Nightmares Chap 3

Chap 3.

         The first day was finally at an end and we were heading for Juliana's car. True to the weather predictions this morning, it had begun to snow. Flakes large as my thumbnail fell softly, cushioning the world in white. It felt peaceful.
         Well at home, in the sanctuary of my new room, I threw my book-bag on the bed. My shoulders hurt.
         Why do the books need to be so damn heavy? I thought and rolled my shoulders, trying to work out the knotted muscles. A soft knock on the door interrupted my exercise.
         “Are you hungry?” Juliana asked. I only mumbled something incoherent. “You didn't really eat anything at lunch today.” she continued.
         She was troubled by it. I could tell. She took her new role as my “guardian” seriously and always made sure I ate enough and didn't forget to take my pills every morning. Truth was, I really was hungry. I had been starving even at lunch but Finns glares from across the cafeteria had made me loose my appetite.
         “So? Are you?” she prompted.
         “Ehum. Yeah. I kinda am.”
         “Great! I'll tell Daniel to pick up some pizza on the way then.” She smiled and practically bounced out to the kitchen phone. “You want anything special or is an Hawaii OK?” she called. I agreed to her choice, not bothering to remind her I didn't really like pineapples on a pizza. Fruit should stick to what it did best. Fruit salad.
         I heard her happy chatter from the kitchen, glad she was so happy. I drenched out her conversation, which started to be a little too smoochie-goochie for my taste, by turning on my laptop and selecting first available play-list from the music program. Loud, bleary rock music shouted from the speakers. I was glad I'd bought a real set of speakers last year, the built in ones on the laptop would have croaked ages ago. I dropped down on the bed.
         Ouch! Something sharp jabbed me in the back.
         Oh, right. I'd forgotten to move my bag and now did so by simply pushing it of the edge. It landed on the floorboards with a loud thud, not that it could be heard that well over the music. I let the pounding beat rock me into a half slumber. How long did I have before Dan would arrive? Probably around 30 minutes, I thought and sighed contently. This bed was so much softer than the one I'd been sleeping on for the last seven years.
         
