Expensive Mistakes

Light Em Up

Tobi finally managed to force himself awake from the dream he was having.

Leaves crunched beneath him and trees loomed around him. It took a moment to figure out where he was.

"Shit."

He stood and brushed himself off, pulling a few leaves from his hair.

Redoing his ponytail, he started back in the direction of the church.

He shivered, hugging his arms around himself, thankful it hadn't snowed.

The woods were eerily quiet and every footfall seemed amplified in the deafening silence. Tobi dismissed the lack of woodland life as being a result of the cold morning; still, it felt ominous.

Under the leaves, something smooth and white caught Tobi's eye. He fought the urge to investigate but eventually gave in and brushed the leaves aside, revealing the bones of a small animal.

After a moment of inspection, he buried the bones beneath the leaves again and continued towards the church, warmth being his only incentive to return.

As he entered through the large doors, a dozen heads turned towards him.

"Tobi? Why were you outside? Isn't it cold?" one of his siblings asked.

"I must've forgotten to lock the door," Tobi muttered.

"You look half frozen!" his mother exclaimed. "Here. come by the fire. I'll go get you a blanket."

"I-" Tobi began to protest, but was cut off by his mother steering him towards the warm flames.

"Could you get my notebook and pencil while you're looking for a blanket? It's an inch thick and black?" he asked sheepishly.

Suzie nodded and went off to retrieve the items.

Tobi fidgeted beneath the stares of his siblings as he waited for his mother to return. He ran through the events of his dream in his mind so that he wouldn't forget.

"Here you go," Suzie said, handing him the items once she returned.

Tobi opened his notebook to a fresh page and began writing. His younger brothers Duncan and Darwin read over his shoulder as he wrote.

"This was your dream?" they asked in unison.

Tobi nodded, scribbling down a horrifying detail and glancing at his brothers, trying to read their reactions.

Mattias shuffled into the room, yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His sand-colored hair stuck up in various places. He sat down next to Tobi as he finished writing.

"Another one?" he asked.

"I have one every night," Tobi replied rather irritably.

"He forgot to lock his door," Duncan and Darwin explained.

"Was it the same place?" Mattias asked.

Tobi nodded.

"What do you think it is about that place?"

Tobi gave a dismissive shrug. He rather not discuss his sleepwalking habits.

"Did you have any dreams last night?" Tobi asked, changing the subject.

"None like yours," Mattias replied. "Just the sort of nonsense people usually dream of. When it obviously isn't real, but at the time you don't question it."

He carefully plucked Tobi's notebook from his lap and flipped to a random page, earning him a look from Tobi. He found the beginning of the dream and read quietly, grimacing at the vividly gorey details.