Sweet Sleep (The Children of Ankh Book 1) Read online

Jenkins grabbed his arm to stop him and said, “No, this isn’t about you, Matt. There could be another attempt on her life; she needs to remember.”

  Matt put his hands over his face in an obvious attempt to remove himself emotionally from what he was seeing. Kayn’s face contorted into a look of someone who was undergoing excruciating torture. Matt wiped away his tears. He tried to go to her again.

  Jenkins grabbed his arm. “She could know who killed your family. I want to stop this, too, but we need to let her remember everything,” he stated.

  Kayn lay curled up on the ground now. It was as though she had turned off her mind and slipped off to sleep. They slowly walked toward her body. She lay in the fetal position in the moist earth. The wind whistled through the trails and the trees seemed to hum along with Kayn as she began humming a song. The color drained from Matt’s face. He froze in place, with his hand over his heart.

  Matt said, “I know that song. My mom used to sing that song to us when we were little.”

  They watched for only a minute more. Enough, that’s enough,” Matt choked back his tears as he scooped his sister up into his arms. Matt carried her drenched and mud covered body back to the house. The three were silent, emotionally drained, and soaked to the bone.

  Kayn Brighton had a dream that night and it included bumblebees and impossible situations. There were scary images only remotely plausible in someone’s most terrifying nightmares. There were moments of extreme beauty and joy. Visions of magical places that were so intoxicatingly beautiful they took her breath away. The lady in the light had given her rules and warnings. She would now be able to remember every single moment.

  She knew her twin sister was not completely lost to her. They had never been normal girls. Kayn had always known that life’s simple pleasures held the greatest joy. Chloe was the opposite side of the coin flipped in the air for sport by immortals. She would show them what their little human experiment was capable of.

  She opened her eyes to the morning. She squinted as the rays of sunlight streamed through her bedroom window. The sunlight blinded her. She felt purified by its rays. She had been in the dark for so long, and in so many ways. It felt as though she were awakening for the very first time. Someone was in the bed beside hers; it was Matt. Kayn sat up and noticed that she had been changed into pajamas. She could remember every single second now. She could remember, but she felt as if the emotions had been removed from the memories. Kayn tiptoed by her sleeping brother so she would not wake him up and into the bathroom. She shut the door behind her and looked into the mirror at an extremely frazzled version of herself.

  “Chloe,” she whispered into the mirror as she stood there willing her sister to answer her.

  She shook her head and slipped her top off. She was wearing her bra still and she looked at her scars. She ran her finger across one and looked at the mirror expecting to see her sister there again. No Chloe. Kayn decided to get into the shower. She turned the knob in the shower and the water came out freezing for a second. Nobody had even turned a tap on in this house for months. She allowed it to run for a second before steeping under the spray. It pelted her skin. She closed her eyes.

  Kayn stepped out and reached for a towel from the rack on the wall. As her hand touched the rack, she felt the same burning sensation she’d had before. This towel rack had been one of the instruments involved in the end of her twin sister’s life. She jumped away, rubbing her hand and swearing like a truck driver. Kayn was confused and intrigued by her reaction. This time Kayn Brighton did not become invisible.

  She turned around and looked into the mirror. She felt more attractive than she had just moments before. She dried her hair and again looked at herself in the mirror. Maybe she would go to the high school and get some of her work today. Kayn applied her sister’s makeup expertly, thinking, would it hurt to wear a little makeup? Now that was better. Kayn looked into the mirror feeling suddenly powerful. She would be beautiful today. She would be able to see Chloe every time she walked past a mirror.

  She didn’t realize how long she had been in the bathroom. When she walked into her room, her brother was gone. The pleasurable aroma of coffee and bacon travelled up the stairs to delight her senses. Kayn walked to Chloe’s dresser and sprayed a touch of her perfume on her as she strolled by. She breathed in the delightful fragrances that were stronger as she left the bedroom. Kayn gracefully made her way down the hall past the familiar pictures. She descended the stairs feeling as though her senses were about to explode. Everything smelled stronger, and the suns rays that reached through open curtains felt glorious on her skin. The carpet seemed to caress her bare feet. Every sense in her body seemed to be amplified this morning. She strode toward the kitchen, her hair floating behind her like a runway model.

