Awake

"No! No! No!"
Blake almost yells.

I look over at Asher who sits on the La-Z-boy, from where I lay on the couch, he stares into space silently.
My step brother paces back and forth in front of us.

I rub my temples and sigh.
"Can't you listen to reason, just a little bit of it?"

"NO!"
I roll my eyes, this had been going on for over 30 minutes, Asher had zoned out about ten minutes into it, probably trying to block out Blake's ranting.

"It's too dangerous! You almost got killed last time by her, and escaped by the hair of your teeth, now you think you can just waltz back there trying to get proof and not get murdered? Ha! Your not going and that's the end of it!"

"But blake, why can't you see how important this is? It means the difference between those other kids surviving or not! We have to save them!"
I try to reason.

"I'm telling you for the last time, your not going! I almost lost you twice now and I'm not about to risk it a third time!"
With that he storms out of the room, up the stairs and I hear his bedroom door slam.

Why is he being like this? How can he act like those other kids don't matter? I know it's dangerous, but it's what needs to be done.

"Ya know"
Asher starts, breaking the silence and startling me.
"If we create the right plan we could probably be able to get in there and get out without getting caught. I was there for a long time, so were you, we know the routines and everything, so we could use that to build on"

"Those routines might have changed since we left"

"Not likely"
He shakes his head.
"The routines are a huge part of the sleep their in, changing it could threaten that, she wouldn't be dumb enough to do that."

"True"
I yawn, glancing at the clock.
"It's past lunch time and we haven't eaten yet today, why don't we go make something?"

"Good idea"
Asher stands, then helps me up.
We go to the kitchen and I sit down at the island while he roots around in the fridge.

"There's some left over pasta-"That'll do"
I say quickly, just wanting food, not really caring what it is.

He nods and pulls out a blue lidded container, setting it on the counter.
"Where are the plates?"

I motion to a cabinet above his head and carefully slide off the chair.
"I'll get the forks and drinks"
I say limping towards the silverware drawer.

"You don't need to do that, I can- "It's fine Asher, I want to"
I pull open the drawer and grab up two forks, placing them next to the plates he put on the counter.

I look inside the fridge as he heats up the food in the microwave.

"Water, coke, lemonade, which do you want?"

"Coke"
I nod to myself and grasp a can of coke and a bottle of water.
Resting them down on the island, I sit back down.

"Do you have a notepad I can use?"
Asher asks, setting two dishes of steaming pasta next to me.

"Yeah, look on top of the fridge, mother always has one there for some reason"
I pick up my fork and begin eating slowly, reminding myself to chew the food before swallowing.

Asher sits down, a pen and notepad in hand.

"Time for some planning"

*X*

I'm asleep.
I'm warm and asleep.
I'm comfortable, warm and asleep.

I'm being poked.
I'm no longer comfortable, warm or asleep.

Groaning, I swat at whatever is poking my shoulder.
I feel cold air on my skin and open my eyes.

My down comforter has been ripped off me and a figure is kneeled on the floor next to the bed, poking me.
In my half-slumbered state, the action might as well be a class A felony.

"Who's there?"
My voice is cracked, anger seeping to the two words.

"It's me, Asher"

"No offense, but it's the middle of the night and I was asleep, so beat it"
I growl, not thinking or caring about my harsh tone.

"I know, but you have to see something! It's important!"

"What is it?"

"Come on, I'll show you"
He helps me up and pulls me gently out of my room, down the stairs and into the living room.

The TV is on some local news station.

"Bones of what look like to be of children were found by campers this earlier this evening"
A blonde newscaster with perfect teeth is saying.
The scene changes to one a clip of a makeshift campsite, police walking around.

"Asher, why are you showing me this?"

"They'll show it in a minute, you'll see"
He rushes over to the set, waiting for a minute as the camera sweeps around the wooded area, before pointing to the upper right hand corner of the tv screen.
"There! Look!"

I squint, then gasp.

Blurry, but none the less there, stands a very familiar, run down shack in the background.
The shack Asher and I stayed at when running away from Mrs. Cherri.

"That Mrs. Cherri's property, I know it is, she did this"
He says.
"She's busted! We don't have to go back!"

I shift my weigh from my left leg to my right, and run a hand threw my hair. I do not share Asher's excitement.
Something doesn't add up.
"Yeah, and I have a feeling she's got a plan of her own, she wouldn't just leave those bodies out there, when they can easily be found"

"She probably just got lazy, why would she want people to find out about this? draw attention to what she's doing?"

I shrug.
"That's what I would like to know"