Sleep Tight

by BJ Hyman

  Satisfied she is truly alone, she returns to her perch behind the counter and begins reading her book again. After a few moments, she seems to lose the thread of what she’s reading. She flips back a couple pages until she finds where she last remembered the story. It’s been a long time since she’s read a book that has kept her so wrapped up that she had difficulty putting the story down. Even so, a few moments later, she finds herself again in an unfamiliar part of the book. This time she must turn back a full five pages to return to the story.

  A sound makes her look up and right in front of her stands a stunning man with blond hair and green eyes. He is Hollywood handsome and his beauty makes her breath catch. With her heart beating frantically in her chest, she wonders how she could have missed HIM coming in? He smiles slightly and seems to fade in and out of her sight. It’s a little disorienting. He reaches forward and touches her face before backing away from the counter. And disappearing.

  Jennifer looks down at her book and is startled to find herself a full TWENTY pages away from where she last remembered reading. “What is wrong with me tonight?” Her eyes flit around the coffee shop. Empty. As empty as it has been for over an hour. She glances at her watch and is glad to see it’s only thirty minutes until closing time. She doesn’t know why she’s so jumpy. Has to be the book. After taking several calming breaths, she finds her place and starts reading her book again.

  Within seconds, the basket of wrapped pastries to her right topples over, spilling its contents all over the counter and floor. She jumps back, knocking her stool over with a crash. She grabs her chest from the fright. “That’s it! I’m closing early!” She shoves her book into her purse underneath the counter and grabs the store key from the side pocket. She marches to the front door, making sure not to step on any of the fallen pastries, locks it, and snaps the “Open” light off with a snick. Pocketing the key, she begins picking up the packaged pastries from the floor to put back into the basket. She sets the display right and fixes it back the way it should be. With a turn, she puts the chairs on top of the already clean tables and makes for the back to get the big push broom to finish up.

  In the back room, she flips the breakers to leave only the lights that stay burning all night on so that she won’t get any surprise late visitors. While reaching for the handle of the push broom, she feels lips on her cheek and jumps to see who is there.

  The blond man.

  How did she forget him? He laughs and leans in to kiss her hard and full on the mouth. He releases her abruptly. Her pulse sets off in a gallop as she watches him back out of the closet giving her a little wave with the tips of his fingers. “Who are you?” But he is gone.

  She runs into the main shop holding the broom like a weapon. Within a second, she’s wondering what has her so spooked. She’s completely alone in a shop that is already locked up.

  She begins her sweeping from the back. She leaves the debris at the end of each separated section for collection with the dustpan. When she turns to sweep the front, she’s startled to find the chairs not on the tables. She knows she put those on top already. With a shake of her head, she leans the broom against a nearby wall and goes about the work of putting those damned chairs back up.

  The table nearest the counter where she sat, the same one that she could have sworn had the seat moved earlier, holds an empty pastry wrapper with crumbs.

  The same kind of pastry that the fallen basket held.

  She stands there a moment staring at it. She can hear nothing but the usual sounds in the shop. The only thing out of place is the quickening of her own breath and the instant dryness of her mouth. “I’ve spooked myself. That’s all.”

  With a shake of her head, she gets a cloth to clean it up. She throws away the wrapper and leans down to collect the crumbs from the table top. It is then that she notices the glorious man sitting in the chair at the table. With a gasp, she slips and falls backward to the floor. She scrambles away from him as quickly as she can crawl back, her feet slipping out from under her.

  He just sits with a sinister smile on his face.

  Jennifer can’t remember why she’s on the floor. Her rag is also on the floor next to the last bistro table she needs to clear. She gets up and brushes herself off with a head shake. She walks to the table and finishes her work. After the tables are in order, she finishes her sweeping and cleans up the coffee and tea pots and makes sure everything is off. She counts down the cash drawer and locks up all the money and receipts in the manager’s office before going to collect her things from behind the counter. Her book is sitting on the brushed copper counter top.

