by S. G. Sonysa
He picked up the spoon and started eating, but after a few minutes, he pushed the tray away.
“You need to finish it,” I said.
His jaw clenched in pain when he tried to pick the spoon again. Taking the spoon in my hand, I put it near his mouth. He looked irritated, but let me feed him silently.
When he was done eating, I put the two tablets of Advil in his palm, and he gulped them down with a glass of juice.
I was ready to leave when he took hold of my wrist and pulled me back to the bed.
“You’re stupid if you believe people when they say you’re annoying, awkward, and silly,” he said.
I froze. His face was so close to mine.
“Then who should I believe?” I asked him.
“Ask that question to yourself, and you will know the answer.”
I nodded my head and got up. My heart was beating frantically, glancing one last time at his face; I flew out of his room and went straight to my room.
My heart was still racing, and I shut my eyes to calm myself.
[Two days later]
It was the funeral of his granddad. He seemed sad and silent all day.
We went home after the burial, and the visitors had been coming for support and comfort. Everyone looked sad over the death of Mr. Joseph Edwards. I heard that he was a great husband, dad, and granddad for his grandchildren. People loved him and respected him with their hearts.
My eyes went to Chase. He was sitting alone in the backyard on the bench. I handed the cup of tea to Amy, our housekeeper, and made my way out to the backyard. I sat beside Chase on the bench, and he blinked back his tears.
“Everything is going to be alright,” I said.
He stayed silent for a few minutes.
“I don’t know how to accept that my granddad wouldn’t be here for me anymore,” he said.
I felt the tears brimming in my eyes, but I held them back.
“When my grandma died, I thought there will be no one for me anymore. I will be forever alone, but am I alone, Chase? I have my dad, your parents, and you,” I said to him.
He placed his hand over mine and squeezed it, lightly.
He didn’t say anything, but his small gesture warmed my heart, and we stayed in the backyard with our hands intertwined until the evening approached.
When the stars appeared in the sky, I said, “Do you know when someone dies they become a star?”
“I don’t believe that.” He looked at me like I was lying to him.
“I do believe that the good people become stars after death,” I said. “Look, that’s my grandma on the left and the center one is your granddad. On the right of your granddad is your grandma and that shiny star on the far right is my mom,” I said with a smile.
He looked at me in confusion.
“Your mom is alive, Hailey,” he said, and my heart dropped.
No one knew that Melanie was my stepmom.
Should I tell him the truth?
“Melanie is my stepmom,” I told him.
His eyes widened, and he stared at me in shock.
“What? But I thought she was your real mother,” he said.
“My whole life I didn’t know that she was my stepmom. But one night, I found out that my real mother died giving birth to me. Emily and I are half-sisters.”
“I didn’t know that.” Chase looked at me with a frown.
“I didn’t share it with anyone because I don’t want people to pity me,” I said, hiding my face with my hair.
“I’m sorry about your mom.” Chase lightly squeezed my hand.
“I don’t even know if I look like her or my dad.”
“I think you look like your mom because your dad has a beard and silver hair while you have smooth skin and brown curly hair,” Chase said.
I laughed at his logic, and he smiled at me.
We both looked up at the stars, and they shone brighter tonight.
[Two weeks later]
After two weeks, the atmosphere in the house was still mournful. I didn’t get the opportunity to spend time with Joseph, but I was sad and hurt by his death. His death had triggered my old nightmares again. They were even more horrible now, keeping me awake every night, or if I fell asleep, they would come back to haunt me again. I hadn’t been getting any sleep because of these terrible nightmares.
Chase and my father-in-law looked a lot better now. Both of them were the most affected by the news of Joseph’s death as both men were close to him. He loved all his grandchildren, but Chase had spent a lot of time with him and had a great bond with him.
I looked up at myself in the mirror and saw dark circles under my eyes. Lack of sleep showed on my face. I felt fatigue because of not getting any sleep from the past week. I walked to my bed and slumped down on it then picked up a book. I decided to keep reading the book all night to stay awake. To avoid getting horrible dreams, I had been trying different tricks to stay awake.
Back home, whenever I got these nightmares, my father would buy me the prescribed medicine that helped me sleep. I stopped taking my medicines and antidepressants since last year because of the improvement of my condition.
Now that I had started getting these horrible nightmares again, I needed them to go back to sleep. I remembered the name of the medicines that I should be taking, but I didn’t bring the prescription with me and without that the pharmacy wouldn’t allow me to buy those medicines.
And if I would ask anyone in the house to give me a sleeping pill, they would ask me questions like why I needed them to sleep. I would be forced to tell them the truth, and they might send me back to my dad. If I went back to my dad, mom and Emily would kill me this time for meddling in their family.
I shivered thinking about Emily and Mom, and their hateful glares if I ever went back to their house.
Somewhere in between reading the book and thinking about not falling into sleep, I closed my eyes, and I was instantly asleep.
