“A disturbance?” I ask, moving my body slightly behind the door for protection. I’m wearing nothing but a pair of Nok’s boxers and his T-shirt. I’m not dressed enough for this. “What disturbance?”
“Somebody reported screaming coming from your house,” he shines the light into the dark hall.
FUCK.
“Yeah… I’m sorry about that. It was my sister.” The lie falls easily from my mouth and I see my sister slink upstairs out of eyeshot.
“Your sister?”
I nod and let my eyes fill with tears. “She’s… umm… she has a tumor in her brain. It’s terminal. It puts pressure on certain spots in her head and can make her a bit loopy.”
His cautious eyes become sympathetic and he lowers his flashlight and his guard further. “I’m sorry to hear that, and while I sympathize, she can’t just be screaming willy-nilly.”
“It’s a rare thing, sir, she gets hallucinations sometimes and…” My chin wobbles convincingly. “She thinks she sees things that aren’t there.” I let out a choked sob. “I’m sorry, sir. It’s just been a long few weeks and she’s spiraling and it’s hard to watch.”
“Maybe she should be in some kind of hospice…” he mumbles, looking uncomfortable by my display of emotions. “Am I okay to come in and look around? It’d give me peace of mind.”
“You can,” I pull the door but then stop. “But please, be quiet, if she wakes up again now… I can’t medicate her again.”
He hesitates, looking over my shoulder again. He displays kindness but oozes something else, something more ominous.
I don’t like him. I don’t feel protected by him.
“Where are your parents?”
“Mom’s at work, Dad’s dead.”
“Wow, you’re a real tragedy, aren’t you?”
I lift my shoulder. “You could say that. I promise I’ll be quicker with her meds this time. I’m not the best at it. Mom will be so mad if she hears of how loud I let her get.”
“Ah, parents can be hard on us, especially when they’re under pressure. I imagine having a sick child can make us a bit snappier than most.”
I smile as sweetly as my inner bitterness allows. “Do you have any kids, Officer Deacon?”
“I do, a son just a couple of years older than you.”
“You must make him so proud,” I comment; really I don’t give a fuck.
The light dims in his eyes as he loses his gentle smile to some kind of pain that I’m really good at seeing in people. It looks like grief, regret, anguish… so much of all three.
“Well… I suppose there’s no reason to keep you.” He shines the light over my shoulder once more and then takes a step back, his posture more slumped now. What just happened? “Have a good night, Miss Deville.”
“You too, Officer Deacon.”
He turns away and lifts his pants by his belt, making them rattle while shifting them into the correct place.
“False alarm, it’s all good here,” he speaks into the radio attached to the front of his left shoulder. When dispatch replies a muffled something, he turns back to me and smiles that faux kind smile that creeps me out. “Be careful while out and about.”
“I will.”
“You didn’t hear it from me but…” He glances around, smiling now as though he holds the key to all the world’s secrets and whatever transpired before between us no longer does. “This place could be next on the Sigil killer’s list and there have been a few sightings of an unknown man wandering around.”
My breath catches in my throat. I hope he’s wrong, I really do. “I’ll be sure to carry my mace spray with me.”
“Good girl.” He starts the long walk down my drive to his car, giving me one last wave before driving away.
I close the door and press my back to it.
Why does he think this place could be next? What does he know?
I look at my sister who is sliding down the stairs on her bum.
“I hallucinate?” she asks smarmily, raising a pointed brow.
I laugh but it’s forced. “I said the first thing that came to mind.”
“Ooookayyyy.” She slides the rest of the way down and I help her to her feet. “So… the killer could be in town huh?”
“Seems like it.”
“I’ll look into it.”
I nod, frowning. “Me too. I know a couple of people who might know more about it. See what local cops think they know.”
She claps her hands with excitement. “I love a good mystery.”
“There’s nothing good about any of it,” I snap, stalking past her and into the kitchen.
“Your voice sounds sexy,” she tells me, totally ignoring anything else I said, “it’s all husky from the screaming I did with your throat.”
Flipping her off, I down a glass of water and slam it onto the counter, ignoring the darkness around me. I don’t often turn on the lights when I’m home at night. I feel safer in the dark. The dark hides the monsters and a monster is exactly what I am.
I pad back upstairs and go into my sister’s room to grab my phone. I have a few missed calls and a single text. I like that Nok has given me space, though I think I might have pissed him off. I did leave there abruptly, but I had to. My anxiety was… it was too much.
I was worried he might follow but he’s not an overbearing person. He likes my attention when I want to give it, he doesn’t beg for it in between. I’d like to say I’m the same but if I want his attention and he’s not listening I’ll turn his face towards me or stand in his line of sight until he looks at me.
Just like today, he said he was going to stay at home with his brother for a while, so I showed up and rubbed up against his dick until he took me to bed, and then I woke up from that horrific nightmare.
He didn’t seem to mind. Not in the slightest.
Nokosi: You left your bra here.
Lilith: Your moobs need it.
Nokosi: I do not have moobs.
Lilith: Sure.
Nokosi: Want me to drop it by?
Lilith: Not tonight. You should rest. I’m taking a pill and going to sleep.
Nokosi: I wish you wouldn’t do that.
Lilith: Sleep?
Nokosi: Keep popping your sister’s sleeping meds.
Lilith: Don’t start. Not with that.
Nokosi: I’m just worried about you.
Lilith: I don’t need you to worry. We’re not about that. That’s not us.
Nokosi: Noted.
I’ve annoyed him, I know I have but I can’t deal with him bitching at me for my choices too. Mom gets on at me enough about it but how else can I sleep? Nokosi helps me sleep, he helps me rest… or he did. Until today. Until the nightmares took place in our haven too.
Willow
“What did she do?” I ask Nokosi as he angrily rolls the white paint up and down the garage wall. I work on the edges with a brush, feeling woozy from the smell, but I felt woozy anyway.