More night Terrors

R eva screamed and rolled away. The comforter tangled itself around her legs. She couldn’t get out of the bed. Terrified, she swung her arms wildly.

Her fist collided with something, and she heard a grunt. She drew her arm back again.

“Reva!” a voice cried. “What are you trying to do—kill me?”

Reva’s arm froze in midair. “Michael?”

“Who did you think?” her little brother snapped angrily.

Reva peered at him. His blue eyes were wide, his red hair stuck up in every direction. “What are you doing in here?” she demanded. “You scared me to death!”

“Yeah, well you punched me. Hard,” Michael told her, rubbing his arm. “That makes us even.”

Reva sighed and flopped back against her pillow. First a nightmare and now Michael. Would she ever get any sleep? “What are you doing in my room?” she demanded again.

Michael hopped onto the bed. “It’s your roommate,” he whispered.

“Grace? What about her?”

“She woke me up. I mean, her voice did,” Michael explained. “She sounds really freaked.”

Reva rolled her eyes. If she’d known Grace was going to be such a pain, she never would have invited her. “Turn on your radio or something,” she told Michael, yawning. “Or pull the pillow over your head. Count sheep.”

“I can’t go back to sleep now!” Michael protested. “And you can’t either.”

“Watch me,” Reva said with another yawn.

“No!” Michael yanked the comforter onto the floor. “I told you, Grace is freaking out! We have to go see if she’s all right!”

Reva stared at the ceiling and counted to ten. “Okay, okay,” she grumbled. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and peered at her clock. Two-fifteen in the morning. Grace better have a good excuse, she thought.

“Hurry up!” Michael urged as Reva fumbled with her silk bathrobe. “She might be hurt or something. Or maybe someone is breaking in!”

Reva frowned at him. “You don’t have to sound so excited.”

“Why not? It will be fun!” Jumping off the bed, Michael spun around and did one of his ninja kicks. “I can kill whoever tries to break in! One chop to the neck and he’ll be dead meat!”

“Forget it,” Reva told him. Daddy wasn’t kidding, she thought. Michael really is into violent stuff. “You’re going back to your room.”

“But I’m the Avenger!” Michael protested. “I can help!”

“Look, nobody’s in there with Grace,” Reva told him. “She’s probably talking in her sleep.” She tied her robe, then crossed to the door.

The hall stood empty. Taking Michael by the hand, she led him to his room. “Thanks for waking me, Michael,” she told him. “I’m sure Grace is okay, but I’ll go check. You go back to bed.”

Michael pouted. “Promise you’ll come get me if anything exciting is happening?”

Reva ruffled his already messy hair. “Promise.”

As soon as Michael closed his door, Reva raked her fingers through her own hair and tightened the belt on her bathrobe. From Grace’s room next door, she could hear low, intense murmuring.

She tiptoed along the hall and put her ear against Grace’s door.

The murmur grew louder.

Grace’s voice. Reva couldn’t make out the words, but the tone was clear.

Grace was terrified.

Reva felt a prickle of fear. She rapped her knuckles on the door. “Grace?” she called in a loud whisper. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

No answer. Just the sound of Grace’s frantic murmuring.

“Grace?” Reva made a fist and pounded against the thick, polished wood. “Grace? Is someone in there?”

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20