This dream started differently from my last dream. I saw the chapel where I got married to Chase, but this time he was holding me close with a beautiful smile on his face when he leaned down and mumbled something in my ear, which made me smile.
I looked happy, and the guests were staring at us with smiles when suddenly there was a loud scream. I turned my head to look at Chase and realized that he had vanished. The place where he was standing now had a puddle of blood. My eyes went to my wedding dress, which was stained with blood too, and that was when I screamed loudly.
I was harshly pulled out from the dream when I felt someone shaking me violently. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times to remove the blurriness. I felt someone wiping my tears from my face, and I opened my eyes to find Chase crouching near my bed. His eyes were fixed on me while his right hand was resting on my cheek. He looked worried and tired.
“Hailey are you alright?” he asked me softly, making me close my eyes in bliss.
I was glad that he was perfectly fine and with me in my room.
What?
Without thinking much, I pushed the quilt from my body and threw my arms around his neck, making him fall onto his back on the floor with me on top of him. He was too shocked at my reaction to say and do anything. Even I was shocked at my own actions, but seeing him alive and healthy made me so happy that I couldn’t stop myself from throwing my arms around his neck to hug him.
We were in a really awkward position. My legs were tangled with his while my head was resting on his chest. His chest was really comforting and bare. Oh, God! I didn’t notice that he wasn’t wearing a shirt before I threw myself on him.
My face started to heat up, and my eyes moved from his chest to his face that was still frozen in shock. I pulled away from him with lightning speed, and he sat up on the floor with a dazed look on his face.
Did he hit his head on the floor?
I felt so embarrassed with my stupid actions and took a shy glance at his face, but my traitorous eyes fell on his chiseled chest again, making me blush. I
t looked hard and sculptured, but when I hugged him, he felt so soft. With the reminder of feeling his skin under my palm, I felt tingles in my hands.
My eyes went to my alarm clock on my bedside table, and I frowned.
What was he doing in my room at three in the morning?
But did I question him? No, I didn’t because somewhere in my mind I was still scared of getting scolded by him. I hated it when he scolded me. But I loved it when he smiled at me, which happened rarely.
Chase said something I didn’t hear because my eyes were stuck on his lips. They were so pink and beautiful. The upper lip was thin, and the lower one was plump.
“Hailey are you okay?” he asked me in his husky voice, snapping me out from studying the structure of his lips.
I nodded my head dumbly.
Chase looked hesitant but asked me, “Why were you screaming and crying in your sleep?”
My eyes widened at the mention of my screams. It meant that he was here in the middle of the night because of my screams.
“Did you wake up because of my screams?” I asked him.
“No, I was awake, working on an assignment then I heard you screaming and came here to check on you,” he replied.
“Oh. It was just a bad dream, nothing to worry about,” I said, getting up from the floor.
A frown appeared on his face, and he looked unconvinced.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked me.
I felt something warm spreading in my heart at his soft, concerned voice making me want to hug him again, but I refrained myself from doing anything stupid again.
I shook my head and said, “No. I am fine now. Thanks for waking me up.”
He opened his mouth then closed it. It was like he wanted to question me further, but stopped himself from prying.
“Good night,” he mumbled and left the bedroom.
After that, I didn’t dare fall asleep and stayed awake all night.
When it was eight in the morning, I got ready for the day and went downstairs.
On the breakfast table, Chase kept glancing at me weirdly, which made me extremely uncomfortable during the entire breakfast. I felt like I had something on my face, which he wanted to clean. It was weird.
After the breakfast, he left for college with Kate. My boring day started with me doing my usual tasks.
My father-in-law asked me if I wanted to continue college, but I told him that I didn’t want to go to college. In reality, I still had to finish high school before I would be eligible to join college. I had to lie to them about my age, my education, and my past.
I was never weak in my studies and never got bad grades in any subject. When I was at school, my teachers were happy with me. But they never realized what happened during lunchtime. They didn’t know how Emily’s evil friends waited for me in the washroom to beat me because that was where I used to hide to save myself from their abuse.
I shook my head to escape from all the horrible memories of my past that still lingered in my mind.
***
After dinner, my father-in-law called me into his study and told me that I needed to continue my studies this coming semester, which would start after three months. He told me he would support me and wanted me to study further. I didn’t know how to tell them the truth and how they would react.
I wanted to tell him that I couldn’t do what he wanted me to do, but at that moment, I had no choice other than to nod my head.
Around 10:30 pm everyone went to their respective rooms to sleep. And like last night I stayed awake in my room, reading a book. When I started to feel sleepy, I quickly got up and went to the washroom. I splashed cold water a few times on my face to get rid of the sleepiness.
Then a thought struck me. Caffeine helped to prevent sleep, and it meant I should try drinking coffee. It might be more effective than these methods.
Slowly, I opened my bedroom door, tiptoed downstairs, and entered the kitchen.
