Chapter Seven:

Patricia and Eddie were sitting in the sand again, this time their feet in the cool ocean water. They watched as people tried to surf and splash around in the dark water. Patricia leaned her head on Eddie's shoulder. He did it. For tonight she lowered her force field. He was glad too, he would never have been able to dance with her or even sit like he was, if not for her lowering it.

She started to shiver and moved her head away. He pulled out his phone, two missed calls, and he then checked the time. It was almost 11:00 and he knew they should head home soon. Eddie stood up and dusted himself off, Patricia did same.

"Time to head back?" Eddie asked. Patricia yawned; she hadn't slept much in the past days since she had come. She had been having terrible nightmares, constantly keeping her awake.

"Did I bore you?" Eddie joked.

"More than Ms. Andrews." She replied. Eddie smiled and moved closer to Patricia so he could put her arm around her. She ducked under it.

"I can't escort you back?" Eddie asked.

"If you can catch me." Patricia smiled. She took off heading for the direction they came, Eddie running right behind her. He caught her by the stop sign and pulled her close to him. She looked up at him and smiled. He gave her a small kiss and let her go.

"I guess you caught me." Patricia said.

"Guess so." He replied. This time when he extended his arm to put around her she didn't duck out of the way only moved closer so he could. Eddie smiled to himself. They were on Patricia's porch in seconds.

"Goodnight Yacker." Eddie said.

"Night Weasel." Patricia replied. They both smiled and then Eddie turned to walk away.

/

The next few days weren't as pleasant, Patricia could barely sleep at night with the nightmares haunting her every time she closed her eyes. She was getting sick from the lack of sleep. Lynda called it a "mild sleep deprived cold." Patricia didn't tell her gran about the nightmares, but she knew some nights gran could hear her scream.

Of course Eddie wanted to come over and be with her, but Lynda made sure that didn't happen. It wasn't until Lynda pulled away from the house, making a promise to Patricia that she would be back in two hours, that Eddie found his opportunity.

Eddie watched the car pull away from his kitchen window and was out the door in seconds. He had been texting Patricia all week but this would be his first time seeing her. He knocked on her door. Eddie heard feet descending the stairs and soon after the door cracked open slightly. It was dark inside her house and he could only see the outline of her hiding behind the door.

"Yacker it's me"

"Eddie I'm really not..." Patricia couldn't finish her sentence. She started feeling dizzy and swayed uncontrollably. Eddie was worried about her. He pushed the door open more and flipped on the light switch.

Patricia we bending over clutching at the wall for support to stand. Eddie put his arm around her and guided her through the set of glass doors. He'd only been inside this house twice. Whenever Lynda needed help hanging anything he was the one she called, she still didn't like him though.

Eddie sat Patricia down on the couch and she slowly put her head on the sofa's arm and curled her feet underneath her. She managed only to say a quick thank you. Eddie sat down next to her. He looked at her, she looked terrible. There were large circles under her eyes and she was paler than usual. Patricia wore an oversized black sweatshirt and green and black plaid sweatpants. Her hair was in a tight pony-tail.

"Eddie, you can't stay. I don't need you getting whatever it is I have too.

"I'm not leaving."

"Why would you want to stay?"

"Because I want to help you."

"I'm fine really."

"No you're not." Patricia couldn't argue anymore. If he wanted to stay she was going to have to let him.

"Ok" she said.

Eddie looked around the room and saw a small cabinet.

"What's in there?" He asked

"Movies." Patricia said quietly.

Eddie stood up and crossed over to the cabinet. He found a movie and put it into the small player on the TV. Then he went into the kitchen and popped two bags of popcorn. Satisfied with himself, he went back to sit with Patricia. She was sitting up right now, watching him. He handed her a bag of popcorn.

"Thank you" she said still watching him. Eddie didn't start the movie; he wanted to talk to her.

"So why don't you tell me what's wrong." Patricia shifted in her seat slightly. She hugged her knees and placed the popcorn on the floor next to the couch. Eddie did the same. Patricia straightened again.

"I'm not sure." She said almost in a whisper.

"It's like it was when I was hexed last year... I can't sleep... Not normally at least... Every time I close my eyes something tries... Tries to..." She couldn't finish. Patricia continued to watch Eddie; she was waiting for him to run, like anyone else would.

"Finish." He said kindly.

"It's like... Someone's trying to... Control me. I hear whispers in some other language and these... Images are put in my head."

"Come here." Eddie said he showed her a kind smile. She leaned over to be closer to him.

"Do you believe me?" She asked. He must think she was crazy.

"Yes." He said, giving her a small kiss on the top of her head. He didn't know what was happening to her. At first he thought it might all be a prank, but then he looked into her eyes. Eddie believed her. Patricia wasn't the kind of person to get upset over nothing, something was really scaring her and he could see it.

"Try and sleep, I'll stay right here, nothing will happen." Eddie said.

Hesitantly Patricia laid her head in Eddie's lap. He put his arm over her, as if to protect her. Slowly she closed her eyes. Almost instantly after, she started twitching. Her head swung from side to side and her mouth flew open. Eddie didn't know what to do. He moved her off his lap and sat her in an upright position trying to wake her. She started whispering something very quickly and in another language. Just as she had said. It was almost like she was arguing with herself. The twitching worsened and Eddie tried to shake her awake, he couldn't.

He pulled out his phone, one missed call from Archie. Archie! He dialed quickly as Patricia flung herself from the couch. She was now shaking on the floor. Eddie was almost in tears as he watched horrified. He knelt on the ground with her. The glass doors flew open.

"Help her!" Eddie yelled as Archie stood by the glass doors watching. Watching.

"Can't"