Chapter 53--DISASTER, NO DINNER

"What was that all about?" Mom asked as soon as we were all inside the house.

"Huh?"

"Mike, and you. It seemed you were both arguing about something?" She asked stretching her limbs. That day, she was wearing a white top and maroon coloured palazzo pants.

"No not really. We're cool, mom" I quickly replied, taking off my face so she'd not read my expression.

"You sure? I saw him pull your hands and you were yelling? Was that a joke?"

"We were playing, mom" I said and faked a smile.

"Sure, baby?" She said, sitting me down beside her on the couch. She examined my temperature and kissed my forehead

"Yes mom, I'm fine"

"Where's your key?"

"I lost it" I said. "It fell from my pockets"

"Okay. I'll give you a spare one when I'm going out" she said and carried Jamie in her arms. I knew it, there was something about her returning early. I waited with Pamela in the living room. I tickled her and laughed, trying to forget my problems.

I went to my bedroom, leaving her there. She was safe, in her cot, so why bother? I thought. The door was firmly locked too. I went upstairs to undress, bathe and have lunch.

Mom came to my room when I was still bathing. She rummaged through my wardrobe, and laid my bed. Then she cleaned my table and scrubbed the floor even though she was tired. She was such a caring mother, why would I stress her with what happened to me? I thought.

She started to clean the rest of the rooms. I wondered if we were expecting someone. She did clean the house on normal days but that day, she did it even without taking a rest yet. So I asked her, "Mom, are we expecting someone?"

"Why?" She asked smiling, and before I could answer, she added, "Well, I guess so" I smiled. It must be Jack.

"Jack wants to come have dinner with us. I've been refusing him all this while, but I guess allowing him this one time won't spoil anything, yeah?"

"Wow I like that mom. I want to see him again" Mom blushed. "I miss him too" she said, blushing hard

"You've not been seeing each other?"

"No. Work's caught up with him. There's no time to visit after the twins came. My hands are tied" she said and I hugged her immediately. She smiled.

"What about Cameron? Does he know?" I asked. It was dangerous to invite Jack into the house now. Cameron didn't want any visitors, especially not someone who was dating his wife. I wondered what audacity mom had to have agreed to Jack coming over.

"He's doing all night at work. He's not coming home tonight" she said. I nodded and watched her walk into the kitchen to make dinner. The kitchen was sparkling--she cleaned it in the morning. Dinner was going to be simple--Rice and lamb stew plus grilled fish. I was going to meet Jack again after some weeks.

When I was sure dinner was ready, I went back into my room and played music in high volumes. My curtains were up in the window and I stayed by the window sill and danced. Yes, I was aware that the figure could pass by and I should have let my curtains down but I was ready to meet up with it. I wanted to even be bold for once. I wanted to possibly have a conversation with whoever it was. Perhaps I could ask him what exactly he wanted. Perhaps I could find out if he was real or he was just a figment of my imagination. As I danced and sang along to the music, he appeared. Again. Like he knew I was waiting for him. This time, I was more terrified because he was not resting on a tall tree in the woods as usual, rather, he was slowly walking me, towards my window. But I didn't scream or move back; I was transfixed to the spot. Maybe it was shock or it was his force that held me stiff on the floor. I didn't know.

As he came closer, I started to figure out his shape and height. He was human after all. Or maybe not. The more he moved closer, the more he grew. He grew huge with every step he took- he was scary but I was staring, without screaming or running, but with my heart palpitating like it would drop the next minute.

When I realized he was very close to my window, I touched my head, moved a step back and screamed with all my strength because he was a beast. Then I opened my eyes slowly. I expected mom to come find out why I screamed but no one came into my room. Everywhere was as quiet as the grave, the only noise I heard was my screaming and maybe the thumping and thudding of his feet on dried leaves as he came closer. Still I did not run. When he got to my window, his head was already hidden, only his arms and body were visible, that's to let you know that he was taller than our building and maybe almost as wide. I moved a step backwards again and watched him. He looked like rock, I mean it was not flesh that covered his body, it was rocky skin, and when he let his arms down, I saw his hands, he had no fingers, they were all huge, long fangs.

He stretched out his hands and lifted my window, threw it away into the woods and put his arm into my room through the space where my window had been. I moved two steps backwards, fell to the floor, closed my eardrums because his movements made vibrating sounds that could deafen anyone if care was not taken, then I screamed again with all my energy. He soon entered my room, destroying many things without stress, my wall crumbled , my floor was dug down with his feet and I almost sank into the hole. My room soon transformed into a building that had just been demolished by machines. I waited for him to harm me but instead, he looked around the room, as if he was searching for something, used his hands to destroy my wall clock, wardrobe and door. In fact, he lifted my door with a hand as if it were mere paper. Then, he went out of my room towards the guest room where my twin sisters were sleeping. It seemed he was not after me Where was mom? I thought. I was so scared. As he walked through the house, his feet bore holes in the floor and crumbled the tiles and marble on the floor. Deep holes. I ran after him. I was not going to let him take Jamie away. It was crazy running after someone who was twenty times my size, but I did run after him avoiding the deep holes his feet created in the floor. He stopped at the guest room, flung away the door and went in with all his might. There were two cots there but there were no babies were in it. They were empty I was shocked. Where did the babies go? Where's mom? I remembered I left her in the kitchen to have some time in my room, waiting for Jack to join us for dinner. But, the kitchen was bare.

"Mom!" I screamed but she was nowhere to be found. Almost as soon as he entered the room, this beast scooped up two little girls from behind the wardrobe in the guest room. Screams followed a desperate plea for help. Two girls that were so young they couldn't be more than seven or eight years old. One had blond hair, the other had dark hair. They were shivering with fear. He sat them on his palms and then looked closely at them both with his huge, devil eyes, trying to determine which one he wanted.

I stood there at the door, confused about what to do. There was no weapon around to fight him. Besides, I couldn't fight him! But These girls were my sisters! I needed to save them, I was shocked as to when they grew up this big. But that didn't matter. The beast was there to take one of them away, Where's mom?? I thought, I screamed her name and the whole building shook with my screams and his movements. I went out of the house, opened the main door and behold, it was leading to a road I didn't know. In fact, our building was on clouds and everywhere was deserted. There was no building in view. No Mike, no neighbors, no sky, no woods. I ran back to the guest room with fright only to find out that the beast had taken Jamie away and my sister with dark hair was in pool of her blood.