Elemorphs

Zane

Mom, Dad, no...

Zane shot up like a pistol, covered in sweat from his nightmare. He went up so fast that he fell of the couch in a heap of blankets.

"Owwwww..." He groaned.

"Zane, are you alright?" Samantha, his younger sister, anxiously whispered. She was sitting on the floor by the window, trying to read by the street lamp's light that streamed through the glass in the small apartment.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What time is it?" He glanced at his watch and it flashed a 2:48 at him. "Uh, why are you reading? Go to bed!" He sharply whispered at her.
"Aw, but Diane just found the disintegrated ashes and is trying to figure out who it is, and there's even a German Shepherd sniffing it and whimpering!" She whined.

"Ya' know, sometimes you scare me. Now seriously. Go. To. Bed. Now." He sternly stared at her in the lamp light.

"Hmph. Just one more chapter? Besides, I can't sleep anyway." She reasoned.

"Oh, alright. I can't sleep either. Do you want hot chocolate?"

"Mmm...yes please. But, be quiet. Gertrude will have our heads if we wake her up." She drew a finger across her throat as she spoke.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." He got up and threw the blankets on the couch.

Zane didn't travel two steps before they heard a rustle and a yawn from the small bedroom in the apartment.

"Hide!" Zane and Samantha whispered in unison.

"Zane? Samantha, dear? Is that you? Are you up?" Their Aunt Gertrude half crooned and half snarled. She shuffled out of her room with her silver-blond hair in curlers, hot pink leopard pajamas, two hideously furry creatures on her feet as slippers, and some light green muck slathered on her face with a pungent smell of herds, peppermint, and burnt cabbage.

Zane had hopped back on the couch and was pretending he was still asleep while trying his best not to laugh as he peeked over the covers. Samantha was on the carpeted floor, pretending to have dozed off while reading her book about Diane.

Their aunt risked and walked over to her. "I wish she didn't read so much!" She muttered. "She's going to rot her brain! Fantasy and make-believe hog wash. Poppy cock, I tell you! And she's so smart, too. What poorly trained kids. It's all because Heather had to run off with that excuse of a man and get herself killed in a frivolous car accident with him!"

It took all of Zane's self-control not to kick her into the next universe. Dad was cool! And as I recall, we were driving to your retirement party when the accident happened! And you didn't shed a single tear. Not for Dad or mom! He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.
Aunt Gertrude picked up Samantha's book and placed it onto the side table. She shuffled back to her room as she muttered and closed the door behind her.

Both Zane and Samantha didn't move for a few minutes. They waited until they heard her banshee snores.

"She's out cold." Zane remarked. He heard a sniffle and looked at Samantha. She had a single tear running down her face. "Aww...C'mere, Sammy."

Samantha quietly came over to him and sat on the couch and silently wept herself to sleep on his shoulder.