That Which is Unexpected
Page 19
Chapter 13: A Surprise Awakening
I awaken from my dream while lying on my right side, facing away from the door. I feel Cheza lift up the covers and crawl into my bed. My stomach hurts every time she moves the bed so the painkillers must have worn off.
“Cheza, you’re too old to sleep with me. You’re not a little girl anymore,” I mumble without turning over. There, I may be five months late, but I finally said it.
“Exactly. I’m not a little girl anymore, Cole,” Cheza responds.
What the hell is that supposed to mean? I turn over to face her…and then I freeze like she is some sort of velociraptor that won’t see me if I don’t move. I don’t even dare to breathe while trying to process what my eyes are seeing. Cheza is wearing a hot pink babydoll that is see-through below the chest while hips and below are covered up by my bed sheets. I’m not entirely sure how babydolls are supposed to fit, but this one looks a little tight in the chest.
“Umm, Cheza? I don’t think I can handle any more pranks for today so if you want to give me a few weeks and try again –or better yet, not at all— that would be good!” I say to Cheza, my voice sounding increasingly nervous as I sit up in bed.
“This isn’t a joke Cole,” Cheza replies while sitting up and moving in to kiss me.
I put my right arm in front of me to block her, in much the same manner that someone would block a zombie that was about to tear their jugular out.
“Cheza… I… We, can’t do this! You’re my little sister!” I exclaim.
“But I’m not actually you’re sister, Cole,” Cheza reminds me as my resolve falters.
My arm weakens as my mind compartmentalizes all the memories of her from the past decade until I start failing to see my sister and instead start to see an incredibly attractive girl with long silver hair, which seems to sparkle in the moonlight that streams in through the window that faces the foot of my bed. My arm falls to my side as Cheza moves a little closer, stopping about six inches from my face as she closes her eyes.
I walk up to the ledge.
I look over the cliff.
I step one foot off the edge
…and then I stop. Over the sound of Cheza’s breathing and my heart beating in my ears, I hear “Yeah! Do it! You know you want to!” loudly whispered from the hall.
Cheza jumps, grabs the bed sheet, and rips it up to her neck. I’m glad to see that Cheza hasn’t changed too much and still has a sense of modesty. I look over at the door and what do I find? Tia, wearing yoga pants and a black tank top, doubled over in the door way with laughter and tears in her eyes while holding her stomach with one hand and her video camera in the other.
“DAMMIT TIA! WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME!? YOU SET CHEZA UP IN SOMETHING LIKE THIS FOR WHAT!? YOUR AMUSEMENT!?” I yell, gesturing to Cheza who’s glaring at Tia.
“You think this is easy? I was waiting in the guest bathroom for four hours after I overheard Chezarei asking Sara if she could borrow that babydoll!” Tia responds while laughing.
“Whatever… Just get out… both of you. My stomach hurts and I want to get some sleep,” I quietly tell them, reaching around Cheza to grab the bottle off my bedside table.
Tia stops laughing. The joke suddenly isn’t so funny for some reason. Cheza gets out of my bed with tears in her eyes and walks toward the door. Tia follows her out, closing the door behind her as I pop a pill into my mouth.
“Why!? What in the hell is wrong with you!?” I hear Cheza ask from the hallway, sounding as though she is crying.
“I’m sorry, Chezarei. I wasn’t—” Tia replies as Cheza slams her bedroom door shut. “—thinking.”
I can hear Cheza quietly crying through the wall that our rooms share as I cycle the recent events through my head. What had Tia said? That she overheard Cheza asking Sara for the babydoll? Does that mean that Cheza wasn’t a part of it? That this wasn’t a prank?
I feel like I have something stuck in my throat… it’s probably just the Vicodin I swallowed dry. I get up out of bed, open my door, turn left, and walk down the hallway, towards the kitchen. I reach the entrance of the living room and stop upon hearing voices.
“What the fuck are you doing!?” Sara asks in a loud whisper, her words sounding spiteful. “You know how important it is that they get along! Yet here you are, fucking up Rei’s apology when it’s almost time!”
How can I hear her whispering from more than fifty feet away? It’s like she is right next to me… And what the hell does she mean, ‘almost time’? Time for what?
“I know, I just—” Tia starts whispering, but stops.
“Come and get your drink, then go to bed, Cole,” Tia whispers in my direction.
“What? There’s no way he can hear you, Tia,” Sara whispers as I walk across the tile flooring, past the living room, past the kitchen table, and over to where Tia and Sara are standing, in the entrance of the hallway that leads toward their rooms.
“What did you mean, ‘It’s almost time’?” I ask confrontationally. Sara gives me a baffled look.
“Cole, how could you hear us from so far away?” Sara asks.
“I don’t know, but I want answers!” I demand as my eyelids become heavy. It’s probably just a side effect of the Vicodin.
“There will be time for that later. Now get some rest Cole, we have a big day tomorrow. A day that has been a long time coming,” Tia says as my eyes close and I start to feel like I’m falling.
…