Dreamers (The Dreamers Series) (14 page)

It’s dead bolted. I’ve got to get to the bedroom, she’s getting up. Shit!

I run at half power, pushing my weakened muscles to their limit, barely making it to my bedroom door. I slam it closed without a second to lose, locking the flimsy knob. Fortunately Lana has installed a dead bolt here as well, and left the keys dangling within the keyhole. I twist the keys, sealing me safely inside the walls of my room, as Lana furiously bangs and kicks the door, trying desperately to get inside.

“Open this fucking door, you stupid bitch, or I will burn you alive in this apartment!”

“I’m calling the police!”

My phone lies on the bed. I snatch it up calling Mia as quickly as I can. If I never hear another voice again, I want the last to be hers. She answers on the first ring.

“Sydney!”

“Mia, Lana has me trapped in the apartment. She’s going to burn it down. I’m locked in. Get the police here now!” I cry.

Mia hangs up without saying another word. She will have this place swarming in police in a matter of minutes. Worst case scenario, I jump from the window, a simple feat compared to the last three weeks. If I die doing it, at least it will be of my own choice.

I twitch nervously around the window. She has stopped trying to get into the room. Silence is not the most comforting sound when a lunatic lurks somewhere in my vicinity.

For whatever reason, I feel like I have to speak to one more person. Not because I want to spend what might be my last moment with him, but merely because it’s the right thing to do. I slip into meditation for the last time.

“Dominick, this might be the last time you ever hear my voice so listen well. Lana is involved in concealing your death. She has been blocking you from entering her mind with medication, just like Heather. Don’t trust her.”

I nearly jump out of my skin as I hear him. After everything that happened between us, and Lana, I really wasn’t expecting him to respond.

“Syd, wait!” he calls. “Are you okay, baby?”

“Am I okay? You’re seriously asking me if I’m fucking okay? I’ve been locked in the dark room for nearly a month by your new girlfriend. I am not okay. Goodbye, Dominick, and fuck you!”

“Sydney, wait. Let me explain!” he pleads.

I pull myself back to reality, where I’m safe. I will not fall for his enveloping words ever again.

Never again.

I have never been more grateful to hear the blaring shriek of sirens in my life. Police burst through the front door, erupting chaos throughout the entire apartment. Mia’s voice mingles within the shouting, calling my name. She’s here—thank god she’s here.

I open the bedroom door, feeling safe for the first time in weeks. Mia stiffens as a statue in horror, as she catches a glimpse of my boney undernourished appearance, falling to tears the moment our eyes meet.

“Let me through. Move!” she shouts, pushing her way through no fewer than twelve grown men and grabbing me in her arms.

She is followed in by Cayden, Heather, and a woman I don’t know. I assume her to be Heather’s mother. She is talking to the police.

Heather’s eyes well up as she slowly inches her way over to me. “Syd, I’m sorry. I should never have left you here.”

“I’m so glad you’re okay, kiddo.” Cayden cuts her off, snatching me into a giant bear hug.

The severity of the last few weeks finally hits me, spinning my head into a murky cloud of confusion. Everything around me begins to fade. Voices dull, images disappear—I fall to the floor in utter and complete exhaustion.

***

“Sydney, can you hear me?” a familiar voice speaks.

I don’t respond other than opening my eyes. I’m in the hospital. Cayden stands over me, fully clothed in his doctor’s garb.

“Sydney, it’s me Cayden. How are you holding up, honey?” His voice is so genuine and pure, yet torturous as it reminds me of
him
. “Mia, she’s awake.”

“Sydney, I’m so happy to see you’re alright. Thank god.” She cries again.

“How did I end up here? And where is she?” I begin scanning the room, waiting for her to emerge from the shadows.

“Who, honey?” Mia asks softly.

“Lana.”

They quickly exchange a glance, nodding in agreement.

“Cayden, can you close her door please?” Mia asks.

He closes the door and sits on the edge of my bed.

“Syd, Lana committed suicide before the police arrived. She jumped from Heather’s bedroom window.”