  She distinctly remembered shoving it in her bag.

  As quickly as she can, she grabs her things and rushes for the door. Her eyes dart to every shadow and every shape along the way. She reaches into her pocket for the key…

  …to find it not there.

  She spins around looking for anyone standing in the shadows as she searches all her pockets. She reaches into her purse and feels the familiar metal shape in the pocket where she usually keeps it.

  She gasps with relief. She must have put it back in her purse, after all.

  She unlocks the door and opens it to the humid night air. The sound of the bell above rakes across her nerves and makes her feel electrified. She quickly slips into the hot night and locks the door behind her.

  With a haste she never has felt before, she rushes to her waiting car outside and gratefully locks all the doors when she gets in. Her hands are a jittering mess as she tries to start the car. After a minute and forever, she hears the rumble of the engine and has a hot burst of air hit her full force in the face before cooling to a very pleasant cold air conditioning. It instantly fogs her “smart girl” glasses and she takes them off, lays them in the passenger seat, and puts her head down on the steering wheel.

  She had been listening to Nirvana’s Nevermind while heading to work earlier and the song Lithium was now blasting through her speakers. Kurt says he’s not gonna crack. Kurt says “I killed you.” So, she kicks it quickly to the next song, Polly. She’s just too creeped out for that kind of lyric.

  Unfortunately, the lyrics to Polly are about an abducted woman…at least that’s what it sounds like to Jennifer, so she turns the whole system off.

  Until she realizes the silence sounds like two people breathing in her car.

  She looks frantically into her back seat to find it empty. Her nerves are so raw she must be seeing phantoms in every shadow!

  She shoves her hand into her bag, grabs her mp3 player, plugs it into the system, and flips through songs until the soothing sounds of Eva Cassidy singing Songbird fill the car. That beautiful voice instantly calms her enough that she feels she can drive. She picks up her glasses and sees they are clear of the fog. After putting them back on, she shifts into reverse and makes her way home.

  Once happily inside her apartment, Jennifer finally feels better. In fact, she feels kind of foolish. She should know better than to let a book scare her. She changes her clothes to a concert t-shirt and pajama pants before padding barefoot down to her kitchen to find something to eat. She remembers she needs to text her boss the final numbers of the night. Checking to make sure the time was far enough behind closing that he wouldn’t know she had closed shop early, she sends a quick message of the numbers for the day. She’s surprised that in her fear she could remember them at all.

  Her fridge is pretty bare, but she has some eggs and milk and cheese. She decides to make cheesy scrambled eggs and goes about the calming work of cracking, whisking, and stirring. When finished, she carries her plate to the living room and curls up on her small, brightly colored orange sectional in front of the television. She has a Walking Dead marathon recorded on her DVR but, after tonight, fears that wouldn’t be such a good idea, so she settles for a couple of old The Office episodes on Netflix.

  Once on her second episode, she thinks she hears her refrigerator open. In fact, she knows she does, because she can hear the
distinct sounds of someone opening cabinets! The chime of a glass setting down on the counter is what has her bolt completely upright. She tiptoes around the wall that separates the rooms and peeks around the corner. A glass is indeed sitting on her counter and it’s full of red wine that has been retrieved from the fridge.

  No one is in the kitchen. Her mind races to where they could be.

  THEY ARE IN HER HOME!

  She tries to remember where she sat down her cell phone and remembers with a sick feeling that it was the kitchen. She moves as quietly as possible to try to find it. Her heart beats painfully against her ribcage. She can hear the swell of blood rushing through her ears and weakness floods her muscles. She feels dizzy from the fear running through her. At the sight of her vulnerable bare feet, she wishes she was dressed in something it would be easier to fight in. She wishes she still had her bra on. Somehow, it makes her feel more defenseless with each unsupported sway.

