Serenis

Chapter 8

The morning sun beamed through the cracks in the living room curtains. I could smell the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and hear the unmistakable voice of Josh in the kitchen arguing with Ben over whether I would want toast or a bread roll with my soup. 

I rolled over and stared at the carpet, trying to let my eyes adjust to what I thought was morning. I felt as if I had been asleep for a decade and it wouldn't have surprised me if it had been four in the afternoon. The floor began to creak and a pair of black and white chequered sneakers soon made their way over to where I was lying and interrupted my staring match with the carpet knots. I turned onto my back and looked up to see Josh's dark figure looking over me; the sun shining behind him made him look like a superhero. 

'She's awake!' He yelled out to the kitchen in a very, 'I told you so' tone and then crouched down so he was level with my face. 'Wow, you were out for like, ages! Those pills must be pretty strong for you to sleep through Ben's snoring.' 

I stretched my arms out and took in a huge yawn. Josh sat on the arm of the chair opposite and clearly wasn't going anywhere as he watched every move I made.  

I decided to try and speak; though my mouth felt so dry I was half expecting a croak to come out. 'Hi Josh.' Nope, no croak, though I was very raspy. 'What time is it?' 

Josh sank back into the armchair and let his legs hang over the side. 'It's just going on eleven. Man, you can really sleep through anything. Your Dad's gone; we sent him off to work cos he didn't know what to do with himself. He called the hospital like three times last night and then again this morning to see how long you should be asleep for.' 

'Who did he speak to at the hospital?  

Josh shrugged his shoulders. 'I don't know hospital people.' 

I sat up, hoping that Josh would pay more attention if I met him at eye level but he simply sat there, slumped in the chair playing with his shoelaces. 'Josh, did he say he spoke to my doctor?' Even though I had been out for a good 16 hours or so, the desperation to speak with Rochelle had not subsided at all. I began to get impatient and threw a cushion at Josh to get him to respond. 'Josh, did Dad speak to my doctor? Rochelle? Did he mention if he spoke to her or someone called Belinda, she's a nurse there?' 

Josh stretched his arm out and grabbed the remote. 'I don't know; I wasn't here when he called, I was at school. I decided to forge a note and leave early, family emergency, which technically isn't a lie. Besides it was only double math with the substitute teacher and everybody knows that all we do in those classes are crap easy pop quizzes on decimal values and Pythagoras' theory. Like hello, we're not seventh graders anymore.' 

Ben came over carrying a bowl of soup on a tray with a variety of glasses filled with juice, water, milk and soda. 

Josh looked up from the chair and shifted his legs so he was now sitting properly. 'Oh. It's about time. How long does it take to reheat soup?' 

Ben placed the tray on the coffee table and snapped his fingers at Josh to get him to move. Although Josh rarely listened to anyone, he did respect Ben and would often do whatever his older brother told him too, when he was in the mood anyway. Josh sat at the end of my feet and watched Ben butter the bread roll. 

'So, I have pretty much every type of liquid you have in the house; I know what you really want but you're not having coffee until you get some soup into you. I noticed you were out of apple juice but I can race out and get some if you would prefer that. How are you feeling? Do you need anything else?' 

I looked up at Ben and I think it was the first time I'd ever seen him with dark circles under his eyes. He was sitting in an awkward position, which made me think he had taken his watchman job seriously and hadn't left the armchair. 'Ben, did you sleep in that chair all night?' 

He looked over and smiled as he lifted the bowl of soup up and held it out for me to take. 'I've slept on worse. Besides, I was a bit worried at one stage you were going to have another attack but you seemed to settle down when I put a cold cloth on your head.' 

I gripped warm the bowl of soup in my hands. 'I didn't dream last night did I?' 

Ben's eyes widened. 'Ah, yeah. You can't tell me you slept through all of that. Your eyes were open at one point and you were yelling at someone. I thought you were angry at me or something but you kept calling out, "Thane".' 

Josh turned his head at me and glared. 'Who's Thane?' 

Ben sat back into the armchair and folded his arms, looking at me in the same accusing way that Josh just had. 'I was wondering that too. I don't know any "Thanes" at work; has your Dad met him?' 

I shook my head in confusion. 'Wait, so you're saying I was definitely dreaming last night?' 

'Well, yes and no. You would toss and turn really violently for a few minutes then go back to sleeping as if nothing had happened. Then you would start up again until finally you blurted out the name Thane, and canary.' 

Josh scoffed. 'Thane Canary, what a stupid name. Did you meet him at college? He sounds like an arts major; totally not worth it, Evie.' 

I tried to ignore Josh as best as I could and focused on remembering this supposed dream. I couldn't remember anything from last night and if I'd had a nightmare surely I would have been sick by now, as that's how it always went. I strained my memory harder to try to recall anything except darkness. I was, however, stuck on the two words - Thane and canary. Canary I could handle as it regularly featured in the Evie nightmare show, though the name Thane puzzled me; I had never met anyone with that name before, though it did somehow sound familiar. Lost in my thoughts I was suddenly brought back to the present by the ever impatient Joshua clearing his throat to get my attention. 

'Hello, Earth to Evie, we're waiting. Who the hell is Thane and why are you dreaming about him?' 

I shrugged and looked over at Ben. 'Honestly I don't know. Are you sure I said, Thane?' 

'A 100 per cent. I leaned over you with a cool cloth cos you were sweating so much and you pushed me back and told me to get away, then called me, Thane. By the way, what is your sudden obsession with canaries?' 

I put the soup back on the coffee table and stood up; I had to go somewhere to think without constant questions being thrown at me. The boys both stood up; Ben put his hands up to stop me from walking out of the living room. 'Where do you think you're going? Constant bed rest was the promise I gave your Dad this morning and I also promised Mom you would eat something.' 

I took a deep breath as Josh moved closer behind me; these boys were going to kill me with kindness. 'I need to go to the bathroom and I would like to have a shower if that's okay with the two of you?' 

Josh bolted in front of Ben and held his arms out as though he was expecting to carry me up the stairs. 'Come on, I'll take bath duty.' 

Ben held his shoulder and moved him back to clear a path for me to get through. 'Please be careful Evie. I'll have coffee ready when you get down.' 

Josh called after me as I turned to walk up the stairs. 'Are you sure you can manage? What's if you slip and fall? Can I at least run a bath for you?' 

'No thanks, Josh. I'll see you guys in twenty, okay? If Dad calls let him know I'm fine and will see him tonight.' And with that I bounced up the stairs, walked into the bathroom, shut the door and sat on the bath taking a few deep breaths. What happened last night? Who did I meet in my dream and when would he be back? Was he the man in the cowboy hat, and the question most troubling me was, why couldn't I remember? I had exactly 19 minutes and 30 seconds to figure it all out before I was back downstairs into the protection of the Whitmore boys.