I suppose I should feel—something; however, nothing aside from happiness makes its way through my head.

“Good,” I respond shortly. “Now, why am I in the hospital? I want to go home, pack my shit and get the hell out of that apartment.”

“You’re moving out? I don’t really blame you after everything that happened to you. I’m sure Nick will be thrilled to hear that you’re okay, though,” Cayden comments.

“You’ve—talked to him?” I ask curiously.

“Well, just for a minute. Mia and I went back to get you some clothes a little while ago and got on the Ouija board for a moment to let him know you were safe. As for the reason you’re here, it’s pretty routine to get checked out. We are just waiting for a few more labs to come back, and you’ll be able to go home. You were dehydrated pretty badly.”

I stick to questioning my health, ignoring any discussion of Dominick. Sooner or later I will tell them, but right now I’m simply not ready yet.

“I’ve been throwing up for the last few days. I have some sort of flu or something. Who knows, Lana could have been poisoning my food.”

“Well, if she did, we’ll find it. I think your results are coming in now, the lab is calling me. You sit tight while I go in the hall and take this call. Mia, start getting her ready for discharge, baby.”

Like a child I wait to giggle until he leaves the room. It feels good to smile, it’s the first time in weeks.

“Baby? Things seem to be moving right along with you two. That’s great, Mia.”

Mia blushes slightly as she takes a blood pressure, documenting my chart.

“He is so wonderful. I think I’m falling in love. Can you believe that, sisters in love with brothers?” She laughs.

I contemplate telling her, deciding that now is as good a time as any. Just as I begin to speak, Cayden comes back in, summoning Mia.

“Mia, can you come in the hall please?”

“Absolutely. Syd, go ahead and get dressed, your clothes are in the bag on the back of that chair. If you begin feeling unsteady again, hit the nurse button. You’ve been rehydrated so you should be alright. Just take it slow. I’ll be right back.”

I do as she instructs, dressing in a pair of yoga pants and a white t-shirt. I don’t bother with my shoes, instead I slip my feet into a pair of comfy slippers.

Mia reenters the room with a strange expression on her face. It’s hard to read, but it definitely doesn’t look good. Her years of training as a nurse don’t seem to hide the sisterly concern oozing from her pores. My heart rate really begins to spike as she orders Cayden to stay in the hall while we talk.

Oh god, something bad came back in my labs. I’m dying, that’s why I’ve been so sick.

“What is it, Mia? And don’t soften me up either. I’ve been feeling like death. Cayden calls you into a private meeting about my labs, and now you look as if you’re gonna puke. Just say it, Mia. I’m dying, aren’t I? Lana poisoned me with arsenic or something, didn’t she?”

“First of all, calm down. If you were dying, I would be beside myself right now, psychological training or not. You’re right though, something definitely came back in your labs. You’re very lucky that you have a sister in a specialty field because you’re certainly going to need it.”

“Mia, you’re an obstetrical nurse, I don’t think I will need your services for quite some time—god willing. What are you getting at? Do I have cancer or something?”

She stares at me, with that look. Her eyebrows lift as she waits for me to make some sort of connection.

When it finally hits me, I feel faint once again, falling to my knees. There is no physical way this could be happening.

“Mia, trash can, trash can!” I scream, as the puke threatens to eject.

She barely makes it with a small, bedpan-style bucket, catching the projectile vomit spewing from my mouth.

“Breathe, Sydney.” She softly strokes my hair. “This is perfectly normal. Morning sickness can strike at any time of day.”

This can NOT be happening.