         I must've fallen asleep. I jerked upright as a hard knock woke me. It sounded as if they tried to pound down my door. Oh, right! Pizza. I jumped of the bed, hurrying over to the laptop and stopped the music. It felt like I'd gone deaf. The silence was sudden and thick. Another thundering knock on the door made my heart skip a beat.
         “Coming,” I grumbled. What was her problem so suddenly? Jules never acted like this, I thought and opened the door. Breath caught in my throat. What the...?
         “Finally!” Finn barked at me.          
         What was he doing here? I was confused.
         Am I dreaming? I asked myself silently.
         “Damn, I've been knocking for like 15 minutes. What were you doing in there?”
         I didn't answer. I pushed pass him and headed for the kitchen. The smell of warm newly made pizza caught my interest and made me ignore the sullen druid following at my heels. Dan and Jules were already seated at the high bar-table that divided the kitchen from the living room.
         “You were to busy to come get me?” I asked Jules in an irritated voice and gestured behind me with my eyes. At least she had the decency to look guilty.
         “I'm sorry Kei. I called you a bunch of times but you didn't hear me.”
         “So you called in the national garde?” I snorted.
         “Someone had to get through to that thick scull of yours.” I heard Finn murmur behind me. I almost turned to confront him, but decided instead to go with the ignorance approach.
         “Why is he here, anyway?” I sat down on one of the high chairs opposite of Jules, Finn took the seat beside me, shuffling his chair as far away as possible.
         “Oh right.” Jules mumbled. “I forgot to tell you.”
         “Tell me what?” I asked suspiciously. Two large family-sized pizzas cut in perfect slices laid in their open boxes in front of us. The smell was mouth watering. One was the Hawaii Jules had ordered which she and Daniel instantly dug in on. I didn't touch it. I was still waiting for an answer.
         “Looks like she forgot to tell you he's my baby brother.” Daniel snickered between his chewing. It almost came as a shock to me. I knew it'd had to be something since he was here to begin with, but brother? I'd never thought of that option.
         “Oh.” was all I could utter.
         Jules leaned over the narrow table to whisper in my ear. “I specifically told him to be on his best behavior tonight. If he starts something I'll make him go home, OK? Can you stand it tonight? For my sake?”
         “I'll behave if she does.” he said low in his husky voice. He had obviously heard everything. Perhaps Jules had counted on it?
         I wanted to throw something at him. Something hard. Something that hopefully would lobotomize him in a second. Lucky for him I couldn't find anything of that sort in my near vicinity. I ignored him, looking at pizza number two. It looked much more appetizing to me, there was ham, cheese, mushrooms, beef, fresh tomatoes and it was rippled with Bearnaise sauce.
         “I remembered you didn't like pineapples, so I asked them to order something else as well.” Jules said.
         Daniel chuckled a little. “Finn's just the same. Fruit doesn't belong in food, or how was it?”
         Finn grumped. “Something like that...” he murmured and took a slice.
         Damn. We had something in common. I was surprised at how much it irritated me. It was just fruit. Many people didn't like fruit in their food, so why did this little quirk seem so annoying? I knew the answer even before I asked myself the question. Because it was him. I reached for a piece and chewed it slowly. I didn't know where to look so I held my gaze locked on the table. There was a tense silence. No one knew what to talk about and I could feel the hostility emanate out from every pore in Finns body. I tried to sit as far away as possible, sitting on the very far edge of my chair as I could get without falling off.
         “So, Keily,” Daniel began. Of course he would try to drag me into a conversation when I really didn't want to talk at all. “Albino, huh?” He sounded like an idiot. I could clearly hear in his voice that he didn't know what to talk to me about, but seriously, I thought wryly. My looks? I mean, he Had met me before...
         “Freak.” I heard the druid beside me murmur. My insides were again at boiling point, but my steaming thoughts were interrupted by Finn, who suddenly jerked as if he'd been kicked, which also seemed to be the case.
         “Behave.” Dan hissed at him.
         I rolled my eyes and mumbled a Yes to his former statement. I looked at him from underneath my lashes and saw him try to form another question. Thankfully Jules also noticed his, and mine, predicament and interrupted with a blurted rush of words.
         “Me and Finn are producing a play!” Her eyes shone and it was obvious she wanted a reaction from me.
         “Fun,” I said half heartedly. “What's it about?”
         “We're setting up a modern version of The Phantom of The Opera. Wanna join?”
         I looked at her like she'd suddenly grown two heads. “No.” Did she honestly think I would've answered yes to that? She knew I hated the spotlight. “And what do you mean with modern? It's an opera. Opera is not modern...”
         “Well, it's basically the same story and all, but the music will be more modern I guess. Not many people nowadays have the interest or the ability to sing opera.” she grimaced. She glanced at Finn and then looked back at me. “Except for you of course.”
         I dropped my almost finished pizza slice back on my plate and glared at her.
         “You can sing opera?” Finn snorted, looking utterly amused by the idea. I turned my glare at him, meeting his intense green eyes. “I doubt you have the lungs for it.”
         “Believe what you want, dog breath. Besides, if you're one of the producers, I wouldn't join the damn thing even if I wanted to.”
         “Good, I don't want you there.”
         “Good.” I countered.
         “Good.”
         “Fine.”
         “Fine!”
         Daniels and Juliana's eyes followed our brief word exchange with a hint of dread. What did they think? That I would incinerate him right here and now?
         After Finns last barked 'Fine' we turned away from each other, starring in separate directions. The whole situation felt silly, like a cartoon, but I just couldn't stand him. I glanced briefly at the pizza, surprised to see that more than half of it was gone already. I hadn't even finished one slice and Finn had wolfed down like four of them. Without a word I got up from my seat and threw what was left of my slice in the garbage. I quickly washed of my plate and was in the process of drying it with a towel when Jules asked me if I wanted to stay and watch a movie with them. I didn't answer immediately, starring at the towel in my hands. I turned her question over and over in my head, weighing the pros against cons. On the good side, I would be spending some time with Jules and Dan, I didn't have to sit and rot in my room like some emo kid. On the other hand, I would also have to spend the evening with Dans idiot of a brother. After a little while I decided it was worth the pain. Jules had made him promise he would behave, right? I accepted her offer and took my seat in the sofa. I had hoped Jules and Daniel would be sitting in it as well but they cuddled together in the big armchair instead, leaving the two seats left on the sofa open for Finn.
         They left the movie-choosing to Finn who silently looked through Juliana's bookcase full of DVD's. He picked one, smirking smugly as he pushed play on the remote control. He sat down as far away from me in the sofa as possible, which I silently thanked him for. The movie started rolling, the usual display of studio commercials with loud impressive music soon faded of into a more dreading piano sonata. Flames burned way for headlines and actor names and I sighed heavily as it dawned on me just what kind of idiotic movie I had to sit through. Horror. With fire of course. Trust the idiot druid to push my buttons, right?
         I watched with little interest as unsuspecting people got incinerated to the left and right. I saw Julie cover her eyes at more than one occasion during the movie when things got disgusting but from the corner of my eye I could just see a slight smirk on Finns face and heard his amused snorts as the screen showed a very bad computer animated face with skin being burned or melted off.
         Being sleep deprived as I was I could feel my eyelids getting heavier by the moment. I wasn't sure when I fell asleep, but when I dreamed I somehow knew I was dreaming. The fire was there. As usual. So was my dead father, starring at me with his cold blue eyes. He reached out for me as the skin in his face was slowly scorched away. Again I felt the anguish and horror as he closed in on me. This time he reached me and locked his hand on my shoulder but it felt like it was around my throat, squeezing it shut. I couldn't breathe and the panic grew with every second. I struggled to get free, I could feel that I was crying. My father growled my name over and over. Why wouldn't he shut up and just kill me already? Didn't I deserve it after all? Instead he started shaking me like crazy. 

End Chap 3.