Nightmare's Daughter

by Aurora Smith

  “Hey! English, boys!” Maya was looking from Justin to me and her face was glowing again. But how easily I forgot the stroll they enjoyed last night. How could Justin not have kissed that too adorable face when he had her to himself? She was wearing his sweater and looked overwhelmed with emotions when I had seen her, how dumb to have any glimmer of hope that she might like me in any way.

  “Are you seriously doing this right now?” Justin always spoke like a young kid. He came into the room and grabbed Maya by the upper arm and started dragging her to the door.

  “Do you remember last night?” she whispered the words but I still heard them. Justin’s eyes darted up to me and back down to Maya, obvious fear on his face.

  I had no idea what was going on.

  “Why won’t you listen to me?” He used a hush voice.

  “I can hear the two of you,” I said, annoyed that they were treating me like a disgusting thing that might as well not be there.

  “Je lui disant de rester loin de vous. Je vais essayer de la protéger!

  “You don’t need to protect her! Do you really think that I would harm her?” I asked my brother and realized too late that it was in English.

  “Yes.” Justin hissed like an angry snake then started dragging her tiny frame away again. I lunged forward to try and stop him but stopped dead in my tracks. I didn’t have to stop my brother from hurting her, perhaps I should have been stopping Maya from hurting him.

  On the floor in front of us was Justin, lifeless and crumpled.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “What did you do?” I dropped to my knees and cupped my brother’s head into my arms; it flopped to the side and his jaw slackened.

  “He was hurting me!” Maya had her arms on her hips and looked unapologetic. I put my ear down to his mouth and felt his warm breath coming out in deep, rhythmic waves.

  “He’s alive.” I put my forehead against my brothers and breathed in.

  “Of course he’s alive…” She gave me a hesitant look, her eyes looking suspicious and I felt anger rise again.

  “Wake him up,” I demanded.

  “You wake him up.” She crossed her arms this time. Why was I fighting with this girl? I was a scientist and only a part of this group because of Carl. We were well respected, normal people before Carl decided to mess with our fate and banish us to the destiny of only having one offspring and be considered ‘supernatural.’ Nonsense. I shook my brother and placed a kiss on his cheek, begging him to wake with my Frenchman demeanor.

  “Fine.” Maya blew her words in an exasperated breath and she bent down in front of my brother and me. She closed her eyes and I watched her concentrate. My brother’s eyes jumped in their sockets and swiveled around wildly like he was dreaming. Maya’s face went from serious to tired to frustrated in quick, sweeping moments.

  Maya opened her eyes and my brother followed soon after. He looked up at me, surprised to see that he was in my arms but he didn’t jump away in anger, even though he had been at odds with me all week.

  “I have an idea. Why don’t you two just talk. I’m going to leave. Come and find me later, Liam.” I was surprised she said my name instead of Justin’s. The surprise turned into a burning pleasure that festered up to my face. Justin rolled his eyes but remained in my arms. I nodded, while Justin wouldn’t look at her.

  She turned around and left us and the guilt I always felt when alone with my brother came rushing back. We sat in silence, the sulfuric smell and Mr. Callen’s snores were all that registered—that and the ticking clock that began to annoy me with its constant click click click.

  “Justin,” I spoke to him in French, wanting the conversation to be private. “Why are you so angry with me? I thought we had come past what happened.”

  “I thought we had too, I thought you had changed,” he said, finally moving out of my arms and sitting against the wall that was next to us.

  “I have changed, I’m trying to continue to change.”

  “You have not changed. You are still experimenting and putting people in danger,” he said and I rolled my eyes, exasperated.

  “Who did I put in danger with my experiments before?”

  “You know what I mean!” he yelled.

  “No, I don’t. I really don’t.”

  “Have you forgotten about Sheila?” He was angry, beyond angry. Years of unresolved issues were deep in his words.

  “I think about her every day.” I said and I was aware of how pitiful I sounded.

