Once upon a haunted time: a Halloween fic
Chapter 2. No one sleeps


Outside, the storm continued to unleash its fury. Some clock in the house struck twelve.

It was useless. Stuart couldn't sleep. The intense memories of the previous night kept coming back to his mind, igniting his body, accelerating his pulse.

Ian's betrayal had devastated him. He had felt too vulnerable, too lonely and in need of affection to be sensible when Tiff had offered him comfort. He got carried away and made what was probably the worst mistake of his life. Or the second worst.

He got out of bed, trying not to make any noise. OA was sleeping soundly; he didn't want to wake him up. Lighting his path with his cell phone, he went into the hallway. For a moment, he had the fleeting feeling that he was being watched. He illuminated the corners of the corridor, but there was no one there.

He went down to the lower floor. As he entered the living room, in absolute darkness, a shiver ran through him under his distinguished brand-name pajamas.

At the same time that its thunder resounded with a tremendous crack, a flash of lightning illuminated the room. The flare of light exposed the black silhouette of someone standing at the window. The shock made Stuart gasp. With his heart in his mouth, he pointed the light of his cell phone at the figure.

"Put it aside, Scola!"

"For God's sake, Tiff…" Stuart sighed with relief. "What a scare," he mumbled, coming closer to her.

"Are you afraid of thunder?" she mocked, her back to him.

"I'm scared of unexpected people lurking in the dark."

"I'm not lurking. Just watching the storm," Tiff growled.

Stuart sighed. The night before he had been exploring for the first time what was under that old Quantico academy T-shirt and those smiling skull pajama pants.

Leaving the cell phone on a nearby table, Stuart walked into the room until he was behind her. He placed his hands on her waist and brought his face close to her neck.

"Can't sleep?"

"Don't touch me," Tiffany said, squirming away from his touch. She turned toward him. The glow of his cell phone illuminated her angry expression. "You haven't earned the privilege of touching me without my permission."

"You're angry."

"What do you think?"

"Okay, I'm sorry. I've been a jerk."

"Well yes. Quite." The reproach in her black eyes stabbed Stuart painfully in the chest. "No, if that's what you want, suit yourself," she snapped at his silence. She walked around him to leave. "I can't believe you treated me just like another one of your flings," she muttered through gritted teeth.

Waking up that morning in Tiff's bed, Stuart had admired the stunning woman asleep next to him. He simply couldn't handle what he was feeling. He got dressed and fled from there.

"Tiff, wait," he called as he followed her. "No, it's not what I want. Tiff, stop. Tiff! I panicked, okay!?"

She turned around and faced him. Stuart had to stop short to avoid colliding with her.

"And what the fuck does that mean!?" Tiffany exclaimed in a hoarse whisper to his face, fury blazing in her eyes.

Stuart raised his eyebrows and couldn't help but grin, looking at her as she was the sexiest thing he'd ever seen in his life. Tiff gritted her teeth in exasperation. She was about to open her mouth to send him to hell when suddenly a scream tore through the silence of the night. A shrill shriek echoing inside them as if it were coming from everywhere.

·~·~·

Despite the cold in the room, the bed too small for his height, the bun-filled mattress, OA fell sound asleep practically as soon as he got into bed. He was not bothered by the deafening claps of thunder, sounding as if they were directly above the house. Nor did he notice Scola leave the room.

What he did feel was a strange tingling in the toes of one foot. He scratched without fully waking up with the sole of the other. He felt the tickling again, on the instep, and OA scratched again, annoyed. Then he felt it. The tingling was now as if something was crawling up his ankle.

Something with too many legs. He kicked out of pure reflex, waking up completely. The tingling returned, this time in both feet and all over.

OA turned on the bedside table light and threw the blankets away. Climbing up his feet, all over the bed, covering his legs, he found dozens of huge spiders. All kinds: black and shiny with sharp legs, hairy and thick-legged, bulging abdomens in garish colors. Panic seized him. He tried to leap out of bed, but stumbled and fell to the floor on his hands and knees. To his horror there were also spiders on the floor, they immediately went up in his hands.

And then he saw it. Spiders were everywhere, in every corner, covering every surface of the room. Climbing up his body. OA screamed.

He woke up suddenly with a silent scream in his open mouth.

