Unbound (10 page)

                                                                                                                                               
I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth and picked out an outfit for tomorrow. I had just gotten into bed when Harrison noisily plodded up the stairs. Hunter pawed at the door, wanting to greet my twin. I’d seen him drunk or drugged many times. As he weaved his way to his room, I knew something was up.

                                                                                                                                               
“What were you doing?” I asked, my eyes still adjusting to the bright hall light.

                                                                                                                                               
“I was with Jenny,” he said in an odd sing-song voice.

                                                                                                                                               
I raised an eyebrow, too shocked to make a snide comment. Hunter jumped up at Harrison, which was something he didn’t normally do, and licked his face. Harrison pushed him down, shook his head and looked around as if he suddenly realized where he was.

                                                                                                                                               
“Annie?” he asked.

                                                                                                                                               
“Yea?”

                                                                                                                                               
“Oh, uh, night.”

                                                                                                                                               
“Night,” I responded, laughing internally. He was so lucky my parents were too busy to notice his erratic behavior.

I decided to leave Romeo out since he was in his cage most of the day. Hunter jumped up in bed with me and I quickly drifted off to sleep. Not even an hour later I was woken up. Romeo had climbed up in bed with us and was scratching at my feet. Annoyed, I got out of bed, gave him a kiss, and stuck him in his cage. That ‘you’re being watched’ feeling came back suddenly. I looked out the window but didn’t see anything. Oh well. I was tired and just wanted to go back to sleep.

But I didn’t get what I wanted.

Maybe two hours later, the scratching came back. It felt harder than normal. Romeo must really want attention. In my sleepy state of mind I tucked my feet up closer to my body so Romeo couldn’t get them.

My eyes flew open and I shot out of bed when I remembered that I had put Romeo away. I frantically turned on my bedside lamp and looked at Romeo’s cage; the door was shut and locked and I could see him sleeping in his hammock. Hunter had moved to his bed on the floor, and was still sleeping, so whatever I felt couldn’t have been him. My heart was beating a hundred miles an hour.

“Ok. It’s ok,” I said to myself. “I must have been dreaming.” I lifted up my blankets. There was nothing there. Slowly, I forced myself to look under the bed; nothing. Next I checked the closet and then my bathroom. Of course, there was nothing. I really must have been dreaming. I sat down on my bed, crossing my legs Indian-style because I was afraid that if they dangled off the edge something might pop out from under my bed and grab me.

“Hello?” My voice sounded weak and shaky. I took a silent deep breath. “Is there anyone here?” I sounded more assured that time. I held my breath while I waited, but nothing happened. I buried myself back under the covers, turned off the light and tried to go back to sleep. Just as I was about to drift off, Hunter startled awake, ran to the window and barked.

An uncharacteristic surge of adrenaline rushed through me. I grabbed a pink hooded sweatshirt off of the floor and pulled it over my head. I yanked on socks and sneakers, went into my closet once again and came out with the dagger Aunt Estelle had given me. Hunter was pacing by the door and he bolted downstairs as soon as I opened it. I dashed down after him. I clipped a leash onto his collar and silently slipped out the back door. I cautiously edged towards the steps of the wooden deck that led to the yard and the pool. The lights inside the pool had been accidentally left on, creating an eerie, watery glow over part of the yard. Something moved in the woods. Hunter started barking again and his fur went on end. For some reason I felt no fear. Curiosity knocked it out of my mind and I wanted to know what was out there.

The rustling grew louder and louder until whatever it was had to be at the fence line. The outline of a person was slowly becoming visible. Ok, a little fear was making its way into my head now. My grip tightened on the dagger. I didn’t want to stab anyone, so I hoped just having a weapon would deter someone from attacking me. To my amazement, a teenage boy with scraggily blond hair that ended right above his ears walked through the fence. He held his arms out a bit at his sides, with his palms flat and facing me.

What a weird way to stand, I thought before panic set in. I had to brace myself to hold Hunter. He was barking, snarling, growling, and just doing everything he could to make this person go away. The boy stopped about five feet from us. Hunter was jumping at him now, and I needed both hands to hold the leash. I dropped the dagger in my struggle to restrain my dog.

“Hello?” the boy asked. He didn’t seem to even see us. All I wanted to do was run into the house and lock the doors. He looked at me, or through me, I couldn’t tell. He stood perfectly still and called “hello?” one more time. Then he was gone. The panic drained out of me and just as quickly as it came. What the…? Hunter stopped barking. Suddenly, the porch lights turned on.

“Anora?!” Oh shit. It was Dad. “What is going on out here?” I turned to look at my dad for a split second before I turned back. The space where the boy had stood was still empty.

“Nothing. Um, Hunter had to go out and we saw…” Should I tell the truth? No, no one would believe me. “We saw a raccoon. That’s why he’s on the leash. I didn’t want him to chase after it.”

“Ok. Well, come inside please.”

“We will in a minute. Hunter hasn’t gone pee yet.” To my relief, Dad went back in. Hunter had ceased barking but his fur was still on end. I retrieved the dagger, which I had stepped on to hide from Dad’s view. My body hummed with the energy that you get when you are faced with a fight-or-flight situation. The sudden takeover of panic perplexed me; of course seeing something like that would rattle anyone, but I felt panic as if my life was in serious danger. I felt as if I
knew
I was going to die. I couldn’t explain it any other way. A chill ran through me and I wanted to get back to my room pronto.

