He should have expected it. He should have been ready.
He was scared, upset, worried, helpless, and the weather was noisy.
Of course it didn't always happen under those circumstances, but when it DID happen, it WAS under those conditions.
He should have expected it.
Maybe he had. Maybe that expectation was why it had been so hard to go to sleep.
[ooo]
At least, this time when it happened, he knew what was happening, and he even reasoned out why it was happening. That was new.
Maybe, if he let it just happen, and remembered it wasn't quite real, he could understand.
As always, it was dark and windy; and he was out in it, and cold.
As was the Monster that was prowling and growling after him.
The Monster that was going to catch him and hurt him. Hurt him while he was running, running, running.
Hurt him when he stopped running, too.
Where was Josh?
Josh was supposed to be here to stop the Monster from hurting him, like he didn't let the Monster hurt Josh. They took care of each other, when Jason wasn't there.
Jason wasn't there.
He wasn't there because the Monster had made him go away. Even if it wasn't the Monster – yet. The Monster was Coming.
(The sleeping boy moaned and turned over restlessly.)
Josh ran out after Jason, but he came back soon. He hugged Jeremy extra hard, and said that was from Jason for until he got back. Then he got them both ready for bed, and Jeremy didn't even argue about it. He only hated it when it was just him. The b-bed was so b-big.
And c-cold.
Jason always sat and talked to him, or read, or told stories, until the bed wasn't big and cold anymore.
But Jason was gone.
Josh was still there, though, and he was going to bed with him, too, so everything would be alright.
Da was there, too. He was pretty quiet, but he kept pouring another drink into a glass and swallowing it hard. (why didn't he just drink from the bottle?Jeremy wondered. He asked Jason, and Jason asked Da, and Da said only drunks drank from the bottle. Drinking must act funny if that mattered.) Da always did that after him and Jason had yelling arguments. This was the first time they'd ever had a hitting argument.
Josh had plopped up the pillows and he pulled a blanket up over them both, even over their heads, and hugged up to him. While they were going to sleep, he hummed softly and whispered softer.
Jeremy had gone to sleep, still worrying about Jason.
It was later when he woke up. Da was dozing in his chair, his empty glass in his hand. Josh was breathing in his ear, but had loosened his hold. Jason was gone, maybe not ever coming back.
Mama wouldn't like that. Mama told him to bleeve in Jason, whatever that meant. Jason would take care of him.
How would Jason do that if they weren't in the same place?
He had to go to where Jason would find him. Mama would want him to.
Even if Da didn't.
Jeremy nodded decisively. He knew what to do. What he had to do. Where to go.
He slipped out of bed and into his clothes, and quietly and quickly left this ugly old mudtown house.
(The sleeping boy shook his head violently and mumbled, "no, no, no.")
He was alone in the cold and the dark with the wind blowing and rain, and thunder and lightning.
He was so tired. It was such a long way, and he hadn't even got as far as the last time he'd tried to go home.
It was then he heard the Monster coming after him, roaring his name and cursing. The cursing was how he knowed it was the Monster.
He tried to hide, but the Monster grabbed his legs and pulled him out.
He kicked and tried to run away, but it didn't do no good. The Monster chased him all the way back with swishy parts of trees, and when they got back in the house, he hitted hin with something else.
Where was Josh? Josh was sposta make him stop, somehow, and he wasn't even trying.
Was he even there?
Had the Monster already got Josh?
Josh, Josh, where are you, Josh. Where are you? Are you okay?
Jeremy shrieked for Josh and wrestled with the bedcovers and tried to get away.
He ran into the closed door and knocked himself backwards.
Jason swooped over him with a blanket and wrapped him tightly.
He kept asking where was Josh, was Josh okay, but he didn't hear Josh answering him, trying to reassure him. He looked him in the face without seeing him, too.
Jason and Josh shared a grim look, put their youngest brother between them, and wrapped a couple blankets around all three of them, and sat together on the bed until morning.