  Crossing the open space to grab the phone that she spots on the counter next to the range, she’s exposed. She isn’t near anything she could even hide behind. She reaches for the cell only to have it covered by a man’s hand. Even as her eyes meet his, she can’t believe it!

  Her voice squeaks out of her tight throat. “YOU!”

  With a shrug of a well-muscled shoulder, he grins. It only makes him more handsome. “Me.” Even his voice is enticing.

  She turns and runs with her hands holding her chest into the living room. He’s close behind and before she can even formulate a plan, he grabs her. His arms encircle her like a vise, crushing her arms and chest.

  She feels a vibration run through him. The hum she feels through his body causes her to turn her head away. In a voice that doesn’t sound like her, she shouts, “Who are you?!”

  He presses his mouth against her ear and says, “I am Gable. And I’m about to change the rest of your life.”

  His arms hold her so tightly that her breath is too shallow and the dizziness overtakes her.

  She goes limp in his arms.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Lightning Luke

  I hate having to watch her from such a distance so that I’m unseen. I know that I could probably slip up to around four feet now and remain completely unnoticed, but I’m afraid to take the chance. I’ve been a Zero for enough time that I might even be able to be as close as two feet without being seen by a person still living a normal life, but Gina is special. She’s my wife. Or, at least, she was. At this point, she’d be considered my widow, even though I am still walking the earth. And that makes her more susceptible to seeing me at a longer distance.

  She should be left alone to try to start a new life since one with me is impossible. You see, I lived past my death day. The day I was destined to die. You would think that it was some spectacular feat, and, in a way, it is. But I didn’t count on the fact that I would lose everything in my life because of it.

  You have only so many days to walk the earth and that’s it.

  If you go past them, the world forgets you and acts as if that life is simply over. For everyone else, your life IS over. And effectively for you, it is as well. But not so much in practicality. You just become a Zero. And you can’t take it back. No do over. Now you can’t die. You might really, really want to die. But you can’t.

  Anyway, Gina is my obsession now. I may not be a part of her and our children’s lives, but I can watch. Even as it rips my heart to shreds.

  Gina is brilliant and beautiful. Always has been. Her dark, thick hair reaches the middle of her back but she usually keeps it up while working. She has an almost Italian look but is petite in form and stature. I’ve always thought she looked a little bit like Monica Bellucci and a little bit like Claudia Cardinale. Either way, she’s absolutely perfect. She’s also the smartest person I’ve ever known. She is so savvy that, in every election cycle, candidates fight for her to be on their team. She’s an event coordinator and a damn good one. Her events make or break a campaign. To have her on your team means almost a sure win.

  This cycle, she’s working for a senator running for re-election. He’s got such good buzz that his next campaign might be for President. And I know he would take Gina along for the ride. In fact, she’d be essential. At least, she would be if he wanted to win.

  As Gina finishes getting the kids out the door, she calls a cab to take her to work. I watch as Erin and Toby leave for school. There was a time when this could be used by Gina and me as time for a quickie before we had to run off to work ourselves. Instead, I haunt the windows of the house until her cab arrives and whisks her off into the downtown part of the city. It always feels like a letdown to watch her ride away.

  ◆◆◆

  Patrick Eldridge

  I love a good jump. Before my final day, I was a thrill seeker in small ways. But now that I can’t die, the sky is the limit. Pain is temporary. Who knew how freeing life could be without the threat of death around every corner?

  I look over at Phoenix. The wind has caught her brilliant red hair and is blowing it very prettily across her face. One deep blue eye peeps at me from between the strands. She tosses her head and laughs as her hair surrounds her like a full-blown fire. There are many reasons that Phoenix as a name suits her. Over the last year, I’ve watched her explode from the dark, lonely shell she had encased herself in with all her pain and loss and desperation. She’s phenomenal.

  I really have been very lucky that we all found each other at the time of my transition. I can’t imagine what it would have been like all alone with no understanding of what was happening. Phoenix and the others all had it worse than I did. They made the leap from mortal to immortal with no one to guide them or let them know what was even occurring. It must have been hell.

