Chapter Nine – Losing Reality
"Morning always comes, it's corny, but it's true. But when your eyes are closed, it always feels like night." The screen faded away and the credits began to roll. We just finished watching our favorite movie; Heather had fallen asleep halfway in, slumped against my shoulder. I didn't bother waking her up; she was already tired when I came earlier. I turned off the TV and enjoyed the silence. Yesterday was still fresh in my mind, and I assumed she felt the same; we haven't spoken to each other. I felt her shift around some, and then she looked at me. "Was I asleep long?" I laughed softly. "Only for about an hour." Heather stood up and wiped her face. "I take it you didn't get much sleep?" She shook her head. I wanted to leave it at that, and especially leave everything yesterday in the past, but she still looked like she was in pain. "You feeling any better?" She smiled slightly. "Yeah, I didn't have another dream or anything." She shrugged her shoulders. Her voice was quiet like before, but she didn't seem to be afraid. "I still feel a little scared, but I'm not about to worry about that."
Good, she's ok, and I know she isn't lying, I can just tell. She quickly changed the subject and stood up. "I'm going to go change, I got something from my dad yesterday, I'll show it to you." She headed for her room. I was kind of curious as to what this was. "What is it?" She smiled. "You'll see." Fair enough.
While she was busy changing, Mr. Mason walked in from his bedroom, dressed for work. I always hate having to talk to him, I can never think of what to say, having to force small talk. It doesn't make any sense, I've known him for all these years, I hang out with his daughter, and still I've never anything to say, no wonder he's never liked me. "Going to the mall today, Kyle?" He spoke as he tugged at his tie. I already felt uncomfortable. "Yes sir, what time do you want her home?" He answered after an awkward silence, like he didn't hear me. "That doesn't really matter." Something about what he just said creeped me out. It's always five or six on the dot, no more. I figured he must not have understood me. "Sir?" I turned to face him. He put a blue jacket on over his formal looking shirt, and then turned around to face me, a dead serious look.
"Kyle, you care about Heather, right?" What is he accusing me of now? God, he'll never trust me. I immediately became defensive. "Mr. Morris, I haven't done anything to her, I swear…" He smiled softly. "You do care about her, right?" "Yes, of course I do, but I haven't…" He walked closer to me. "Kyle, I'm not accusing you of anything, it's just…" He grew quiet; for once he was the one that was at a loss for words. "Just, keep her safe, protect her, you understand?" He spoke calmly; I felt no anger in his tone. "Yes sir, I understand." I didn't like this conversation; it just didn't feel right, suddenly now he fears for her safety like this? He does make her carry that knife around, but I could see any dad doing that. He's telling me to protect her, as if something bad will happen. I wanted to tell him I love her, no harm will ever come to her, but he just has to rely on my perfect record of keeping her out of trouble around me. Yes, I care about her obviously, she's my friend, but telling him I love her…I can't do that.
Heather walked over to us. She was wearing the purple tank top I bought her, and some simple blue jeans and sneakers. I also noticed a round pendant around her neck, which must have been what she was talking about. Harry walked towards her and held the pendent in his hand. "Do you like it?" She smiled and hugged him. "It's perfect, the right size." Mr. Morris nodded and turned towards me. "What do you think Kyle?" I took a closer look at it, something was inside it, a picture maybe. Could their be a picture of Heather's mom in it? I don't mention her around Heather; it makes her upset, since her mom died when Heather was four. I guess that's why Mr. Morris is so protective; she's a living reminder of his wife. "What's in it?" She took it off and opened it, inside was a small sliver of red stone. "It's a good luck charm, just in case…" It sounded like he wasn't explaining it completely. Good luck charm? What, In case of a vampire bite? Heather closed the pendant as we headed for the front door. "Well, I'll see you later dad. I'll call you before I come home, ok?" He hugged Heather and kissed her. "You kids have fun, just be careful!"
