If I Woke Up Next To You

I laid there in astonishment, the sheets were tangled around my legs and I was drenched in sweat, I could feel the warm summer sun glowing on my face, it warmed my cheeks. My brwathing was hard as if I had just run a mile. Okay, this is so wierd. Why am I having these dreams?
I sat up and got out of the mess that were the blankets.
My feet touched the cold floor, I padded my way to the bathroom then downstairs. I found my mother on the phone in the living room, balled up in our recliner like a teenager. "Isn't it a little early for that mom?" I mumbled to her, she simply waved her hand. I pulled down my t-shirt over my boxers and went to get some tea.

The kitchen airconditioner was humming wildly breaking what should have been a peaceful place in the summer.
I got my drink and stepped out on the porch.
I felt tears well up in my eyes, it was heartbreaking to see such beauty of the morning when I almost never got another chance to see it. I pushed those thoughts back and opted instead to think of more brighter things like what was I going to do today. "Honey? Is it okay if Mike comes over? We were thinking about going to the lake." my mother yelled from inside, there that would be my answer.

Great.

Not a second before I could get to the living room, the phone rang again.
I rolled my eyes, but to my suprise, it was for me, "Uh huh, she's right here," my mother said into the reciever, "It's your father." she whispered then gave it to me. It knocked the wind out of me. Here I am thinking my father forgot I existed. I spoke to him about small things, petty problems, boys, my life, I tried to be as sunny as I possibly could but I felt darker than a beetle under a rock. He has never fit the image as I had always thought he had been hiding when I was younger and just finding out who he was. In fact he was a lowlife. But still my father so I should bite my toungue. I found that all the love for him that I had forgotten since he last ditched me, came flooding back. He was the only father I would ever have, so why not love him?

Mike, my soon to be stepfather arrived around two o'clock.
We packed a picnic lunch and headed to Packitio Lake, a communal waterway that's more of a pond than a lake where familes go to swim and have lunch by the water. The whole way there I sat in the back of his Ford pickup truckand listen to them baby talk, it went like this:

"So waht are we doing for our fifth month anniversery snookums?"
"How was your night last night angel?"
"Oh how I missed you sugar pop."

I just wanted to pelt them with all the empty waterbottles that were accumulated in his floor.

After thirty minutes of this non-sense we finally rolled onto the grassy road that led to the dock. We did as planned and ate there on the tailgate, then I laid in the field that was right next to the water as they two splashed in the small stream like banks to the lake. I was feeling more and more light hearted as I wathched them romp like kids. I should have a relationship like that with a boy, I'm already fifteen. Sadly thought the boy that I have any feelings towards to is four years older than me, his name is Grandt, and the only boy that has any feelings for me is my best friend, Jake. Story of my life.

We left shortly after I refused to get into the murky crap water with them. So once again I was trapped in the back seat of that cigarette smelling hell while they coed and giggled in the front.

We got home and I resided to sitting on the front porch with my grandmother as she snapped green beans.

Although sooner than wished, I found myself fast forwarding my focus towards bedtime.

It started out as just me lying there in my bed staring at the clock, which I was, I wasn't even asleep but I don't know.

"Lauren. Open your eyes." I heard a whisper. I obeyed, "It's you again." I said in a soft voice, I looked around, I was in my room and felt totally awake. "Come on." he said then pointed to my open window. I don't know why, but I decided to go, "hold on a minute, let me get dressed." I said then crawled out of bed and slid on a pair of jeans over my boxers with my timberland boots, not realizing that we matched. "Out the window?" I asked him with true
astonishment, "yeah. I will help you." he said then out he was, standing on my roof. "My mother will hear you." I told him, he shrugged "No she won't." then he whisked me off my feet and climbed down the white Oak that branced over the siding, me in his arms.

Don't ask me why I went, I guess maybe because he saved me twice that I should get to know this strange and beautiful creature. I felt that maybe these were all just dreams. I forced myself to belive that.

"Where are we going?" I asked him as he opened the passenger's door to a dark green '1971 Mustang, "some place safe. It's really nice." he said smugly, "safe?" I asked not knowing I was in danger, "yes, safe from Daegan, you will be fine." he said reading my expression, "Who is Daegan?" I asked looking at his worried smile, "Daegan is...he's not...He's very dangerous, he's not like us, he doesn't...he's that thing that harassed you lastnight, and he was in the meadow the first time as well, but he doesn't know about where we are going." he said he stammered and sputtered trying to find the right explanation then he brushed my cheek with his hand. I bit my lip, who was this person?

The road we were driving on wasn't familliar at all, a place I have never seen. It was a winding road that was surrounded by woods, it was amazing how the tree branches intertwined above letting only few stars that sparkled into the pitch black path. It was truly amazing.

I looked over at him, he was almost glowing in the darkness of the shadowy gravel road, my thoughts were still intertwined with confusion, was it just me or could I really see his breath? I let my eyes trace the contours or his features, he had his long caramel hair hanging in his face so I couldn't see much, just his perfect nose and chin. He looked over at me and as if sensing my wish, he pushed his hair behind his perfect ear and smiled when he saw my eyes widen with amazment, his eyes were crystal colored and lighting the car with a bluish glow. I gasped, "What's wong?" he said amused, his deep voice thundered through the silence, "Y-your eyes!" I stammered, "Mmm hmm." he mumbled, "Are they always like that?" I continued, "Yes, they never fail." he replied once again his tenor voice crashed through our awkwardness. "I think of them as my personal path light. To see where I'm going in the dark." he shrugged, "I......wow." I was still at a loss for words so I kept quiet.

I stared straight into the dark road, you couldn't see anything! It was completly black, it seemed as if the stars had all just dissapeared. Somehow though, he drove perfectly.
Every now and then he would take a peek at me out of the corner of his eye, stare at me for a moment then look away really quick, finally I caught him and looked into his bright eyes, they were literally shining. I had to look away so I could breathe.

After a little longer of the silence, we rolled onto an unpaved area of the road. He stopped te car and turned to me, his eyes were not so bright anymore. "You musn't tell a soul about where we are going, stay near me and don't make a single sound. Okay?" he said quickly and steadily at the same time, "ok..." I promised, he looked over the completly black area as if he was looking at something that was actually there. He glanced at me once more at me and then rose up and out of the car before I could even get my seat belt off.

I got out also and went around to him,
"Now as I said, don't make a sound, not a single sound, and never leave my side..."

"Why?" I whispered cutting his sentence off,

"Becuase we are not in the safety of our destination yet, we are still in the exposure of Daegan and his coven, and any other night creatures." he said so low almost as if speaking to himself,

"What do you mean creatures of the night?" I rasped a little louder than expected,

"I mean, well...I'll explain later on, but for now just trust me, you do not wan to come into contact with a night walker of any sort good or bad."

then he grabbed my hand and pulled me close to him. In one fast stride, we were etching into the darkness moving so carefully, yet as silent and quickly as if he were just wind.

The Boys' eyes