Chapter 15
Jeff POV
I ran up the basement steps, and then I ran up another flight to my parents' room. I ran through the doorway, still crying and breathing hard. I ran into my mom's arms.
"Jeff, what happened?" Mom asked.
"R-Riker... H-he p-pushed me!"
I kept having flashbacks of my childhood. My fake parents had done things like this before. And I was scared of that happening again.
Dad got up and left. Mom just held me in her arms tight.
Once I'd calmed down a little, I told her more of the details of what happened. And I told her why it'd scared me so much... Because of my childhood... And she understood, and was really nice about it.
Riker POV
I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I was slightly nervous for a few seconds, but then I saw it was only dad. Not a serial killer.
"What did you do to Jeff?" My father asked.
Ooh... That's not a good tone of voice. I sound like I'm in deep trouble...
"It wasn't my fault!"
"You didn't even tell me what happened yet."
"He made me mad, and I just lost it, ok!? I didn't mean to, but I did, and I pushed him off the bed, and I think he hit his head on the ground..."
"When we get home, you're grounded. 2 weeks. And give me your phone."
I handed him my phone, but he kept standing there.
"You'd better not do anything else like that again, Riker. I'm very disappointed in you. You're better than that."
He left, and I felt beyond guilty. I just hurt my twin.
Jeff came walking quietly down the stairs a few minutes later. He wasn't crying, but his face and eyes were still bright pink.
"Jeff, I'm sorry."
He ignored me, got in his sleeping bag, and laid down, facing away from me.
"Jeff, please! I'm sorry!"
He didn't move. I got up, and went over to his bed.
"Riker, please don't hurt me!" Jeff said, holding his hands up to defend himself.
"I-I wasn't going to. I'm sorry."
"Get away from me."
"Jeff-"
"Get away from me, Riker!"
I got back in my own bed after shutting off the light. The room was literally pitch black, and it scared the crap out of me.
Later...
Riker POV
I heard Jeff moving around a lot. He started screaming the word 'no' and I guessed he was having a nightmare. I felt my way over to his bed, and shook his shoulder.
"Jeff."
"No! No!"
"Jeff, wake up!"
Jeff jerked away from my grip, and I could hear him crying now. I found his arm again, and he screamed.
"Jeff, it's just me, Riker."
"Riker!?"
"I'm not going to hurt you. Are you ok!?"
Jeff grabbed onto my arm, breathing quickly.
"I-I had a n-nightmare!"
"What was it about?"
"Y-you know how my parents would hit m-me and stuff?"
"Yeah?"
"W-whenever something r-reminds me of t-that, I-I usually g-get nightmares."
"It's all my fault! I'm so sorry for pushing you! You could've gotten hurt."
Jeff sighed shakily.
"D-did I wake you up?" Jeff asked.
"No... I've been up. I can't fall asleep. I'm... too scared."
Jeff turned on the flashlight on his phone.
"M-maybe if we push our beds next to each other, we'll feel safer, and we'll be able to sleep," Jeff said.
"Sounds great to me!"
Jeff got out of his sleeping bag, and helped me move my bed next to his. We both got in our sleeping bags again.
"Jeff?"
"What?"
"Were you so scared of me earlier because it reminded you of your past?"
"Honestly... yeah..."
"I'm so sorry... I'm such an awful brother."
"No, you're not."
"Yes, I am! I pushed you!"
"But you didn't mean to. And you calmed me down from my nightmare. You've been great since I got here, helping me move in and everything. You're a great twin."
I smiled.
"You're a great twin too."
I laid down on my pillow.
"Hopefully we can both get some sleep," Jeff said.
"Yeah... Goodnight, Jeff."
"Night, Riker."
Morning...
Jeff POV
I woke up, hearing Riker's snores. There was some daylight coming in from the 2 small windows down here. I looked down at Riker. He had slid down a little. His head was touching the side of my stomach, and his legs were sort of falling off the end of the bed.
He kept snoring, which I thought was annoying.
"Gosh, you're so loud..."
I took my pillow, and whacked his face.
"Mmfghh..."
I picked up the pillow, and Riker was rubbing his eyes.
"Morning."
Riker looked up at me.
"Hi..."
"So you seemed scared," I said.
"What do you mean?" Riker asked, yawning.
"Looks like you needed to be closer to your twin while you slept."
Riker bit my shirt.
"Ew! Stop!"
I pulled it out of his teeth.
"Don't make fun of me. I get scared easily."
"I know. That's why you're on my bed instead of yours," I said, smirking at him.
His face turned bright red, and he scooched back onto his own bed.
"Aw, Riker, I'm just teasing."
"Well don't... It makes me feel awful..."
"Sorry."
"So last night... Do you think maybe we can just... pretend it never happened?"
"Sure."
"Thanks..."
"So do you want to go see if anyone's up, and maybe go get breakfast?"
"Yeah. I want to get out of here."
I followed Riker up the stairs. Rydel and mom were in the kitchen eating cereal.
"Good morning, you two. Did you work things out?" Mom asked.
Riker wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
"Yup!" Riker said, smiling.
"Good. There's some cereal on the counter over there you can choose from."
I followed Riker over to the other side of the kitchen. There were 3 different boxes of cereal. Riker and I chose the same one, and went to go eat in the living room.
"Guys, we're going on a hike today! Be ready in an hour!" Dad shouted.
Later...
Riker POV
Jeff and I were walking behind everyone. Mom and dad were leading. We had been hiking for about an hour now.
I wasn't really watching where I was going, and I walked straight into a spider web.
I fell over on the ground screaming.
"AH! GET IT OFF! HELP!"
Jeff knelt down next to me.
"Get what off?"
"SPIDERS!"
"Riker, there's nothing there."
"YES THERE IS!"
I kept swatting at my face.
"Riker, calm down! There's nothing there!"
I squirmed around a little more, and then brushed off my face.
"Riker, there's nothing there...?"
"Are you sure?"
"I swear."
Jeff helped me up.
"Uh... Riker?"
"What?"
"Our parents are gone."