C'mon, c'mon, yes! My eyes were glued to the glowing screen, Heather stood beside me bored as hell. "Ha, yes!" I threw my hands down and caught my breath. She rolled her eyes and mocked me. "Yeah, I did it, yeah!" I shook my head. "Funny, ha ha." She sighed and leaned against the cabinet. "How much longer Kyle?" I held up my hand, eyeing the screen. "You know, till I run out of lives." Just then I felt something tug at my jeans. I ignored it as much as I could, but I gave it up and glanced down. Some kid was staring at me. I kept playing, not looking at him. "What?" He didn't reply, he stared at me still. What the hell does he want? I lost my patience and looked at him. "What kid, what the hell do you want!" He just stared blankly. I heard an explosion, to my horror I had lost my last life. I threw my hands up. "Great, just great!" Heather breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed me by the arm. "Good, let's go!" As she hauled me away, I saw the kid smile at me and take my place, his pockets bursting with quarters. "Lousy little shit!" Heather laughed. "He's just a kid, it's not that big a deal!" I shook my head. Yeah it is.
Heather picked up the receiver and called her dad. A warm feeling of déjà vu hit me then as I leaned against the wall. She smiled at the sound of his voice. "Dad, it's me, yeah, I'm having a good time." I glanced around at the crowd; an older looking guy in a coat and hat was walking towards the phones, he had a beard starting to grow. "Yeah, I'll be home soon, I love you too dad, bye!" She hung up the phone. The man stopped beside us and stared at Heather. She glanced at him for a bit, and shrugged her shoulders. He shook his head disapprovingly. Something about this guy looked familiar.
As we walked, I kept hearing his footsteps behind us. "Heather Morris?" She stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned around uneasily. "How, do you know my name?" "I'm a detective, my name is Douglas Cartland." It suddenly hit me. This was that same man on the subway who spied on us. What does he want of us, of Heather? "A detective, really?" She turned away and started to walk quicker. "Well, nice talking to you." I whispered to her. "What's going on?" She kept on, not looking at me. "Just keep walking, we need to lose him." Douglas continued to trail us. "Please, this is very important, it's about your birth." She froze, darting her eyes around. She shook her head and spoke angrily, continuing to walk. "I'm not interested." He stopped and let us walk on. "It won't take more then thirty minutes, that's all I ask." We kept on, Heather had remained silent to me this whole time, and I felt like she was hiding some huge secret from me. I whispered to her. "Heather, what's he talking about?" She looked at me sternly and whispered. "It's nothing, ok?" Bullshit, I know she's lying. She's scared that this guy knows something. What is this about her birth, is she adopted or something? Hardly a reason for him to stalk us. Regardless of what this guy knows, he's scaring her, stalking us, I won't let him near her.
We hit a dead end, the bathrooms, Douglas still behind us. That's it, I've had it… I spun around and stepped towards him. "Are you a fucking idiot? She's not interested, so back the fuck off already, and leave her alone!" I felt ready to pounce on him, anything to make him leave. He smiled softly and held his hands up. "Sorry, I'll wait right here then." He had us trapped, right where he wanted us. Heather brushed beside me, whispering quickly into my ear. "Meet me outside." She walked into the women's restroom; I followed into the men's restroom. What does she mean meet me outside? I heard a tapping noise coming from the small window near the sink. Heather had crawled through hers to get out. I opened the window and emerged outside. We were at the side of the mall, a narrow alley with a tall brick wall closing us in.