  “Then why are you bringing Maya down that path?”

  “First of all Sheila and Maya are two completely different people. I don’t know if you realized this, but Maya just dropped you like a sack of potatoes and we’re roughly 230 pounds, and it’s all muscle, man. Also, you didn’t know Sheila like I knew her.”

  “I knew her pretty well.”

  “No, you didn’t. She was not as sweet as you think. My attraction to her was purely physical, it was not her amazing personality.”

  “What’s your attraction to Maya?” he asked me.

  “I don’t know. I mean, I think she’s…different. But let’s be serious, brother. I don’t have a chance with her or any other girl. Look at me.”

  “Quit feeling sorry for yourself, it’s your own fault.” Justin clenched his fists and glared at me. I tried to ignore the pain I felt but reminded myself that he had no idea what really happened. It hurt though that Carl had more compassion for me than a man who was formed from my own cells. I was done having this argument. After the accident Carl had spoken to me, the pain in his words were like a hammer against my soul, all of the guilt he felt was brought on by my doing, my careless actions. He had shared with me, about my grandfather, Victor Frankenstein and the way he never took responsibility for his actions.

  “You’re right. This is entirely my fault.” I said and Justin scoffed but said nothing more to me about it.

  “What’s your attraction to Maya?” I asked him.

  “I’m not interested in her, not any more than a friend.”

  “But, last night?” I was floored. How could he not be interested in her? She was adorable and funny, maybe my brother had become as shallow as I had feared.

  “She had wandered into my dream and I asked her to meet me so I could tell her exactly why she should stay away from you!”

  “She was in your dream? She showed you that she was in there?” I suddenly wanted to punch him. But I’d changed…

  “She and her dad were snooping around and I showed them you and Sheila in the hot tub, then when I spoke to her she looked all flustered and was freaking out about something and her father told her to get out but before she went I told her to meet me and then I told her everything about what happened with Carl and she’s not listening to me and it’s making me very angry!”

  He was yelling now and speaking so wildly without taking any breaths that I thought his head might explode. He stood up; his fists were clenched as he began to walk towards me. I had no time to dwell on the fact that something must have gone seriously wrong with his brain that night, some kind of trauma that I didn’t understand while I was dealing with my own things. I scooted back on my butt, unable to stand up and defend myself; he was already on top of me. His fists were throwing punches on my body, any part of me that he could reach; the blows were hard and swift coming one by one in fast, indiscernible movements. The part of my face that he could reach instantly swelled and the skin grew tighter and I felt warm blood begin to puddle in the valleys that the burns had formed. A part of me wanted to hit him back, I couldn’t believe that he was reacting this way, but a bigger part of me was shocked and was unable to do anything but let him take his anger out on me. I had been the one to bring him to this place after all. Years of mental and physical bullying from me, I thought, had been resolved, but apparently not. I lay there, receiving his frustrated blows, too tired and guilty to care.

  After several moments of being Justin’s personal punching bag he was being pulled bac
kwards off of me, but I still lay there with my eyes closed.

  “Liam?” I heard Maya’s voice and I peeked through swollen eyelids, blood blocking my view of her. “Liam, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I said softly. The muscles in my jaws hurt and I could taste the blood spilling through the sides of my mouth.

  “Get off of me!” I had to peek to see who was able to hold my brother off like that. It was a girl, that Vanessa chick Justin had told me about. She must have been a vampire, those creatures were freakishly strong and annoyingly superior.

  “Not till you calm down, hot stuff.” She had one hand on his shoulder and he was unable to move away from her. I chuckled but only because the irony was too much for me to handle. A big guy like Justin getting his butt handed to him twice in a matter of minutes by two small girls. I was just glad that I got beat up by a big guy; at least no one saw Maya do anything to me, and I knew she could too.

  “What happened?” Maya asked me, her voice too loud for my pounding ears.

  “Justin is just a little frustrated,” I answered her.

  “You two need therapy.”

