That afternoon, Peyton drops me off in front of my aunt and uncle's house. As I start to grab my backpack, she puts her hand on my shoulder.
"Are you sure everything's ok?" she asks.
I brush it off. "Yeah, don't worry" I say. "I'll call you if I need you"
She lets out a big exhale. "Ok good. Now I need to go figure out which outfit is going to make Calvin Sheehan actually take me on a date"
I laugh. "Sounds good" I reply. I say goodbye and slam the car door, before she speeds down the street.
As I open the front door, Matthew runs up to me in his Darth Vader costume.
"Help me! Princess Leia has stolen my lightsaber!" he shouts-.
"Then I guess it's time for a rescue mission" I reply as I put my backpack down and run downstairs with Matthew into the playroom. We find Claire and get into a pillow fight with her until she and Matthew collapse on the couch to watch TV.
I manage to sneak upstairs and start working on my pre-calculus homework, but my dream from last night keeps running in my head, over and over. I don't notice the tears that begin to escape from my eyes until I see the page of my math book get wet.
I sigh and close it.
I need something to distract me.
I step out into the backyard and close the sliding door behind me. I throw my towel on a chair, taking three steps before jumping into the pool.
The feeling is instantaneous.
The water surrounds me as I feel my body sink deeper and deeper until I feel my feet on the scratched floor. I propel myself back up to the surface of the water.
I love being in the water. My mother used to say that I got this from my dad because he was such a good swimmer.
The water.
It seems like the place I come back to the most. When I first moved in with my aunt and uncle, I spent hours here. My aunt would check on me from time to time, but I guess she realized that there wasn't a chance in hell of me getting out anytime soon. I'd come to the table at dinner, hair wet, and be in a slightly better mood.
As I reach the surface, I take in the oxygen before throwing myself under the water again. The water envelopes me yet again and I flip myself over under the water. Bubbles go past my eyes as I turn around and start kicking toward the other end of the pool. As my hands reach out to touch the wall, I swear I can hear something or someone.
I push myself to the surface and come face to face with Sydney in her concert clothes.
"Tyler, Mom needs to tell you how to make Matthew's dinner!" she says in her usual bossy tone.
"Ok, Ok, I'm coming out" I say as I swim over to the wall and push myself out of the water. I grab a towel and start drying myself off quickly as I go inside.
After I change back into my romper and brush my wet hair into a braid, I head downstairs and almost bump into my aunt as she's coming out of the kitchen. "
"Oh good Tyler, you're here. Dinner's in the oven. Make sure Matthew doesn't have soda with dinner and bedtime should be around 8" she instructs.
"Okay" I answer.
"Alright great!" She says, clapping her hands together. "Sydney! Claire! We're going to be late meeting your father at school!" she calls.
Sydney and Claire run past us, dressed, shouting about who's going to sit in the front seat. They practically fall over each other going out the door. "We'll be back around 10" she says as she follows them and closes the door behind her.
"Have a good time!" I say.
Matthew comes upstairs from the playroom, looking disheveled in his Darth Vader costume after running around the room with Claire for the last hour. He opens his mouth to say something, but I beat him to it.
"Lemme guess. Vader needs food?" I say cocking an eyebrow. He nods vigorously.
As we munch on chicken nuggets and vegetables, Matthew tells me about his kindergarten adventures at recess.
"And Amanda tried to knock Frankie off the swing, but then I grabbed the swing for him and threw wood chips at her" Matthew says, whilst giggling to himself.
"You're insane" I say laughing. "Want more ketchup for your chicken nuggets?"
He nods vigorously with a mouthful of vegetables.
After we finish dinner, we clean up and watch some of The Muppet Show downstairs, before I lead him into the bathroom to brush his teeth. He giggles and makes faces at me with his foamy mouth. I laugh and tussle his hair, before helping him get his pajamas on. He heads into his room while I brush my teeth.
I finish and go out into the hallway. "Matthew?" I call.
"In here!" he calls from his room.
I enter his room, trying not to step on a toy in the process and see a little figure hiding in his favorite teepee tent.
"Turn the light off! Then come" he says.
I switch the lights off before crouching my body and entering into the teepee, laying next to him on the pillows resting on the floor of the hut. "Look!" he says whilst pointing his index finger up.
Glow in the dark stars and moons cover the inside of the upper part of the walls of the teepee, making it feel as though we are laying under the night sky.
"I did it myself," he announces proudly.
"Very cool" I say approvingly.
