Dark Keys of Uncomplacency

Chapter 10: A Dream Revisited

Julian shot out of bed like a three-year-old on Christmas morning. He couldn't hide his excitement over cracking the case of the mysterious symbol etched onto his sister's arm.

He opened his bedroom door to find his mom about to knock.

"Oh great you're up, c'mon you know what day it is", Diane said.

"Uh, Saturday?", Julian replied shrugging his shoulders.

"No, it's laundry day. Shovel that pile of dirty clothes behind you and bring it downstairs. Oh, and it's actually Tuesday".

"Eh, close enough, it's still summer vacation, I don't need to pay attention to the days yet". Julian turned around to find the familiar ball of dirty laundry planted at the foot of his bed. "Alright, I'll bring them down in a minute".

"Thank you. Tell Allison to do the same whenever she gets up".

"Gosh, what's wrong mom? You seem on edge this morning, is everything alright".

Diane looked down sullenly and said, "Oh it's nothing. It's just your father's so wrapped up in work all the time. Almost one month in the new house and we still haven't had a proper celebration. I just wish he made more time for you guys—especially while you're still on vacation".

"But that's not true. I mean, he did try to teach Allison how to drive. Didn't work out so well for our mailbox". He snickered as he shoved his clothes into a neon orange laundry bag hanging from the closet door. "I know dad gets busy out of nowhere sometimes and that's alright. We're pretty used to it now, I know he's only trying to support us, I understand".

"Well that's a grown-up thing for you to say. Still, if it ever bothers you—if anything is bothering you, you know you could come to both of us".

"Nope everything's fine, just a normal kid enjoying the summer and baseball and messing with my sister", he replied, avoiding all eye contact. Little did his mom know, his sister was almost certainly being hunted down by ancient vampires that have invisibly marked her for dead. "I'll come to you guys if there's anything wrong".

"Good, I just want you two to know that—".

"Hey mom, is Allison awake yet? We have some studying to do. I wanna get an early start before practice today".

Diane was left speechless for a second, still amazed that her children were actually working on something together. "Uh-uh, I don't know. Last time I checked she was still asleep.

"Still asleep?", Julian mumbled looking at the dynamite alarm clock sitting on his dresser. "It's almost 12 noon".

Julian brushed passed his mom, kissing her on the cheek as he headed towards Allison's room. When he got to her door he asked in an unnecessary, vociferous manner, "Hey! You alive in there? It's not like you to miss breakfast—even if we stayed up all night. I wanna see what other symbols show up, now that we know the phones pick them up".

After a few moments of knocking, he turned the knob and realized the door was unlocked. He cringed at the thought of walking in uninvited and remembered what he got the last time he did it: a nice slap across the forehead. He learned his lesson after that.

"Alright I'm coming in!". He jumped in causing Allison's door to slam against the door stopper.

Allison showed little reaction, if any. Instead she lay still with her eyes tranquilly shut and her lips trembling. Julian looked around her room, realizing he hadn't perused through her things since the move to New York. He looked straight to find a pristine stack of old books and an untidy box of art supplies sitting on her desk, which faced the windows that oversaw the front yard. As he worked his line of sight back towards Allison, the closet door caught his eye. It was the new home to the familiar Legolus poster.