Chapter 13: Sara
A creak. It can’t be the wind; there are no other creaks to go with it. There is no whistle, not even the sound of the trees. My eyes dart around the room, but it’s so dark. I remember Jocelyn went to sleep on the bottom bunk of the other bed, and Caitlyn is below me, but I don’t know where Jon is. Please be him, please be him…
Another creak. It’s coming from the front of the cabin. Why would Jon be sneaking this late? Maybe he doesn't want to wake us. My chest feels tight and I feel like screaming, but I don’t know what will happen. The more I try to listen the more I hear my heart beating: faster and faster.
Another creak, longer this time, but it’s different. The front door is opening! The outline of a man becomes clear, but he’s leaving! It’s not Jon; Jon isn’t that tall. What does he have in his hand?
I can’t hold it in. I try so hard, but I can’t do it. A little whimper escapes me and the man turns with a start, looking right at me. There’s no way he can see me. It’s too dark! Please don’t see me. Trembling, I look at the shadowy man. I won’t even breathe. Even if I wanted to, I don’t think I could. Just leave!
Almost as abruptly as he had looked at me, the man darts out the door, silently. I won’t move, not yet. He needs to be far away. My heart is still beating so loudly that I can’t hear anything else.
Just another moment, and then I’ll climb down. I need to find out what he was doing. I slowly pull my blanket back with my right hand. A flashlight is in my left hand. I pull it back so slowly so that when I’m uncovered, enough time will have passed. It’s so hard to climb off the top bunk.
My legs swing over the head rail, and I find the rungs. They’re cold and damp. It feels like the room is foggy. Three more rungs. It’s hard to climb while holding something. Two more rungs. Why are they wet? And why is it so cold? I can’t slip! I’ll make too much noise. He might still be close enough to hear. One more rung. I extend with my right arm as much as I can so I can lower my foot to the ground.
But it doesn’t reach the ground. It stops short on something, and slips. I let out a squeal as my hand falls off the bed rail. I fall onto this thing in a total panic. I can’t even think. I stand up as quickly as I can and turn on the flashlight.
All I can do now is scream, and it echoes through the whole cabin. I had landed on the body of the nurse from the hospital. I try to turn away but there are just more of the people from the hospital on the floor, lying there. I don’t remember inhaling, but I scream again, and I keep screaming. Why is nobody waking up? Where is Jon? Where is Jocelyn? Where is Caitlyn?
I hear a slam and I wheel around just in time to see the outline of the man in the open door frame.
“Wake up!” I hear him yell, but it sounds like Jon. He’s too big to be Jon!
“Wake up!” I blink and the door frame turns into the ceiling. Jon is leaning over me with a flashlight in one hand and my shoulder in the other. As I sit up, panting, I start to understand that I was dreaming, but the screams were real. Caitlyn is in the middle of the room, scared, looking at me with her hands clasped at her chest.
“I’m sorry…”
“It’s okay, you’re okay.” I look over to Jocelyn. She’s sitting up on the other top bunk, and she has a soft smile on her face. My breathing slows down almost immediately, but all I manage is a nod and a long gulp to try to relax. Scanning the room, I see that little else has changed from a few hours before. The windows let in a fraction of the morning light. I hope we can all go back to sleep; everyone still looks so tired.
“Do we have to get up now?” I ask.
“No, sleep as long as you need,” says Jon, “You’re safe here. Try to relax.” He lies back down in his bunk and Jocelyn returns to hers. A few minutes go by and I try to shut my eyes. I can't sleep.
The bed starts rocking back and forth, so I peek over the head rail. Caitlyn is climbing up, fumbling on the ladder a little in the dark.
“What are you doing?” I whisper.
“Coming up to see you. I… I wanna see what the top bunk is like.” she said with a smile on her face. She sits down at the foot of my bed. I can see the fear in her eyes as she peers over the edge. Her smile becomes uncertain for a moment.
“You’re a bad liar; this is too high for you!”
“I am not, and it is not,” she argues. I let out a little giggle at that. She grabs my pillow and puts it in her lap. She pats it with her hand. “Now lie down.”
“What?”
“Lie down. I wanna play with your hair.” she says calmly, like how mom used to say it. There were many times we couldn't fall asleep at home and she would stroke our hair. Before we knew it we were asleep in her lap. I lie down on my side looking at the front door.
“But I’m not tired.” I whisper.
“That’s okay.” she says as she gently separates a handful of my hair between her fingers. I close my eyes for a second and imagine I am with my mom at our old house. Dad is sitting in his recliner with a paper and Caitlyn is fidgeting in his lap with one of her books. It seems like that was just a few days ago. I feel some tears gather in my eyes. Maybe if I try hard enough, this is what I will dream about.