Eli Fletcher: The Mark Of The King

Chapter Nine: Manitou Makes Me Sick

Chapter Nine

Manitou Makes Me Sick

We pull up to a house on a narrow street. It's a simple, but good sized three-bedroom house on the corner. Maybe I'll be sharing a room with Aiden. That'll be better than being completely alone.

I follow the Adler's into their two story house. It's dark, and I can't see much; my night vision doesn't seem to be kicking in for some reason. I feel like I'm entering a cave with no light. I stay close behind Meagan, who is the last of her family to enter the house before me. She looks back at me, smiling. I jump startled as her face takes a grotesque shape for a split second; her features exaggerated with huge, round eyes; a stretched out mouth with razor sharp teeth; wrinkled, yet stretched, skin that looks much older than she is.

"What's wrong, Jeffy?" she asks in a hideously dark voice that sounds like she's gargling sand.

When the lights turn on, Meagan looks completely normal, but is frowning at me curiously.

"What's wrong, Jefferey?" she asks, concerned.

"Nothing," I say. "Must have been a weird shadow on your face."

She giggles. "You're kinda silly, you know that?" She touches my arm, near my shoulder, squeezing slightly at my bicep. She smiles again, then releases my arm and walks up the stairs, disappearing into the darkness of the hallway above.

"Don't mind her, she's a little boy crazy," Aiden says from the doorway to my right, holding a can of soda. He hands me one and then nods for me to follow him. "Come on upstairs; my parents are still working on it, but they're putting a room together for you in the basement. Until they're done, you're bunkin' with me."

I follow him until he stops and turns back towards me again. "Just don't try and take a peek at it. They won't like that."

"Why not?" I ask.

Aiden shrugs. "Ruins the surprise I guess. Don't worry, they grow on you. They're a little weird, but who ever has a normal family, right?"

I smile at him as he turns back up the stairs. Aiden is definitely cool; I really like him. Unlike his overly smiley sister, extremely eccentric mother, and far-out-there father, he is down to earth and...human. He leads me up the stairs and when we reach the top, we make a left. At the end of the hall and to the right, he opens the door of a bathroom.

"This is our bathroom. Meagan usually gets in here first thing in the morning, so, good luck trying to take a leak when you wake up."

I laugh and Aiden grins out of the side of his mouth.

We're going to get along pretty well, I think. Maybe even become like brothers.

Wow, a brother! Just the other day I was an orphan and now a strange, yet kind, family is taking me in and I'm sharing a room with someone who could become my brother. It's crazy the way things change.

He jerks his head towards the door across the hall from the bathroom. "This is our room."

Aiden opens the door and cracks open his soda as we go inside. I do the same and take a sip as I look around the room. There are posters of different rock bands, movies and girls plastered all over the walls; I have no idea who any of them are, having been sheltered by the orphanage for so long, but I think this is what a boy's room is supposed to look like. There are two twin-sized beds, each in opposite corners. His bed is a mess with the covers tossed aside. His bed sheet is a camouflage design with a thick, black, down blanket lies on top of that.

He must get cold easy if he needs a blanket that thick in the summertime.

My bed is in perfect condition. They must have just set it up this morning with blankets and everything. I pull back the big brown blanket, which is much like Aiden's, to reveal light blue sheets with a matching pillowcase stuffed with a soft, fluffy pillow. This bed looks much more comfortable than any of the beds at the orphanage. I'm convinced I'll hate it but when I sit down on the mattress, it's like sitting on a cloud. I've never sat on anything so soft and comfortable before. Why was I afraid I would hate this? This is the kind of bed I would never want to leave!