More than 4 hours pass with a book in my hands and I notice that the sun has been absent for a while now, which tells me that my favorite part of my day has almost arrived: sleep. I get up from my table and walk into the bathroom to get ready for bed. By the time I come out, my room is dark. Telling myself it was probably the cat playing with the switch, I brush it aside and get under the bed covers.
The sound of leaves rustling outside and the gust of wind that whiffs past the back of my neck tells me I forgot to close the window again. Quickly, I shut it, twist the latches and get back in bed. The light of the night sky illuminates certain items in my room, along with their shadows making it seem as if there are real, dark figures looking back at me. My heart starts to race and I shut my eyes, praying that sleep claims me early.
Just then, Gertrude jumps from my desk and onto the floor. I almost scream from suprise but sigh from relief instead.
"Gertrude, you scared me!", I say in a hushed tone but the cat just watches me with incredible stillness.
"Come here", I say and wait. No response. This is really weird. There's normally a response like jumping on the bed or strutting away but not this. The cat's as still as the dead.
"Gertr-", the blinds fall shut, everything silent. I hear my heart pounding in my ears as I face utter darkness.
"Gertrude? really?," I hear a very silk, masculine voice say, in an annoyed tone.
Scrambling out of bed, I almost knock the lamp to the ground in a desperate attempt to turn the lights on. At the same time, there's a knock at my door.
"C-come in", I tell the person on the other side with a shaky voice.
Micheal popps his head through the gap between the door and the frame. "Is everything okay?," he asks skeptically.
"Yes, everything's fine," I say trying to give him the most convincing "I'm fine" smile.
"I thought I heard some noise up here."
"Oh....it was just Gertrude, don't worry about it."
He stare at me for a moment looking totally unconvinced but he just nods and mumbles goodnight before closing the door behind him.
I grab a broom (a poor choice of weapon) and scour my bedroom, searching for Gertrude and the creep that just spoke out of nowhere. With no luck, I take my bed covers and go downstairs to the couch. No way I'm sleeping in my room tonight. Thank goodness the couch and the living room is empty.
Keeping the lights on this time, I get under my pink comforter and shut my eyes.
******
Tossing and turning, hours pass with no sleep. I tried ignoring it but we truly have the most uncomfortable couch ever and my stepmom knows this but probably keeps it for appearance purposes. Thinking about it, maybe it was dumb to leave my room. How can a cat scare me this much? That person was probably a figment of my imagination too, I heard dehydration could do that to a person.
I get up from the couch and make my way back to my room. My alarm clock flashes 1am. I've never been up this late before. I have to get at least 4 hours of sleep. Throwing the covers back on my bed (and keeping the lights on) I close my eyes. 3 minutes later I open them again, or at least I think I've opened them because I swear I didn't touch those lights. I'm enveloped in darkness. Praying it's that cat to any higher power that will listen, I shift in bed so I'm facing away from the window.
"So you came back? I can't say if you're brave or an imbecile," a very amused voice says.
Startled, I get up from bed and look around. No ones there. "Who are you? what kind of game is this?"
"Oh I asure you, this is no game. I'm just suprised you came back, that's all. They usually never do."
"Who are they?" I ask in total confusion.
Sudden silence engulfs the room and, a blink later, there's a very real looking being standing right infront of me. Heart-pounding, I look around for any way to escape. My gaze darts from the windows to the door. The door is probably the safest option considereing that this house is 3 stories high. But even the door doesn't look like an option because of how close the figure is standing to next it. He'll get there before I will. Coming up here was a mistake.
"Are you afraid?" the figure says with a smile in his voice.
"Yes, are you crazy?!" I want to say but fear makes me swallow the words. Instead I ask, "why are you in my room?"
"Because I was summoned."
"By who?" because I KNOW it wasn't me.
He chuckles, "You'll start asking all the right questions soon."
What the hell is going on? I start looking at my options of escape again but another idea popps in to my mind. Last time, all I had to do was turn on the lights and run out of the room right? Why not do it again? At this point, anything to get me out of here. I jump out of bed, switch on the lights, and turn to run before coming to an abrubt stop.
Majestic. There's no other word to describe what stands infront of me.
Brushing away strands of white hair from his face, the man stands there and watches me with an amused look from his Cerulean blue eyes. An eye color I've never seen before. The 6ft (or above) man, looking no older than 19, wears a dark grey wool coat with a black fur-lined collar matched by black Khaki pants and ankle-hieght leather boots. He's the most breathtaking man I've ever seen.
He slowly walks to my desk, sits down and picks up the book I was previously reading. "The oddities of Jerry Winkler," he reads, "what a stupid title."
"Who are you?" I ask.
He slides his porcelain colored hands in his coat pockets and gives me a curious smile. "You mean you haven't heard of me in one of your little story books before?"
I am beyond baffled. This man hides in my room in the dead of night, tells me he's been summoned, and now he claims to be a character in one of my books. And the crazy part, he says all of this without shame. Is he mad?
I think he saw the confusion on my face when he says, "don't worry, I'll give you a hint: East Elona."
"What about it?" I ask with my face still scruched up.
"It's where I'm from," he says like it's the most obvious thing in the world.
"I asked who you were, answer me."
"Oh, you're a fiesty one. It's been a long time since I've had one of those," he says. He's obviously enjoying my utter confusion because his smile grows wider. I stare at him for a long time trying to figure this out before he breaks the silence.
"My name is Joden."