Chapter 5

1:28am

Amai checked his phone and saw the time, the house has gone to bed, and it was time to leave! "I am going to get out of here, find another soothsayer or someone with power to break this damn curse!" he muttered. Yet just as he got up, he heard someone in the hall. He felt the heavy footsteps and knew he had to pretend to be asleep. With that, he went flat and closed his eyes. Yet the presence wasn't leaving. In fact, it lingered outside his door. Amai tried to ignore the idea that someone figured out his plan, and now they were posting guard outside. But as soon as he thought of it, the door opened. He didn't move, but he certainly felt someone enter his room. The footsteps were large, the weight pushed down on the memory foam floor but then, a great weight came on to his back! His eyes shot open. Amai turned and saw one of the twins lying right on top of him!

"Hey!" he whispered sharply. "Go back to your own damn bed!"

"No, nightmare."

"Whoever you are, go back to your own bed, I am not your pillow!"

"Snake always let us sleep here when we had a nightmare. He's safe, since he's not here. You get to be Snake."

"I said get the hell off of me!" Amai's situation didn't get any better as the twin braced him tightly. He couldn't slither out of his grasp. He couldn't pry him off. Amai was trapped! If he made too much noise he would wake the whole house. It only grew worst as his brother came in and did the same thing! The two pinned him down and slept on his back the whole night! He didn't get a wink of sleep!

By the next morning, Amai was wide-awake. The twins continued to stay on him until the door opened. Garou peered in and saw the situation. "Get them off of me!" Amai said through his teeth.

Garou did a sharp whistle. The twins suddenly woke up. "Nightmare?" he asked.

"Scary nightmare dad,"

"Draven, I told you before, you don't go into Snek's room when you have a nightmare, mom and I are just down the hall."

"But Snake is next door!" he protested. "Snake is softer to sleep on too."

Garou then turned to Goliath. "I doubt you had a nightmare," he said.

Goliath merely smiled. "I wanted to see if he was as comfy as Snake, Snake is a lot more comfier than he is."

"We all know that, besides he hasn't been fattened up yet. Come on let's get you two breakfast." As the twins left the room, Amai plunged his face into the foam floor.

"This isn't part of the punishment, is it?" he asked.

"Only if you see it that way, but the twins do this often too, even with Snek. When they get scared, they go to him. I hope they don't have nightmares every night, and especially after you ate something!" warned Garou.

"Why would that matter?"

"Goliath likes to sleep on the lumpier part of Snek." He walked away, grinning from ear to ear. Amai kept his face buried in the foam floor.

"I have got to get out of here, this family is insane!" he said to himself. "How did Snek not go crazy in a house like this?"

Amai was about to get up, until he felt everything inside of him ache, the rumble in his stomach intensified, ever since that forest feast last night, his body demanded, craved more to be put into it. But he wasn't about to give in to the urges, he can't, if he does, then they win! They will hold it over his head for the rest of his days, not to mention, if they took him out to hunt now, everyone in public would see him.

He cannot risk that kind of bad press!

A knock came to his door. "Mask, you good in there?" called Suiryu.

"Fine… just fine," he said begrudgingly. Suiryu opened his door and smiled. Lingering in he asked. "You want to spar with us today?"

"Spar?" he questioned.

"Yeah, practice your moves, test your skills, all that good stuff. Wanna join?"

"No."

"Oh come on, don't be a sour snake! It will be fun!"

"I said no."

Suiryu shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, enjoy your misery."

The door closed once more. "Misery? How can he not be miserable here? How is he always smiling, day in and day out without a hint of bitterness or anger to his condition? How can he?" Suiryu confused Amai, but there was no point in trying to figure him out. Amai laid back in bed and tried to catch up on the sleep he lost.