Matthew rolls over to cuddle closer to me, putting his head on my arm. "Tyler, can I ask you something?"
"Of course," I assured him.
"Where did your parents go?"
"Why do you want to know that?" I ask him, slightly surprised. He hadn't ever brought this up before.
"The picture in your room" he answers.
I realize he's talking about the one next to my bed. The one of my parents, Maggie, and I at the beach.
The last photo of us together.
"I asked Mommy who they were and she said they were your mommy and daddy, so I asked her where they went and she said they went away a long time ago," he explains.
"They did," I respond truthfully. "But they're in a good place"
"What kind of place?" he added.
I pause before answering. I don't want to get pulled into a conversation with my aunt about telling Matthew things that he isn't ready for.
I try to push myself into a gentle smile, not letting Matthew read the words my face truly conveyed.
"A place where they're safe and they know I'm OK" I reply.
"I love you Tyger," Matthew says, using his pet name for me, as he cuddles closer to me.
"I love you too. I'll always be here for you" I say, giving him a squeeze. "Come on, let's get you in bed"
I tuck Matthew into his blue quilt as he snuggles with his favorite teddy bear. I start to walk out of the room.
"Wait!" he calls out. "Just 1 song?"
I sigh, coming back over to sit on the bed. "Ok, but you've got to go to sleep right after, deal?".
"Deal" he replies.
I start to sing his favorite song.
One evening as the sun went down
And the jungle fire was burning
Down the track came a hobo hiking'
And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning
I'm headed for a land that's far away
Beside the crystal fountains
So come with me, we'll go and see
The Big Rock Candy Mountains
After he nods off, I go back to my room to work on my calculus homework.
What are the minimum profits for company x, whose profit function is f(t) = 100t2 – 50t + 9?
God, I hate calculus.
I realize I left my math notebook on the kitchen table. As I walk past Matthew's room, I see him standing in the middle of the room staring at the window.
"Matthew, what are you.." I begin to ask as I enter.
Matthew stares ahead at the window in front of him. "I believe," he says.
Turning around, he sees my face and smiles. "You've got to see this Tyler! There were these boys at recess and they said if I said that, something really cool was going to happen!"
I raise my eyebrows in confusion, "Ok, well you need to get back to bed. Come on" I explain, before picking him up to take him back to bed.
Suddenly, his windows slides open and we feel the cool air outside hit our skin.
A disembodied shadow with glowing eyes enters through the window and stares at Matthew.
My heart drops.
With Matthew still in my arms,I turn around and instantly head for the door, but it slams shut and locks by itself.
Matthew starts to whimper and holds onto me tightly. I can feel the shadow right behind me, as my eyes glaze over the things on Matthew's floor, anything that can be used as a weapon.
I grab his toy lightsaber and turn it on, tossing it at the shadow with my free hand. He moves out of the way before the toy hits the floor with a bang.
In an instant, he grabs Matthew's arm and starts to pull him toward the window, whilst I hold onto Matthew with every ounce of strength I have.
"Tyler!" Matthew screams. "Help!"
"Get away from him!" I shout at the shadow, but the shadow begins to pull Matthew's arm towards the window with my feet dragging on the carpet below me as I try to pull him back.
A singular thought begins to echo through my mind.
I won't let anything hurt you.
I reach out my hand to grab Matthew's hand away from the shadow.
Instantly a blast of energy travels from my hand toward the shadow and knocks it against the wall.
Holy shit.
What the hell was that?
My eyes stare down at my hand and look back at the shadow recovering itself from being knocked against the wall. He starts to fly toward us again.
Instinctively, I lower myself down and throw my body on top of Matthew's, covering his body with my own.
"Just stay under me" I tell him. "I won't let it hurt you'".
I lift my head up to face the shadow, trying to predict what it's going to do next.
But it turns its intense stare away from Matthew and towards me.
It reaches out and grabs my arm tightly, pulling me off of Matthew and towards the window.
I thrash my arm as hard as I can, doing everything in my power to get out of the shadow's cold grip, But it holds steadfast and pulls my body away from my cousin.
"Tyler!" Matthew screams, as he tries to grab my ankle.
The shadow glares back at him, and uses its free hand to send a burst of energy in his direction, knocking him against the door like a ragdoll.
"Matthew!" I scream.
I start trying to yank my arm out of the Shadow's grip and try to make a beeline for my cousin.
Swiftly, I feel the cold touch of the shadow at the back of my neck and instantly, everything goes black.
8