North End: The Black Forest by Amanda Turner

Author:Amanda Turner [Turner, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-10-10T05:00:00+00:00

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Iwas startled awake by someone shaking my shoulders. I peeled them open to see Lillian standing over me fully dressed. Had she just made it back from the party? What time was it?

“Are you okay?” Lillian asked, clearly concerned.

“Yes,” I answered, confused. I sat up to see Ava and Daliah sitting at the end of my bed. Their faces were worried, too.

“You were asleep...for a really long time,” Lillian said slowly. I looked at the clock on the well. Three o’clock? In the afternoon? “And you’re covered in sweat. We tried to wake you up a few times before…” Her voice trailed off and three sets of eyes waited for me to reply. I assessed myself before answering. I felt my head and was surprised to find Lillian was right. It was sticky with sweat. I sat up slowly, expecting to feel nauseous or dizzy. Maybe I had a virus or something. But when I sat up, I felt fine. Well rested. Normal.

“I feel fine,” I said.

“Are you sure?” Daliah asked, doubtful. “We were about to call a nurse.”

“Yes. Really. I’m not sure why I slept so long, but...I feel fine,” I reassured them. It didn’t take much reassurance before Ava and Daliah were off doing their own thing again, but it took longer to convince Lillian. She asked several more times that day.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go get checked out in the hospital wing?” she asked once more as she laid down for bed. I was gazing out our window at the moon brightening up the sky. It was less than a week until All Hallow’s Eve and the full moon.

“I’m fine, I promise,” I said for a final time. It was difficult to say much more to reassure her when I wasn’t sure what had happened myself. I didn’t even remember falling asleep the night before. But the day had come and gone, and Lillian had waited and waited for something to be off with me. It never happened. I went about the day like any other Sunday.

“Well, wake me up if you feel sick or something,” Lillian said before turning off her lamp and pulling the covers up to her chin. I still hadn’t told her what I read in the book. Maybe a part of me was scared to explain it. I didn’t want the book to have anything to do with my extended slumber, so I didn’t say a word. If I didn’t speak it, then it couldn’t be true, right?

I closed the curtains and sat on my bed. I wasn’t exactly tired yet, so I laid there for a while going over the day and trying my best to remember falling asleep last night, but I kept coming up blank. Eventually, I gave up. Oh well, I thought. At least I got a good night’s rest. I shut my eyes and thought of happier things to help me sleep. Like Miles’ eyes or Lillian’s laugh or my parent’s dinner parties. My head was filled with these beautiful images as my body began drifting.

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