  I laughed but stopped once I realized how many times he must have hit my ribs.

  “I love him.” I wiped the blood away from my open eyes and committed my attention to her. “I deserved it.” Her big eyes were gleaming and she was actually smiling at me and inspecting me. I could only imagine what I looked like. On top of my burnt and distorted face I could feel the bruises rising and the sticky blood.

  “What the…how…I….MAYA!” Everyone in the room turned towards the door and saw Mr. Torricelli standing at the door; his fat arms were spread out in front of his body, taking in the whole room and the two restrained Frankensteins on the floor.

  “Sir, she had nothing to do with it was Justin and I.”

  “Enough of you! I’m tired of you defending her.” He was pointing at me, which he did a lot, and I noticed his fingers were shaking with anger.

  “NO!” I stood up, catching myself as I tipped to the side. “Enough of you. She has done nothing, but she continues getting brought into my brother’s and my fights. You will not do anything more to her!” I was shouting now, using the fierce command that I knew I had but rarely used. Everyone in the room shrunk back from me, my appearance playing a big part, I was sure of it.

  “You can’t speak to me like that,” he said, but I shook my head.

  “I know a lot of our parents would love to hear about how you are living while we are here at camp, I would be tempted to mention it in a letter to home.” Silence met this and his stocky frame withered from intimidation.

  “What did you do to Mr. Callen?” Perhaps he was changing the conversation, which was smart.

  “Nothing, he just fell asleep,” Maya said with the sweetest innocence I had ever heard. I put my hand inside of hers without thinking of it, my desire to protect her from getting into trouble was steering my actions.

  “He just fell asleep, and stayed asleep through an obvious fight?” He was yelling again but not pointing anymore. Maya shrugged, she had kept her hand in mine.

  “He’s a troll,” she said simply and Vanessa snickered, her hold on Justin had loosened. He was glaring at Maya’s and my embrace, his eyes bulging. I was afraid he might come after me again, but with Maya in between us I would fight back this time and I wouldn’t be the one getting punched. We made eye contact and I raised my eyebrows, well the part of the eye that usually had eyebrows, for me it was just blank skin that no longer grew hair.

  Mr. Torricelli shook Mr. Callen and he woke up easily, his startled eyes moved around the room and his mouth resembled a fish gasping for water. The four of us tip toed out of the room while our troll body guard got a verbal lashing from Cupid, the man who was supposed to be a beacon of love.

  Justin turned around while we were halfway down the hall and I squared my shoulders defensively.

  “Sorry,” he said to me and I nodded. He turned around with Vanessa at his side and they left together, leaving Maya and me alone again.

  “I left for like five minutes and I heard crashing.” Maya started speaking the moment we were alone.

  “You must have not been very far away?” I said, remembering what Justin had told me. That he had shown her Sheila and me together and had told her ‘everything’ that had happened the night I introduced her to Carl. I was embarrassed and wanted to get away but our hands that were still tightly woven were keeping me rooted.

  “I wasn’t,” she admitted.

  “I’d like to go back to my cabin and clean up,” I said, feeling miserable.

  “Okay, can I come?”

  “I suppose.” I didn’t know if I wanted her to come or not. I mean I did want her to come but I also really didn’t want her to come. But I held her hand the whole way to my cabin and left her outside as I cleaned up.

  I splashed warm water onto my face, the pink water that ran down the sink in swirls was distracting me momentarily from the insane guilt I felt. I was seriously beginning to think that Justin needed some kind of psychological help. It was as though he was treating Maya like she was Sheila and that he needed to protect her. The last year, since we moved from France the two of us had gotten alone amazingly. We had both changed, we had gotten closer and to me a lot of deep healing had taken place. But I was confined to our house while he was able to go to school, make friends and start relationships. I was under house arrest and safe from people.

