
Once more, Eli leaned across the table. “Dean?”
With an evil eye at Mitchell, Charlie cleared her throat. “My ex.” The words came out under her breath as she began to shred the tiny cocktail napkin under her drink.
S
abrina came in for the save. “In college, I had to make sure she got out when someone pulled the fire alarm. Who sleeps through a fire alarm? This one.” She raised an expertly plucked eyebrow and pointed at Charlie who, making sure no one was looking, mouthed a silent thank you.
“I’m very lucky there was never a real fire.”
“You bet your ass you are. I had to drag you more than once and yell for help. If it had been a real fire, it would have been every man, or woman, for herself. You’d be barbecue Barbie.”
Kellie, in one of her characteristic shifts, slid from her stool and grabbed Mitchell’s hand pulling at him. “Come dance with me.”
He followed willingly. “Oh, if I must.” He smiled and kissed her hand as they walked down into the fog.
Craig ran a hand over his sandy blond hair as he spied Megan. “You game?”
