~~~
Sang's POV
Location: Lockheart Manor
Date: End of November
~~~
I wake to a dark room and a racing heart.
A nightmare is just on the edge of my consciousness, a memory of fear so intense that the nerve endings in my body are screaming. My chest is so heavy that it feels as if something is sitting on me, pressing my body down into the soft mattress mercilessly.
I'm laying on my back in a bed. It's unfamiliar to me and that scares me even more than the nightmare I can't even remember.
Even though I want nothing more than to sit up, and escape the confines of the unknown bed, I can't.
Sleep paralysis holds me in its clutches tighter than the blankets wrapped around me.
I open my mouth, trying to call out to anyone that will listen but only a soft sound escapes, nothing more than a soft exhale of breath.
Panic claws at me. I try to move my fingers next, but my body won't listen to me. I'm panting now, small noises coming out as gasps. The shadows in the room are deep, setting off a new wave of anxiety.
And then I see it.
In the darkest corner of the room, a chair is set up and a dark shadow begins to separate itself from its shape. My eyes begin to bulge from my head when I realize it's man shaped, and big. Too big to be....my mind stutters and shuts down when the shadow starts to move.
It slowly rises from the chair. I choke when it creeps closer and seems to grow even larger the closer it gets. Terror races through me like freezing water in my veins.
A tear drips down my cheek.
A hand distends from the shadow, reaching out to me and it's then that my body finally catches up with my mind.
I start to scream; brokenly, with a screechy sound, akin to a cellphone in a blender.
It hurts so much. But the sounds leave my body without my permission, and I sit up and press myself against the headboard, fear telling me to get away.
The shadow jerks away from me, my low odd sound probably scaring the monster as much as it scared me.
I scramble, pulling the blankets to me and pressing my whole body to the headboard in an effort to get away from the shadow.
And then a light blinks on outside the room, and the door bangs open with such force that I can hear the metal doorknob crack the wood of the wall behind it.
With tears running down my face and still struggling to pull air into my lungs I take in Victor's terrified face. He stares into the room in alarm and with a heavy heart I turn to what I expect should be an empty room.
I avoid beds like the plague for exactly this reason. And I never sleep on my back. It's not safe.
But instead of a room of nothing but my fear based hallucinations, North Taylor stares down at me with guilt filled eyes.
I heave. My throat contracts.
I attack. I grab the nearest thing, a pillow, and sock North right in the face.
It's not that satisfying, and it certainly doesn't make me feel better but the other option, a lamp, seems like a little bit of an over reaction.
And then I remember that it's not normal for people to watch strangers sleeping and I leap for the lamp. I throw it wildly, and the world explodes into sound. North, the shattering lamp, and the calm assurances that I'm okay from Victor morph and churn in my ears.
I scramble from the bed, running from North's red hot angry everything, and bolt toward Victor and the open door.
He opens his arms, like I'm dumb enough to run toward someone who was clearly close enough to hear my soft, almost silent cries, (doubtfully from another room considering the largeness of the house and the thickness of the walls.)
I duck underneath and around him, with North shouting nonsensical whatevers behind me and flee down the hallway.
I have no idea where I'm running to; I don't actually know where anyone is.
My heart's just racing and my mind is scattered from the crazy situation.
"Wait!" Victor calls after me in a loud, hushed voice.
I keep going. He jogs to catch up to me.
He doesn't try to stop me, thank goodness. He just keeps up with my angry stomping steps. I finally decide to scamper to the kitchen. My throat throbs from my fright and screams, and I like to drink a glass of water when I first wake up anyways. It eases the cobwebs from sleep.
Heavy footsteps thump down the corridors after us, and I whip around.
I glare at North. He looks like he's glaring right back and he better stop it before I stab him.
"It's not okay to stare at people while they sleep." I snap at him.
"I was just checking on you. I didn't mean to fall asleep and when I woke up you were breathing heavily." North explains, no remorse on his face to be seen. No. Not okay.
"You just happened to wake up when I did? And why'd you creep up on me?" I cross my arms and narrow my eyes.
"I thought you were having a bad dream. You used to get them a lot."
Victor nods his agreement with North's reminiscences.
"I don't care if a giant spider crawls into my room and aliens are flying into our atmosphere with intentions of stealing all the cats in the world," I choke out, "Don't creep on me when I'm sleeping. I don't like it."
North's mouth twitches and I can tell he doesn't want to agree. I narrow my eyes further, trying to convey how serious I am.
