Dark Beast ✔

Chapter 8: Starry Night

By the time, Sophia finished taking a shower and dried off her hair, it was close to one o'clock at night. She closed the bathroom light wearing the nightgown Ashley gave her and returned to the room.

The house was pitch black and silent as the night outside. She could see from beyond the glass that the strong breeze surged through the tall trees allowing them to sway back and forth. She never saw so many trees in the city like this before. And standing in front of the vast field where the trees howled and the grass glistened under the light of the moon, she was utterly mesmerized. But not as much as she was by the family today. They were special and had a strong bond with one another. She wondered if it was luck to find herself with them after being on her own for so long.

She braided her hair and got under the covers without a moment's waste. It was quite cold tonight or maybe since this was such a big house that she could feel the cold waft through every part of the room. The bed was a bit big for her too, she slept on the right side and faced the closed door. The creaking silence was daunting as she laid by herself, she felt as if the door would open any second and Lazarus would appear. She doubted that that would happen and she was way too shy to go herself.

She could go ask him for a phone charger, but she forgot that her own phone was full battery and then he'd find out that she used that as an excuse just to see him. Oh, but what if she went to ask for a hair dryer, but she didn't need it now. She could always make her hair wet again. Except that it was one o'clock at night and she needed to shut up and sleep.

Frustrated, she rolled over to the other side showing her back to the door. She shut her eyes and snuggled under the blanket to ignore all these stupid thoughts.

The clock in the room ticked and ticked on by...

But Sophia couldn't sleep at all. At one point, her hip started to hurt from laying on her side too long. She flipped onto her back and looked at the ceiling trying to bore herself to sleep. But when did that ever work on her. She tried and tried but nothing worked. Grabbing her cellphone off the table beside her, she checked the time and it was only one thirty. She couldn't take it anymore. She got out of bed and went to the door to go to Lazarus.

As her hand hovered over the door knob, she hesitated again. She didn't want to disturb his sleep. Besides, what could he do to help her sleep anyway? She turned to go back to bed when her eyes caught the chair outside the glass doors. She went over and slid the door open stepping out into the cool night air and forest. The great moon hovering in the sky shined enchantingly as she drew up her legs and took a seat on the big chair. Tucking the skirt of the nightgown under her feet, she stared out into the vast forest hoping that she'd get sleepy.

But as she sat alone on the chair, her mind swam into the thoughts of the only thing occupying her every moment. Lazarus. She wondered how she should convince him to tell her what was bothering him? She also couldn't help but wonder if they were only boyfriend and girlfriend when it felt so much more than that to her. There was a force greater than anything she had ever felt when she was with him. However, if Lazarus was afraid of being with her than maybe she shouldn't open her heart too much, except she couldn't control how she felt about him. This was all happening too fast to stop. What could she do now?

As doubt and uncertainty racked her brain, she saw something shuffle in the trees ahead of her. She stiffened in her seat and wondered if it was a stray animal. But this was private property, so nothing should be in those woods, only then Sophia remembered that Lazarus told her about the dogs they kept but stayed mostly in the forest. Strange, that she hadn't seen one all day. Maybe, they preferred the night to travel when it was cooler and vacant. That's quite odd for a dog, she thought. She should probably go inside and leave them be.