Stay Silent

Cera

          My chest.. it hurts like something placed heavy over it. I tried to fight off the strange dreams but lost. My Grandpa snoring loud enough to rattle the whole room. It was funny but too noisy. Without Martha's tea, I couldn't sleep a wink because strange people in strange cloaks would come to me. For a moment I tried to sleep without drinking that cold tea that's been placed by her by my bedside. To reach the teapot I had to walk over sleeping grandpa. His snoring became quieter now. I tried to shift to the other side of the bed. My little hand is beneath my grandpa's neck. I pulled it slower to myself. I did my best not to wake him up. Thought of bitter tea on my tongue made my head dizzy. I went to the window to watch the falling snow, I knew night would be darker to spot the falling snow. But strange without much thought I tried to climb over the window, I swear it wasn't intentional if the windows aren't barred, I would have climbed it already. My eyes wandered around the outside, to my astonishment my night vision is perfect, I could even hear Kiwi my pet lamb sleeping at the barn. Thinking of the barn, that crooked tree has someone on its branch, a boy or a man I don't know. Only some eerie horror stuck me to the core not that I was scared, I had to take a step back and look down and I had to suppress a strange sound coming from my lips. My grandpa shifting in his sleep, hugging himself tighter. I had let the cold air come in. I closed the window hurriedly. My eyes felt heavier and I clapped my mouth shut. I dug down from the window. I let myself curl up on the floor. I felt a sudden surge of pain and relief at the same time. I don't know how long I laid curling on the floor. I had no courage left in me to check back again whether that creature left or not. My heart kept beating faster, I lifted up myself from the floor and gulped down that hideous decoction in that teapot and stayed rooted next to my sleeping Grandpa . As my lids felt heavier, I passed out next to Grandpa.

              Next morning I woke up to the noise from the next room. There's nobody staying there, it's usually filled with onlf furnitures and the like. Nanny wouldn't open that room if I asked because that used to be my mom's room. My curiosity would always hover around there. Now  Someone must have opened it. I sprang up from my bed, Grandpa no longer next to me, must have went about its chore at the barn. I didn't pause until I reached that room door. To my astonishment, big lock hang there, no sign of it being opened. I went downstairs. It was Uncle Oskar reading  that big bill book. I had to wish him 'good morning, uncle' or else my grumpy uncle would become very grumpier. It seemed to be he's the only one present at the home right now. I went to him, "Good morning, Uncle", he looked up and replied, "Nice morning to you too, Darling. Did you stay up last night", his eyes studying my face. I didn't know how I looked. Reflexively my arm went to fix my hair. "Don't bother. Come with me. Let me make you hot cocoa", he adjusted that bill book on the shelf next to the fireplace. I looked around for the sign of Nanny. "Cera, Nanny is taken ill at the moment. Grandpa drove her to the hospital with your aunt. Sooner you finish your drink, I will take you up for nice breakfast at 'Banyon Hills'", he said.He also reassured me saying she was caught up with simple cold. Banyon Hills owned by my best friend's father, every weekend morning Grandpa would take me there    
, would buy me rolled eggs, Baked beans and bread, me and my friend Afwa afterwards would go for ride in her sister's car around the Parkhills Lake. I almost forgot about the noise woke me up. I had to ask Uncle grumpy. He was putting the milk on the stove,"I heard a big noise from the next room. But the lock is in its place", I told him. He thought for a while, "you sure that you were not dreaming. I was here the whole time. I didn't hear anything", he looked confused and left to check on the room. I hurried with him as he grabbed the keys from Nanny's room. He tried several keys before finding the right one. As the door opened, the room was in complete disarray, he told me to wait outside and cover my nose with his kerchief. I didn't stay back and went inside tho room, grabbing his left arm. The room had pale yellow wallpaper, there wasn't any toys my momma mentioned, it was a simple room with bed and cot covered with dust cloth and other furnitures. Momma mentioned something about a wooden chair with a carving of cat head at the handles. I didn't see any of it. "Are you sure, you didn't hear anyone enter into it. It looks like someone overturned everything. May be it was like this from the start. Maybe a rodent tripped on something. We will come back later", he looked confused, checked the windows,it's lock seemed to loose, as he was fixing the window, I found something rolling beneath a overturned wooden chair and I pointed it out to him, his eyes caught it too. I bent down to retrieve it, but he stopped me instead he bent closer to the Chair, with dirts covered on his cheek, he held out a strange star shaped box with curved lid. I caught on to it before he changed his mind otherwise. He locked the door and we went down. I placed that box on kitchen counter. "Now now, Finish your drink. We will worry this later", he said snatching the box away and placed my drink before me. It must have snowed harder last night, a plowing truck was clearing up the snow near the garage. I grabbed my drink, went to watch the truck from window.
             I finished my cup and went upstairs to change into fresh dress. I didn't feel any cold though it seemed to snow harder last night. I had to think twice before picking up the brown jacket. I didn't put it on, I was holding it in my arm as I walked to my uncle who was trying to open that strange box. "Are you sure that wasn't my mom ma's box?," I asked him cause I had no interest in him opening my momma's belonging. "OK I will leave it here for now", he said placing it on the shelf. We left for breakfast. As we were leaving the home, my eyes spotted that tree, I vividly started to remember that  dark shadow lurked on that tree. Strangely My vision started to blurr before I could say something to my uncle, my heart pound like crazy, my breath felt heavier, I tried to stay seated in that car, I felt like something crashed onto my body, I tried to free myself from the car .
But my uncle stopped from unbuckling the seat belt. He stopped that car and came over to my side, "Cera, Try to breathe into this bag", as he handed a plastic cover to me. We barely had left the home, everything started to spin around me. All the while, he was patting and massaging my back. He called for help, I faintly heard him speaking over the phone phone. As I felt dizzier, my eyes caught that tree again, now I can clearly see THAT BOY  wearing a light blue hoodie stood there watching me collapse on the floor.