I will stab you, North! Don't try me.
"I won't watch over you when your sleeping." North reluctantly concedes.
With a satisfied nod, I turn and scuttle off to the kitchen for my glass of water with Victor in tow, totally missing the quiet muttering of North to himself.
"I'll just watch over you every other moment."
~~~
It's during my walk back to the Glass Mansion later that day when I notice Lucian following at a decent few paces behind me. He's trying to be sneaky, he's even gone so far as to change out of his clothes from breakfast into a more covert outfit.
I turn the tables on him in the forest, doubling back and creeping slowly behind him from an even safer distance than he was keeping.
I lose him, then realize he caught me and doubled back to follow me back again. With a big smile on my face I dive into some bushes, wait for him to pass me, and I try again.
It becomes a game, though a short one, to see who can do it the sneakiest.
Snickering gives us away more than not.
I lose our little game, but only because when the mansion comes into view, someone is waiting for me and it isn't someone I was expecting.
Savannah, with her deep blue hair and arms wrapped around Tobias, glares at me from my doorstep.
I wave, until my hand catches in Lucian's hair.
We giggle, lightness filling me, until I realize the heat in Savannah's eyes.
I disentangle myself from Lucian with a warm smile, and jog to her.
"What's wrong?" I ask, worried.
"Roman's getting out in a few days. What the fuck is going on in your house?" She jumps from great news that is delivered in a sharp tone to a very hostile one that makes my face heat.
"What do you mean?" I ask. There's a lot going on in the glass mansion.
"Something shot at me." Savannah tightens her arms around Tobias, "And my kid."
I bit my lip, alarmed and a little embarrassed.
"I'm so sorry. I wan't expecting anyone over." I flutter my hands toward her, not sure if I mean to pat her in reassurance or make sure Tobias is alright but either way Savannah steps away from my hands.
"The windows went black. You want to explain that?" Savannah presses even harder, with eyes like daggers, "Something was yelling at me. What the hell is with this building, Cy?"
I lift my hand, a bit to cover my mouth and a bunch to stop myself from spewing out a confession.
"Why didn't you knock?" Lucian counters, coming to my rescue just in time. "It's rude to just barge into someone's house."
"Cyan has been bothering the crap out of me for weeks to check up on the status of Roman's case. So, instead of leaving it to the ridiculous whims of his lawyer I decided to try my hand at law. After a bit of negotiation and more studying than when I went to medical school, I got the Roman situation under control. You're freaking welcome."
Savannah spits the last words at me venomously.
That doesn't stop me though, because that news is exactly what I needed. Breath held in my throat, I jump up and down.
Roman's going to get out of jail! That's so amazing!
"Oh. That's great." Lucian states with wide eyes. "You still should have knocked."
Savannah won't hear of it though. Her lips fall into a sneer, and her nostrils flare before she gives me one last look that screams, 'This conversation isn't over', and she stalks away.
Lucian and I watch her go, and then he turns to me with his usual positive demeanor in place.
"I wanted to ask you if you'd hang out with me sometime." He smiles at me. Surprise mixes with anxiety at the quick change of topic.
"I can't today though. I'm working on something."
Lucian's face doesn't fall, nor does he outwardly give any sign that he's bothered.
"Okay. How about tomorrow? We could go to a mall and pick you out some clothes of your own. Go see a movie? I hear Ralph Breaks the Internet is pretty good."
My heart stutters in my chest, and I'm of two minds.
On one hand, I have a lot to do.
I still don't know where Tommy is.
I need to get the rest of my network connected to the house's mainframe.
Some of the drones are still buggy.
But on the other side, Lucian's eyes look like little chocolate circles, and I don't know a single girl that could say no to chocolate that luscious if they tried.
"How about this weekend?" I relent.
Lucian's eyes light up.
"That works perfectly." He glows at me.
~~~
Lucian's POV
Location: Back in his room
Date: Later
~~~
I called Gabriel immanently after Sang says yes and shoos me away.
It's been years since I've heard him so excited about dressing a woman.
"That gives me just enough time. I hope she likes everything I've made for her." Gabriel gushes. "I've got to recolor my hair too! The pink's faded. Should I go brighter? Or go pastel..."
He chatters on and on. I can't stop smiling at his exuberance. That vitality is one of the reasons I enjoy being Gabriel's friend so much. When he shines, he shines. And right now, he might as well be a supernova star.