A Dark Gift

Chapter 2

The night before we arrived in Santa Carla, we'd stopped in at a motel for the night. I was snuggled next to Michael and Sammy, Lucy and Nanook were snuggled into the other bed. As we had as children, Michael and I held hands as we prepared for sleep, facing each other. We grinned at each other, whispering our hopes for the new place and for the future. As we slid into sleep, I began to dream.

Carnival music played loudly in the background. I was moving up and down, seated on a Carousel horse. I watched as four young men came into sight. Three blondes, one brunette. The first, with his ice cold eyes, was dressed in black, from black leather gloves and trench coat, all the way to his black leather boots. I knew his name.

"David," I whispered.

Beside him, tall and dark of hair and skin and eyes, "Dwayne," I whispered. He was shirtless, covered only by his leather-and-leopard print jacket and jeans. His boots were heavy, but he walked almost soundlessly.

Next to Dwayne, tall, blonde and very rock-and-roll, hair in a wild style, if it could even be called that. He was wearing a mesh shirt under a tuxedo jacket decorated with silver conchos and pins. "Paul," I whispered.

And finally, the smallest of the Lost Boys, but definitely not the least, "Marko," my voice was quiet. He was wearing a colorful jacket of pieced-together patches. His hair was long and curly and his smile was sweet but there was something feral in his eyes.

I watched as they harassed the Surf Nazi's girlfriend, David running his gloved hand over her cheek to inflame the foolish rival gang member. Unfortunately, the fight caught the attention of the security guard who suddenly had a baton at David's throat. I watched as he ordered them all off the boardwalk. and watched, with a slight sense of foreboding and horror as they came back later and ripped him away from the boardwalk, never to be seen again.

I gasped awake, sweating and breathing hard. I looked around, everyone else was already up and moving around. "There you are, I was just getting ready to wake you up," Lucy said. She knew how hard a time I usually had falling asleep after suffering from years of insomnia, so I was usually allowed to sleep as long as it was possible before having to be woken up. And I am most definitely not a morning person. I groaned and nodded, dragging myself from the warm blankets and into the bathroom.

I used the toilet, washed my face and brushed my teeth. I took my hair out of the braid I'd secured it in the night before and shook it out before brushing it, shivering when the hip-length mass swished against my back. I pulled it back into a ponytail before using a scrunchie to hold it back into a soft bun. I knew that Michael wanted to ride his motorcycle for a while today and I always rode with him. I didn't want my hair to get ridiculously tangled during the ride, so pulling it back was a necessity.

I walked back into the bedroom and dug through my bag for clean clothes. I gathered a pair of comfortable jeans and a Bon Jovi shirt. I slipped on a clean pair of socks and my tennis shoes and was ready to go. I slipped a pair of small amethyst studs into my ears and a few silver rings on my fingers and I was finished. We all clambered into Lucy's truck and away we went. We stopped after a few hours at a gas station, and sure enough, Michael pulled his bike off the Uhaul.

"Want to ride, Maddie?" he asked, starting the engine.

I grinned. "You know it, big brother," I teased him, as he was only seven minutes older than I was. I climbed on behind him and wrapped my arms around his neck as I stood on the bars while waiting for Mom to pull out.

"Sit down, Maddie!" Michael warned. I huffed and sat down. "Spoilsport. We weren't even moving yet," I laughed, and poked him in the side, making the both of us laugh when he yelped. He grinned back at me before hitting the gas, causing me to fly forward, bumping my head against his back. "Jerk!" I cried and whacked him on the back of the head before we took off for real, following Mom out of Santa Carla and towards Grandpa's. We pull up to a large farm, complete with horses and what appears to be a log cabin surrounded by wooden corral-fences and carved wooden sculptures Grandpa had created. "Wow!" I said, nodding towards one carved to look like an American Indian. "Think Grandpa would let me put that in my room?" I asked Michael. He just laughed at me before replying, "You're his favorite, he might." "Of course I am, I'm the only granddaughter!" I laughed in his ear.