Pulling out the coffee beans from the cabinet, I started preparing coffee for myself. When the coffee was made, I poured it into a large cup and turned around to see a shadow near the wall. I wanted to scream and run back to my room, but I stayed frozen with the coffee cup in my trembling hands.
The shadow moved closer, and my heart jumped in my chest like a bloody basketball. I closed my eyes, scared to death.
“Relax Hailey. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Chase said.
I opened my eyes and stared at Chase in confusion.
He glanced at the coffee cup in my hand.
“You’re drinking coffee at this time,” he said in confusion.
I didn’t know what to tell him, so I stayed quiet.
He took a deep breath and said, “I know you have been having horrible nightmares since last week. Last night, your scream was louder than any other nights, and I had to wake you up.”
I was shocked at his words.
“How do you know this?” I asked him.
“Actually, I have been working on my assignment every night for the past few days. That’s why I heard you screaming and came to your room the other day to wake you up,” he explained.
I did not only wake him up the previous day, but I had also been disturbing him every night for the whole week. I felt ashamed and guilty for disturbing him.
He startled me by taking the coffee cup from my hand. Then he laced his fingers with mine and dragged me upstairs to his room. I didn’t know why he was taking me to his room. When we were inside his room, he placed the coffee cup on his bedside table and turned to me.
I thought he would lecture me to stop disturbing him every night, so before he could start, I said, “I just… ah, I am sorry for disturbing you every night. They are just stupid nightmares, appearing every night. I was… ah, trying to stay awake to avoid them. I am really sorry. Please, don’t get angry at me for this.”
I felt like crying at the end of the statement. I didn’t know why I embarrassed myself in front of him every time. I stared at the floor waiting for him to get angry with me, but he surprised me by putting his fingers under my chin and making me look up.
“I am not angry with you, Hailey. I want to help you get rid of these nightmares,” he said softly.
Butterflies erupted inside my stomach at his words, creating a fuzzy feeling. He cared for me. My husband, who I thought would hate me forever for coming into his life unwelcomed, actually cared for me and wanted to help me in chasing away my nightmares.
“The nightmares are really horrible that’s why you are resisting sleep,” he said.
I nodded my head and stared at him. I felt something different in my heart for the first time. I didn’t feel scared of him. I felt like I wanted to hug him and thank him for his concern for me. I felt special.
Tonight something changed in me.
“I have something to help you,” he said, walking back to his bedside drawer and pulling out a small box.
I looked at him curiously.
“Come closer,” he asked me, and I did.
There was a beautiful long chain in the box. He picked it up, and I saw a shiny purple stone locket dangling in the middle.
I stared at it in bewilderment.
“When I was five years old, my grandma gave me this chain because I used to feel scared at night and couldn’t sleep alone. She told me that she will keep an eye on me through this stone and protect me. I wore that necklace every night and stopped feeling scared. She knew the stone had no power to scare away my nightmares, but it was a belief that my grandma put in my head that she was looking after me while I sleep at night. I kept this locket with me even after I stopped feeling scared because it’s a special gift for me. Now it’s yours,” he said, pulling the chain over my head and letting the pendant rest in the center of my chest.
My emotions were flying everywhere after what he shared with me. I still couldn’t believe that he had given me something that was so special to him. I touched the purple stone and looked up at him to see a smile on
his face.
I thought I fell in love with him at that moment. I fell in love with the purity of his heart, with his beautiful smile, with his kind and caring nature, and obviously with his handsome face.
I tried stopping myself from throwing my arms around him, but I failed and hugged him tightly. My hands were wrapped around his waist, and my head was resting on his chest above his heart. The rhythmic sound of his breathing felt music to my ears. I wasn’t expecting him to hug me back, but he put his arms around my shoulders and hugged me.
After a few minutes, we pulled away from each other. There was an awkward silence between us, and a broad smile was etched on our faces.
“Thank you for giving me something so special,” I said, touching the stone pendant.
He moved forward then kissed my head. I looked up at him in shock then turned back and left his room before my heart could melt.
When I entered my room, I closed the door and slid down on the floor with my back still pressed on the door. I smiled and pressed my hand to my mouth before I would erupt into giggles or shouted to the world that I loved Chase Edwards.
After that night, I was sure that I would sleep well, but I didn’t know that the reason would be my new dreams.
Chapter Eight
Welcoming Cameron
Hailey
The house was in chaos since morning because Cameron would be coming back today from his boarding school.
Cameron was Chase’s younger brother, and he lived in a boarding school in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He was in the middle of his midterm examination when his granddad died, and because of that, he didn’t come home to attend the funeral. I heard that he was really sad when he heard the news about his grandfather’s death and wanted to come home for his funeral, but his school administrator didn’t grant him permission to come home.
Now that his examinations had ended, he was coming back home for a month long vacation.
I did not meet him before, so I didn’t know much about him, but what I heard from my mother-in-law was that he was quite immature and a prankster.