  Speaking of leap, I pull my ear buds from my bag and hook them into an old school iPod shuffle. It’s the only player that usually survives the smash at the bottom of the freefall onto the rocks. Phoenix and I found this cliff a few months back and sometimes come out here to take a flying leap…literally. I turn on my music and shuffle the songs until I find Stone Cold Crazy by Queen. I look at Phoenix and smile before jumping up and down to get my adrenaline flowing. After shaking my arms and legs, I sprint toward the edge and fly.

  It feels like a cartoon. You leap and you seem to freeze in space for a moment before the forces of gravity push you faster and faster toward the ground. There’s the sensation of my stomach leaving my body and hanging behind me. The wind grips everything and rips and tears at my clothes, my skin, my hair. I feel my lips flapping and I laugh. It makes me feel like a balloon being filled with air. My nostrils flare like a horse readying for the finish line. And then comes the abrupt, painful end. I smash into a million pieces on the rock surface below.

  I hate to admit it, but the pain comes across as pleasure for just a moment. I no longer look human for several minutes as my insides and outsides splash, crush, and smear in all directions.

  The reassembly of a Zero after such devastation is beyond belief to watch. The smudges slide together to become chunks. The chunks slide together to become sections. And, at last, the sections merge together to create a human form. Then the blood and gore begins to smooth and heal to perfect skin and hair and bones. The nightmare becomes as fresh as if getting out of the shower. Standing from the outside, I’ve been reminded of the T1000 in Terminator 2 played by Robert Patrick. “Have you seen this boy?”

  It’s a rebirth of sorts. And it’s addicting.

  I watch as Phoenix jumps off the cliff above me. Like a great bird leaving the nest, she soars out into open space. She shows off by doing flips and spinning as she falls, tangling her hair around her flushed face. I see that she’s going to land nearby. I sit up and slide out of the way. It’s no use. Her landing sends blood and who knows what else splashing at me. I marvel to see the crushing blow so near. I think of water balloons. As the pulp becomes my lovely girlfriend again, I feel the sick sliding from me to join with the rest of her. With snaps, cr
acks, and slurps that disgusts as much as it fascinates, she finally turns her head to slowly smile at me. I feel my chest rumble with my voice before I realize I actually am speaking. “Do you have a grave?” I don’t know what makes me ask her this. I just feel a terrible need to know the answer all of the sudden.

  She sighs before staring up at the clouds. For a moment I’m not sure she heard me. She seems to make shapes from the cottony fluffs above us. “I have a marker. They put it up to have somewhere to go to remember me. It’s quite nice. There’s a bench for meditating, but there’s usually so many bird droppings on it that no one chooses to sit. I saw my mother bring a towel once so that she could stay longer. She cried. I cried while watching her. I don’t know if there was a service. I don’t really care. The end is all the same, right? I’m here and can’t be with my family or my daughter because I had the audacity to live for her.” She turns to look back at me. “What about you? I know you’ve gone to see your parents. Have you tried to find a grave?”

  “No. Today was the first I’ve thought of it.” I scuff at a pile of loose rocks. Phoenix suddenly stands, wiping dust and dirt off of her now ratty clothing. She reaches a hand out to help me up. “Let’s do it again.”

  I reach up for her hand and keep her near after I rise. I enjoy holding the length of her against mine. After kissing her deeply, I whisper into her ear. “Let’s jump together this time. See if my body and your body fully separates and we become ourselves completely again.”

  She pulls away and looks into my eyes. “That would quite possibly be the most intimate thing two bodies have ever done.” She gasps slightly. Her eyes flutter closed for a minute and she breathes. I watch the emotions as they cross her face. She slowly opens her eyes again and steel has been added to her gaze. “Okay. Let’s do this.” She takes my face in her hands and kisses me fiercely. She trembles against me before turning and beginning the climb back to the top.