Awkward silence fills the car the majority of the ride home. You know, the kind where everyone is barely breathing as to not be the initiator of conversation. Nobody seems to know what to say. I think it’s the pregnancy thing, but that’s just a hunch. Cayden drives like a grandpa, exaggerating the mere distance of only ten miles to what feels like a road trip to Disney. For a doctor he sure does seem careful to not
break
me.
Most doctors I’ve met are douches, but not my sweet Cayden. I guess he has no real way of knowing that the speed he is driving is the last thing he should be worried about. The only danger in this car is the silence, making me feel captive and isolated again. Being cooped up in a single room with zero communication for the last few weeks has revived a need for some form of interaction, even if it ends up being an uncomfortable conversation about the newest surprise in my life—the baby. While I’ve been completely blindsided by the news, the thought of having a baby is somehow—comforting. The knowledge that physics and science make this entire scenario impossible does cross my mind—heavily. It leaves me wondering if I’m dreaming. I pray I’m not. That would mean I’m still trapped in the dark room. Now that I’ve tasted freedom again I never intend to let it go. Unfortunately, I’m still trapped—yet in a very different way. He is still here waiting in the shadows of my mind…now, more than ever. I don’t know what the right thing is anymore. Even if he and I were still on good terms, what does this mean for the baby? Is it even human? These are only but a few of the overbearingly heavy questions racing through my mind, questions I have no way of answering.

The image of a translucent baby keeps pushing its way into my brain, making me cringe. I push it back, for today anyway, there isn’t any room for additional thought in my head. The art of thinking clearly faded some time ago, forcing me to learn to how to avoid or alter my thoughts in a time of need—such as now. Between the baby and Dominick, I’m losing it quickly. I want him to go—I want him to stay.

“Okay, guys, it’s off the charts awkward in here. I’ve been kidnapped for a month, and now I’m pregnant. Surely someone has something to say.”

Mia takes the cue easily, as if she were waiting for me to speak first. Her face remains steady and her authoritative appearance shines through due to her tight ponytail and baby blue scrubs. She looks very professional. I only hope she doesn’t intend to shrink me. Normal conversation will do just fine.

“Now that you mention it, Syd, I actually have something to say—well, not say, but ask. Since nobody else in this car wants to do it, I guess it’ll have to be me.” Mia pauses. “Who the baby daddy is?”

“Why do you have to ask it all ghetto-like?” I smirk at her lame effort to sound young again.

Cayden’s full lips pull up the corners into a faint smile. He eyes me curiously in the rear view mirror as he anticipates my response to Mia’s forward question.

“Honestly, I feel awkward even having to ask. I’m your older sister, and I should know already. Not to mention, I don’t really know how to approach you right now. You’ve been through a lot. So I figured I would keep it light and humorous. Don’t act like you didn’t know it would come up sooner or later. Spill it.” She crosses her arms impatiently.

“You wouldn’t believe me If I told you, Mia. It’s literally off the charts unbelievable.” I sigh with a hint of confusion. “I’m not sure I even believe it myself. Maybe your tests were wrong or somehow mixed up in the lab.”

“Our tests were not messed up, Syd. Both your urine and blood tests show human growth hormone. I don’t think there is any question—you’re pregnant. The only thing that remains questionable is who put that baby in there. I’m assuming you know who the father is…right?” A questionable looks covers Mia’s face.

“I know who the father is, fool! I just can’t believe
YOU
don’t. Figure it out. And I’m not a slut, in case you were wondering.”

Cayden makes eye contact with me slowly. He’s already figured it out. Mia, on the other hand is clueless, which is surprising considering she is usually the first to decode even the most difficult of riddles. I can’t blame her entirely, as far as she knows the only
living
person I’ve been seeing lately is Heather—who obviously doesn’t have the right baby-making sauce. She doesn’t have much to work with—other than her imagination, which currently seems to be on hiatus. Still, she should have at least
considered
Nick as a possibility. I decide to throw her a bone—a small one.

“Mia, why don’t you ask
Uncle
Cayden if he is comfortable with this conversation? Uterus’s and progesterone might be a touchy subject in the presence of man folk.”

“Cayden is a doctor, Dear—this conversation is G-rated for him.” Her face goes white, finally absorbing the innuendos. “Wait—what? Uncle Cayden? You mean? That’s not possible—medically.”

Cayden chimes in. His coming to my defense is something I’m becoming accustomed to.

