After the dinner, Jayden was preparing to sleep. He felt pretty weak and was hyperventilating. So he sat down to regain his strength. He was feeling cold and numb. His chest was raw and he felt his breath freezing in his throat. He took a sip of water. It was hard to swallow it but he somehow managed to do it.
"I will remove it for just a minute. I will hold on to it. That way no one could take it away from me. " He said to himself and removed the necklace. He suddenly felt like he is alive. He was able to breath but his chest was still cold . He went to the basin and poured some warm water on himself. It was such a pleasure for him. He felt like he had just woken up from a long, weird and never ending dream. He came outside and made himself comfortable in the bed. Instead of wearing the amulet, he wrapped it around his wrist.
After an hour, he knew he will not fall asleep with the chain digging his wrist. He unwrapped it and wore it once again and tried to sleep once again. Soon he was fast asleep.
****
Jayden was on cold floor. He turned around to see where he was. He was in his room but instead of being in bed, he was lying in the floor. He got up and felt sore. He walked towards his bed slowly and sat on the soft mattress of his bed. He turned to check the time. It was almost 2 in the morning. He sighed and tried to go back to sleep. It was difficult to sleep with the aching and soreness.
After almost an hour, Jayden was finally asleep. He slept peacefully till the sunrise and no one bothered him. It was soon time to wake up and he woke up with a headache.
"Mom can I get some pain relief or something? " Jayden asked as he walked in the kitchen after getting ready for school.
"Why? What happened to you? " Jane asked, glancing him with concern.
"Nothing just a stupid headache. " He replied while pouring milk on his cereals. "Braylan! You are already here! " He exclaimed, clearly surprised to see Braylan up before him.
"Yeah, I thought I could change a habit or two." He replied and continued eating his cereal.
Jayden finished his breakfast and walked towards his bicycle. He cycled his way to the school. On his way, he met someone unexpected who showed him to a deserted place.
"Why did you remove the necklace yesterday?" Roger asked angrily.
"I don't know. I was all cold and numb. That's why I removed it. " He replied.
"Ok Jayden but it is only for today that I am forgiving you. If this continues, I will be of no help. You have to keep your promise no matter what. Do not remove it ever again! " He said quickly. " Now go back to your school and remember what I said. " He said and disappeared. Jayden turned back and cycled his way to school once again.
*********
After the returning from school, Braylan didn't wait for his brother to get back home. He went to the garden and started walking around the perimeter. After walking for 15 minutes, be sat down on a bench and opened his laptop and started seeing the footages. But there was nothing out of ordinary. He kept fast forwarding the footages until he had to pause at one. Jayden was sleepwalking and then he fell right on the floor. After about 10 minutes, he woke up and went back to his bed. He turned and tossed and finally, he was asleep. Jayden never sleepwalked until recently, and by recently he meant the two incidents. He switched off his laptop and started walking back to home. His mind was buzzing with thoughts and he felt like he had missed something important. He was walking very slowly as he was in no rush to go home.
As he reached his house, he saw a delivery truck parking in front of their house.
"I'll take the package, sir! " He said to the delivery man.
"Ok sir, you will have to sign here. " He replied. Braylan signed the paper quickly and watched the truck go in the other direction. Once the truck was out of sight, Braylan knocked Samuel's door. Samuel answered it and maybe the luck was in their favour as Samuel's mom wasn't home. They unpacked the cameras and Braylan hid them in his pockets. He walked in the house casually and started placing cameras in the corridor and stairway. He hid the cameras nicely and he had already connected them to his laptop.
"Now we wait!" He said anything
"What are you waiting for, bro? " A voice rang behind him. Braylan felt goosebumps all over his body.
"Waiting for many things, Jay, many things! " He replied turning around to face his brother who had the same suspicious look on his face. He was staring him as though he knew something about him.
"Like what? " He asked in same cold and suspicious way.
"Like the results for my spelling bee or the tryouts for soccer team or the geography quiz. There are many things. " He answered trying his best to keep fear out of his voice. He was scared to death. Jayden was someone else now and he was interrogating him as though he knew about the cameras.
"Fine, whatever. " Jayden replied lazily and walked away but Braylan had seen something. He was rooted to his spot. He had seen his brother walk away from him. The cold expression had vanished for a second and the eyes were warm and loving. It was his brother. He was gone for sometime but now he was back. Braylan felt his lips stretching into a smile. He was so happy that he felt like he was flying. He wanted to dance in joy. He hopped his way to the room like a maniac.
He entered his room joyfully. His brain was buzzing with happy thoughts. Maybe his brother succeeded in defeating the evil. Maybe he was free now. Now they could be a happy family once again. He thought of removing all the cameras. He got up and was about to leave his room when he saw Jayden standing in the hallway. He had the same blank and cold expression on his face. But he wasn't staring Braylan, instead he was seeing in the far end of the hallway. Braylan sneaked beside him and saw where he was seeing. It was the spare bedroom. He didn't ask anything but walked down. The balloon of happiness that was swelling inside him was punctured. With no balloon inside him, he felt like some part of him is missing. Like someone had taken out a vital organ from inside him.
"What happened, kiddo? Something bothering you? " Marco asked him. He might have looked like a zombie. He was so sad and empty that even talking required a lot of energy. "Dad! " Was all he managed to say. His voice was very painful. He lifted his head and met Marco's eyes. His eyes were the mirror of all his feelings. His eyes we're like shattered mirror.
"I will tell you some time later. I have loads to say. " He said, after gulping several times. He wasn't sure what he wanted to say, but he would say something. He allowed himself to fall on the couch.
Jayden joined them in the living room shortly. He looked pretty normal but Braylan knew what he saw. He tries not to acknowledge Jayden's presence. But it is hard to ignore someone who is just speaking to you. He replied and asked as casually as he could but maybe something in his tone or his expression was a give away as Jane called them for dinner and said them not to speak while eating. He was grateful for that but he couldn't guess if Jayden was hurt because of this or not. He didn't dare to meet his brother's eyes and ate his food as quickly as he could.