He lay in bed, drenched in sweat and still feeling the unpleasant tingling running through his whole body. He looked around frantically. The spiders were gone. He gasped, trying to catch his breath. *A nightmare. It was just a nightmare*. OA shivered with revulsion, but also with cold.

The temperature in the room had dropped even lower. Scola wasn't in his bed, but a flash of lightning showed him Maggie was there, sitting at the foot of her partner's bed, looking out the window.

"Maggie?"

She did not answer, staring blankly.

"Maggie, are you all right?" OA asked, getting out of bed and approaching.

Maggie's eyes were open, but they weren't really looking anywhere. OA verified this by waving his hand in front of her face and getting no reaction.

OA blinked, understanding. Maggie had warned him she sometimes woke up in her sleep and he should not wake her abruptly, but he had never gotten to see it in those six-plus months they were together.

He sat down beside her, stroking her hand. It was very unsettling to see the emptiness in her eyes, in her face.

"Maggie," he whispered.

He cupped her cheek very carefully and kissed her very lightly on the lips, trying to gently wake her up, but she did not react.

Then stood up. OA was surprised she was wearing a white nightgown he had never seen her wear before. Maggie was more into fluffy and/or plaid flannel pajamas... He watched her walk toward the door.

She stepped out into the hallway with a confident stride of her bare feet on the old carpet, as if she could see exactly where she was going. Anyway, worried she might hurt herself walking through a place she didn't really know, he followed.

Maggie walked past the door to Jubal and Isobel's room and went to the end of the hallway. There was an open door there, leading to some stairs going up. OA saw Maggie begin to climb the steps without the need for light. He felt as if an icy breath was breathing down the back of his neck.

·~·~·

"Mom... I'm scared."

The whisper sounded inside Isobel's head and woke her up. She found herself cuddled against Jubal's warm body, her head resting on his bare chest, surrounded by his arms. They both sought each other's warmth in their sleep. She knew she should pull away, but the sensation was too pleasant. She snuggled against him. Letting Jubal's steady breathing soothe her, she allowed herself to enjoy it a little longer.

Seemingly still asleep, he let out a pleased little grunt and pulled her closer. His hand slid further down Isobel's waist, along her hip. She couldn't resist. She bent her knee and brought her leg up a little, over his, letting the caress continue down to her thigh. The direct contact of the warmth of his hand against her skin caused a brief but intense, not entirely unexpected, spark within Isobel.

Now it was going to be impossible to fall asleep again.

The memory of the night of the awards ceremony came to her mind. He had walked her home. She was still haunted by the intensity she had seen in his eyes then.

Part of her said sternly she should separate immediately. Another let it slip she might as well return the caresses, and find out what would happen then...

Her fingers were beginning to run through Jubal's chest hair, when Isobel heard a soft sob. She blinked, puzzled, and looked toward the source of the sound.

There was someone at the foot of the bed.

Isobel raised her head with a start.

"Huh?" Jubal asked in sleepy confusion.

Sure enough, standing there looking at them, was a little girl in her nightgown; she couldn't have been much more than four years old. Isobel turned on the bedside table light. The girl's eyes were watery.

Jubal had been so tense lying next to Isobel that he thought he would be unable to sleep a wink all night. However, exhaustion had finally got the better of him. Now was fully awake, but still holding Isobel warmly against him. It took him a few seconds to realize what he was doing. Suddenly overheated, he released her with a haphazard apology, allowing her to finally sit upright in bed.

"Hi, honey. Are you all right?" Isobel asked the little girl.

The girl ran and hugged her; she whimpered weakly against her chest.

"I'm scared. Where's my mommy?"

"Who is your mother? Is she Persephone?" said Isobel, although the house's hostess seemed too old to be the mother of such a little girl.

The girl looked at her as if she didn't understand.

"Don't worry, beautiful," Jubal tried to reassure her in a quiet voice as he got out of bed. "What's your name?"

"Ariadne," the little girl murmured.

"Very well, Ariadne. I'm Jubal and this is Isobel. Between the three of us, we'll find your mom in no time."

The girl seemed to calm down noticeably.

As he quickly pulled on the blue shirt from the day before, Isobel couldn't help but look at Jubal affectionately. It was striking how good he was with children.

He illuminated everyone's path with the light of his cell phone. Both taking Ariadne by the hand, they walked out into the hallway.

~.~.~.~