“With all due respect, Mia, it’s not exactly medically possibly for Dominick to be dating your sister either, or talking to us—or parading around people’s subconscious either. Sydney is trying to answer your question, don’t make this harder for her then it already is.”

She still seems skeptical as she responds quietly to the new man in her life.

“It makes no sense, Cayden. We went to medical school.
You
of all people should know better. Pregnancy is a physical change in your body, not mental. It’s not the same thing.”

Rather than being insulted that Cayden believes me over my own sister, I do my best to be understanding of her reluctance. She is in the medical field—but so is Cayden, and he believes me.

“If you don’t believe that it’s possible, then how do you explain the fact that I’m pregnant, yet I haven’t slept with anyone else—ever?”

Cayden’s eyebrows lift once more in the rear view in shock.

“You were a VIRGIN? Shut up! You are so lying, you’re in your twenties—that’s unheard of these days,” Mia screeches.

“You don’t have to say it like that, Mia. This is humiliating enough without you announcing it to everyone in a five mile radius. I
WAS
a virgin, until Nick. And trust me, it wasn’t just mental, it was physical too—very much so.” I blush, knowing Cayden would likely prefer not to hear of his brother’s competence as a man. “Just forget for a moment that Nick is not exactly—alive.
Medically
speaking, if I told you Nick was the only person I’ve ever slept with and I’m pregnant, what conclusion would you draw from that?”

“I would conclude that there is no medical doubt, Nick is the baby daddy.”

“Ugh! Stop saying
baby daddy
! Nick is the father, without question. I have no flipping idea how this is possible, but it’s true. How can a human and a ghost procreate? This shit is—like—Sci-Fi channel worthy.”

“No, Syd, I can’t even say I’ve seen this on TV. This is an original,” she chirps.

“Dude, she did it with my brother… Sick.” Cayden laughs, trying to lighten the mood.

The reality begins to set in. Mia picks at her cuticles as Cayden adds no further commentary for the moment. I realize this is a lot to absorb, so I get over my tiff about the lack of trust my sister has in me and move on. Who knows how I would react if she had told me the same news—possibly the exact way she did. In any event, she understands now. And I think she believes me—hopefully.

“So I am going to be an aunt, and Cayden will be an uncle. This news is amazing, Sydney, and you have something to focus on—something beautiful and positive. I pray this will help your recovery process.”

“I don’t need a recovery process. I’m alive—the end. I’m grateful. I don’t know how I feel about—IT, yet.”

“I hate calling it an it. Let’s nickname the fetus.” Mia breaks with a refreshed tone in her voice.

“IT sounds better than fetus, you reject.” I laugh loudly as Mia giggles a bit.

“She’s only approaching a month pregnant. She has plenty of time to sort through all that. Don’t overwhelm her,” Cayden chimes in protectively.

In a way I kind of agree with Mia. Giving the baby a nickname might not be a bad thing, it could possibly help me identify it as human—or something kind of like it. If I’m going to be referring to it, then he or she needs a temporary name. I ponder on it for a moment, and then it hits me.

“Its name will be Little Monster—since its half ghost and all.”

“That’s awful, Sydney, I don’t like it!” Mia scowls.

“Aww, come on, babe, Little Monster is perfect. Dominick will really love that nickname.
Uncle
Cayden definitely approves.” He winks at me in the mirror.

I love the way Cayden and I are becoming closer and building an alliance. He’s like the awesome older brother I never had, someone to guard me from bad guys, and pushy older sisters. I love Mia to the moon and back, but she can be so bossy. I would say it’s the mother in her, but no—she’s always been bossy even prior to giving birth to her spawn.

“You two are horrible. That little sweetie is no monster. How about Tater-tot?” Mia suggests.

“Um, no, that’s lame. It’s MY monster, so I’ll stick with the name I chose. You’re out numbered anyway, two to one—Little Monster it is.”