The sky was dim orange, and for some reason it was silent outside. At this hour, I should be able to hear the noise of traffic from all sides. Heather rushed over to me. "Ok, let's go, cmon!" She took my hand and ran, pulling me along. What the hell, why is she in such a panic? "Heather, hold on." She kept running, keeping her focus on ahead. I pulled away, she spun around and looked at me surprised, scared. "Kyle what are you doing! Let's go!" I shook my head. "What's this guy talking about? Why are you so sacred, it could be something important!" She sighed and shook her head. "I can't explain right now, we need to get out of here, now!" She was breathing quickly, I could see she was almost about to cry. God, this is really serious, I can't ask her about this, and whatever it is can wait. I grabbed her hand and hurried along the alley, her grip tightening, taking short breaths. We came to a stop; a white van was parked in the alley, its rear was blocking the alley. What the? What is, what's a van doing here? This isn't right…
Orange sky, absolute quietness, this makes no fucking sense? Everything feels wrong… "Kyle!" Her voice startled me. She opened a door that led to the back halls of the mall. "This way!" I followed her in. I went through my mind, charting which doors would go where. We hurried towards a door at the end of a hall. "Heather, this one!" It led to the emergency stairs. As we climbed the stairs, Heather got ahead of me and went through the second floor door. I stopped to catch my breath. "Why is she so panicky? Something's going on, something she hasn't told me." I ran to the second floor and pushed the door open.
Every store was closed; and security shutters were down at opposite sides of the hall, leaving us stranded at his section. It was almost pitch black, except for a light flickering from a store. The store's shutter was jammed, leaving enough space to crawl underneath to get in. Heather was standing nearby, looking at the store.
"Something's not right…" She turned her head towards me slowly. "What the hell's going on?" She held her head and started to back away slowly, looking around. "This, this feels like my dream, but it can't come true, it can't!" No fucking way, this is her dream? This can't be happening. She looked towards the one open store in front of us. "I, I feel like we need to go this way…"
Before I could speak, Heather was crouched down, checking the jammed shutter. "I think I can get in." She lay down on her back and slowly began to slide in. Before she got too far, I grabbed her shoulder. "Heather wait!" She looked up at me. "What, what's wrong?" I shook my head. "This isn't right, all of this!" She looked so calm, and it was pissing me off. How the hell could she be so calm at a time like this! Damn, it's like she's used to this environment like she said? "Kyle, we need to find a way out, and this feels like the way, I just know it." No, no it's not! Why can't she stop this and crawl out of there! I really didn't like this, but maybe she's right, and I'm too big to fit. I sighed and nodded my head slowly. "Just, please be careful in there, ok?" I took my lighter out of my pocket and handed it to her. She smiled a little. "Don't worry, I'll be back." I stood up and stepped back some. She faded into the darkness.
I took a deep breath and tried to look into the windows. I couldn't make out anything, just blackness. Please Heather, just be in and out. I don't like this. I don't get it, everything is so dark, dirty, a living nightmare. I feel like I'll wake up anytime now, and we'll be ok. "Get the hell away from me!" My heart jolted as I heard Heather scream from inside. I slammed my hands on the shutter. "Heather! Heather are you ok! I pounded on the shutter. "Heather! Answer me!" I felt a bead of sweat slip off my nose. I heard gunfire erupt from inside. "HEATHER! FUCK! HEATHER!" I felt dizzy and shaky. She yelled from within. "Kyle! Help me!" I then heard a soft hissing noise. I crouched down and strained to lift the shutter up. My arms began to burn as I slowly inched the shutter up slowly, my face growing red. "Erg! C'mon, C'mon!" It suddenly unlocked and shot upwards and wrapped up, clanking loudly and echoing throughout the hall. Light from the store flooded the area, blinding me.
Heather was against the wall, a pistol held tightly in her hands, which were trembling. A tall thing with thick, baggy arms was walking towards her. Its legs were thin and long, like stilts, and its head was a tiny sphere mound of flesh, with a mouth in the center. It had a very skinny, thin body. It stopped walking and slowly turned towards me. It then held it's huge right arm up and pointed at me. "Stay away from him!" Heather shot at the thing's head. It turned around towards her and began to advance even quicker. Without thinking, I pulled my pocketknife out and leaped onto it's narrow back. I began to stab it in its face and neck multiple times. It moaned deeply and staggered around like a wounded animal. I then jumped off as it stumbled near the front window. I ran and smashed into it with my shoulder. It broke through the window with a loud crash and slammed into the floor hard. It gave one last moan and it's body fell limp, a pool of blood collecting from its wounds.