Harrison was standing in his doorway, his eyes still half closed. “What was all that about?”

“You’re never going to believe me,” I gushed. That woke him up a bit more. He reached down to pet Hunter.

“Why is he on a leash? And do I even want to ask why you have that?” he asked, looking at the dagger. I turned around and looked down the hall. My parent’s room was on the first floor and I doubted they could hear me. I wasn’t going to be taking any chances so I grabbed Harrison’s arm and pulled him along. “Come here,” I said and rushed into my room. Harrison sank down on my bed.

“What’s going on?” He sounded slightly irritated. He gets crabby when he’s tired. Always has, always will, but I didn’t care. I shut my door, turned on my light and unleashed Hunter, who jumped up on my bed and lay down next to Harrison.

“Harry, there was someone out there. That’s what Hunter was barking at.” I looked my brother straight in the eye. “But first there was someone in my room. They woke me up by scratching me.”

Harrison looked at me as if I just told him a fairy godmother came into my room and said she’d grant me a wish. “Annie…what?”

I sat down next to him. “Listen, Harry. I swear to you I’m telling the truth. There was
someone
outside. Hunter and I both saw him.”

“Did Dad see him?”

“No, he disappeared as soon as Dad came outside.”

Harrison didn’t say anything, but held my gaze for a few seconds. “Are you ok, Anora?” He never called me by my whole name; not a good sign.

“Yes,
Harrison
.” (I didn’t call him by his full name either, so there!) “I’m fine. I know this sounds crazy, but I
swear
it’s the truth!”

“I know you’ve been stressed and upset with the whole Mike thing. Maybe it was a dream?”

Ok, I was frustrated now. “Yes. It was a dream that Hunter saw too. Oh, that explains it!” I said very sarcastically. “I forgot my dog was telepathic and saw into my head and reacted to my dream.”

“Don’t do this. It’s late.”

“You know I’m not normal.”

 
He understood what I was referring to. “Yes you are. You just are sensitive to…things. Tell me about it tomorrow ok?”

“You’re acting just like Mom and Dad; you’d rather live in denial than admit to being related to a freak,” I spat bitterly.

“That’s not true.” Harrison was getting pissed.

“Whatever. Night.”

“Good night.”

I hated being mad at my brother but I’d just have to deal with it tonight. He’s told me before that he does believe in ghosts, but I think he has the all too common ‘if I don’t believe in something then it is not real and if it’s not real then it can’t scare me’ syndrome that so many people have. After I shut off the light and climbed back into bed, I realized how very tired I was. It felt like my eyes had just shut when my alarm went off three hours later.

***

“So what exactly happened last night?” Harrison asked on the way to school the next morning.

“I’m not entirely sure. All I know is that something woke me up. I thought it was Romeo, you know how he scratches at my feet sometimes when he wants attention, but he was in his cage. And then Hunter started barking at something outside, so I went to go look and that boy appeared. He walked over to us and disappeared.”

 
Harrison was looking at the road, but I could tell he was thinking about what I just said. “So you think there’s something outside and you go investigate.” He was smiling now. “You are braver than you should be, you know?”

“You believe me then?”

“I’m not sure. I do believe there was something outside. I mean, Hunter was going crazy, so there had to be something out there, right?”

“There was something out there. There was a boy, probably about our age. He has sort of wavy blond hair that went to about here.” I held my hand to my ears.
 
“And he wasn’t that tall, maybe an inch taller than me. I think he was trying to tell me something.”

“If you say so.”

“I do.”

Harrison sighed, “I wouldn’t talk about this at school, if I were you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t want anyone to think you had a crazy sister.”

Harrison looked away from the road and at me for a few seconds. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Isn’t it? You don’t want people to think Mr. Cool Football Player has a freak for a sister. It might lower your social standings,” I spat crossly.

“Annie, you know what people think about stuff like this.”

“Yea, I do.” I knew all too well. That was why I worked so hard to block everything out and keep my mouth shut, which wasn’t easy when random ghosts wandered the earth.

“Good, ‘cuz I don’t want to see you get hurt. Again.”

Econ was so boring it could be deemed torture. I was doodling blueprints for my future barn-the one that Mike said I would never have- when I felt a sudden overwhelming feeling of tiredness. My hand slowly slid into my lap, causing my pen to draw a line down my notebook. My head drooped. The next thing I knew I was dreaming.

The same blond haired teenage boy from last night was running. He kept turning around as if to see what was chasing him, but there was nothing there. He was sprinting through woods now, jumping over fallen trees. Low hanging branches tore the skin on his cheeks. He reached a small man-made clearing and stopped to catch his breath. Everything was silent. Too silent, he thought. He was walking instead of running now, and he made his way up a hill. A white barn was at the top. Noise came from behind him and he ran again, right to the barn. There was something familiar and safe about this place. He knew where the hide-a-key was, and his hands moved frantically through wet, rotten leaves. The cold metal just graced his numb fingers when—