  I looked in the mirror; my face was clean from blood but just as mutilated as before, the bruises were becoming angrier as the seconds passed. I sighed and dried off my face. If only I could figure out the exact recipe for getting rid of these burns. I felt so stupid and couldn’t help but wonder if Victor Frankenstein would have been able to figure it out by now. It only took him two years to make life from death, I’ve been working just as long to restore my face to its former self and I was failing. Usually making myself look worse in the process, which was actually quite a feat in itself.

  I changed my clothes, throwing my bloodstained shirt into the corner, and then walked back out to Maya who was still waiting for me. She was jumping around nervously but looked really cute in her little jean shorts and a tight, green shirt that said “Stop looking at me” on it. That and her purple hair were as absurd as charming.

  “Hi,” I said and she stopped leaping around.

  “Hey,” she said, her feet suddenly going pigeon toed and looking embarrassed. I didn’t know what to say but I didn’t have to, she was already rambling and I had to concentrate to figure out what she was saying.

  “Justin told me what happened with Sheila, and I want to know what really happened. He said he found you burning and that he chose you instead of Sheila and I think that’s why he’s so angry, because he felt like he could have saved her. I’m so confused, I hardly even know the two of you but I can’t stop thinking about you and I just want to know who you are and what happened and,” I didn’t allow her to finish her rambling thoughts. I put my hand around her and brought her against me. I bent down and I laid my lips on hers, waiting for her to respond, to see if she wanted me to continue. Her thin, soft arms went around my neck and she brought me closer, allowing me to kiss her. Her lips were kind and they acted like they craved the closeness as much as I did; the two of us became tangled quickly, our hands on each other’s faces and I moved my hand through her hair.

  I knew in that moment that I had to be honest with her, that I wanted to tell her everything.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I didn’t want to allow my muscles to relax and let go of her; I hadn’t permitted any form of human contact in almost two years. What a simple thing that people took for granted, it was something I had always taken for granted. Maya’s touch was so different than any I had ever experienced. It wasn’t self-indulgent or assured; rather it was gentle, curious and somewhat frightening. This little person had so much harnessed power that I could feel it vibrating off of her lips. I too
k a deep breath, breaking our mouths apart, regretting it instantly. I didn’t mind at all the way she was looking at me though; it made our separation easier to take.

  Her green eyes looked bigger, which I thought impossible, and they had longing in them. As much as I wanted to continue this new step I had taken with the unusual nightmare girl, I felt it would be prudent if I was more honest with her, especially since she appeared to already know more than I cared for her to know.

  “I’m sorry, I interrupted you. What were you saying?” I asked, feeling dazed.

  “Ummm, something about Justin and Sheila.”

  “Right. Justin chose me over Sheila.” I thought about that for a moment and I wasn’t sure if it was entirely true. I was on fire, but I hadn’t passed out yet and I consider my memory to be on mark with everything, even while in excruciating pain.

  “Maya, Justin told me that he showed you something in his dream.”

  “Yes.” Her one word answer made me feel angry at Justin for showing her my intimacy with Sheila. That wasn’t his to share and it was vindictive; it hadn’t been fair to either of us but he clearly wasn’t in a place to understand reason. The Justin I knew wasn’t that kind of person.

  “Would you like to come into one of my dreams and I could show you something?”

  “Show me what?”

  “What really happened with Carl and Sheila…and myself.” She was silent, and looked down. “Is everything okay?”

  “I have a confession.” She said, her cute face turned apprehensive. “I’ve already been in your dreams.”

  “I already knew that.” I remembered the first time I had felt her, I was having an ordinary dream about being in my lab at home, when I recognized that something was different with my subconscious, or whatever happened, had gone directly to the one thing that I wanted to keep from everyone. Especially that lavender haired girl in my new group at the ridiculous summer camp that my parents had forced me to go to. I had made myself wake up immediately but I knew whoever was there had seen it. Then the very next night I fought it but eventually fell asleep and a burning branch fell on my brother. The terror I felt that night made me simultaneously hate Maya and respect the power she had all at the same time.