As Cayden and Mia go back and forth on the reasons why I should or should not call my child a monster, I allow my mind to float to a place it’s been avoiding like the plague—Nick. He has the right to know about the baby. Or does he? According to Nick, the love we made to create this child was never love at all. He used me long enough for his real girlfriend, Lana, to come back to him. This knowledge makes me question if he has any right to know at all. Why should he enjoy the thought that a little part of him grows inside me, that his soul is not lost, but alive and thriving within my womb? Why should I allot him that peace of mind after he crushed me so heartlessly? For all I know, he might not even care about the baby, whether it’s a part of him or not. After the amount of loss I’ve experienced at his expense, I won’t let him hurt my child. I suppose there is an attachment growing for this baby, even after only having known for an hour. The lioness within me won’t let him or anyone else hurt my Little Monster—ever.

Mia snaps me from my reverie with more questions, this time bringing Heather into the conversation, another person that has been circling my mind since I saw her for the first time in ages yesterday. She looked so lost and sad. I want to work things out with her. After losing everything and never knowing from day to day if I would ever see anybody again, I have a new appreciation for the people in my life. I don’t know what went wrong with her, but I know Heather is a good person. She had to have had a good reason for having Nick’s bracelet, I’m certain of it. As for her assault on me, that was MY fault, not hers. I’m ready to fix this mess. She’s too important to lose. I still love her.

“I still don’t understand why you won’t just come home with me, Sydney. Cayden and I can collect your things from Heather’s place this weekend. I don’t get why you would even want to see her again after the bracelet incident and especially after she left you there with that crazy Lana girl.”

I wonder what Mia would think if she knew how my brilliant seduction plot turned out? I chew the inside of lip anticipating it to come up in the next lineup of questions. I’ll lie if it does, even though I hate hiding things from her. But honestly, the last thing I need is to listen to hours of lecture on why I should never have done it, why I will never do it again, and why I shouldn’t go home. After everything I just went through, she just assumes that I should be frightened of my own shadow or run away, cowering. That’s not really the case at all. I do want to move, but it’s not because I am afraid of Heather; it’s because I can’t live with Nick. It’s still too hard. I miss him. I’m not strong enough to resist the urge to run to him, even though he’s a horrible person. That’s what love does to you, makes you accept less than you deserve. I won’t be that stupid again. I need to stay away from him—but I love him. It’s a matter of forcing myself through it, just like I willed myself through every minute of being in that dark room. If I can get through that, I can somehow get through letting Nick go—I think.

“Heather’s fine, Mia. Let me worry about it. I can get my things together pretty quickly and be out within a few days. I have a few loose ends to tie up.”

“Well, we are walking you in. I want to make sure Heather knows the rules,” Mia says.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. This is worse than that time Daddy came to school and threatened Bruce Myers after he yanked my ponytail. I’m grown now, Mia. I don’t need my sister fighting my battles for me. I know you mean well, but it’s unnecessary. Heather’s harmless.”

She looks slightly hurt. Although, I know she understands where I’m coming from. Mia is the most independent person I know. She certainly wouldn’t have anyone fussing over her the way she’s fussing over me right now. At least Cayden seems to know his place and remains silent as he carefully parks his silver Mercedes in the apartment garage.

On the way in I notice Heather’s truck parked in its usual spot—she’s home. I insert my key into the knob, turning it and pushing the door open. The first thing I notice is the lack of light. Everything is turned off aside from a fire roaring in the fireplace. Heather is sitting on the couch perfectly still, mindless of our presence. The TV is off, no music plays in the background. The only noise to be heard is crackling logs keeping the fire ablaze. Mia stops to talk to Heather while I go straight to my room, closing the door. My sister obviously didn’t listen to a word I said, and that makes me angry. I’ve had enough confrontation in the last few weeks to supply me for a lifetime. Still, I eavesdrop to see what she’s saying, making sure she doesn’t take it too far. I’m too tired to want to intervene, but I will if I have to.

“If you so much as go near that door, I will personally bury you. Understand, Heather?” she spits.

“Yes,” Heather whispers sadly. “Mia, I wouldn’t hurt Sydney. You know me.”