  As she walked in, her brother and Jenkins began to choke on their breakfast. Matt sent a text.

  Kayn asked, “Who are you texting?”

  Matt replied, “I sent a text to Kevin.”

  Matt and Jenkins both stared at her with a mixture of disbelief and morbid curiosity as she flounced around putting her breakfast on a plate.

  “Are you feeling all right this morning?” Matt cautiously inquired as he took a giant gulp of his coffee.

  “I’m doing well, actually, I feel fantastic this morning. Why do you ask?” she stated in a cocky manner and sent a giant toothy pageant smile in her brother’s general direction. Kayn flipped her hair and looked at him with a devious look in her eyes.

  He choked on his coffee. “What exactly do you remember about last night?” Jenkins enquired of Kayn.

  “I’m sure that I remember absolutely everything now,” Kayn replied, casually pouring coffee. Kayn looked up from the coffee she was adding cream to and enquired in a relaxed tone, “Would either of you boys like more coffee?”

  “I’m okay,” her brother answered. He rose to his feet and slightly braced himself on the corner of the table. Matt questioned her again, “Are you sure you’re feeling okay, Kayn?

  “I’m fine, Matt. I am totally and completely fine. Actually I feel wonderful.” What in the hell is wrong with these two this morning? She walked by and casually squeezed her brother’s shoulder to comfort him. Now Matt’s look of confusion seemed to heighten. The two men were still looking at her with a mixed reaction of shock and awe.

  “Do you know who killed your family, Kayn?” Jenkins asked.

  Kayn answered, “I couldn’t make out his face. It was too dark, but I know he was heavier set, and he had an awful smell that I can’t quite place. I could probably tell who he was if I were to run into him.”

  “How would you do that, Kayn, if you didn’t see him? Are you suggesting you could tell who he was by his scent?” Jenkins enquired

  Kayn rolled her eyes and said, “I’m saying that I have a feeling that Chloe saw him. So between what I could smell and what she saw I should be able to identify him.”

  They both stared at her in confusion and Matt said cautiously, “Chloe is dead Kayn. I was at her funeral.”

  Kayn realized that perhaps they were not in the proper mental state to absorb all that she had to tell them. She would have to prove herself for a while before they would allow her story to be fact, not merely a made-up tale of fiction from a grieving and somewhat nutty coma girl. She pictured how the conversation would go. Hey guys … Chloe is inside of me. She giggled to herself.

  They looked at each other, both staring at their coffee cups. They were thinking that she had gone completely crazy.

  Kayn answered their thoughts as if they had spoken aloud and said, “I heard that, and I’m not crazy. You guys will have to trust me. I think I’m going to go to the high school for a run later and to figure out my schedule,” Kayn added in a soft voice.

  “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea today, Kayn,” Jenkins said aloud and then thought … because you have gone bat shit crazy and being out in public is probably not the greatest idea today.

  “Once again, I’m not bat
shit crazy, Jenkins,” Kayn added sweetly. She looked at him, waiting for his reaction to her reading his private thoughts. “I prefer to think of it as sanity challenged,” Kayn stated, with another giant, toothy, pageant style grin.

  There was a knock at the door and the doorbell rang abruptly stopping their conversation. Kayn turned to go and Jenkins hopped up and said, “I should be the one who answers the door until we know it’s safe.”

  “It’s safe; it’s only Kevin. I can tell by the couple knocks and doorbell ring. He’s done the same thing every single time he has come over to see Kayn for the last twelve years.” Kayn chuckled, leaving the two stupefied men in the kitchen.

  “Did I just hear that correctly? Did your sister just talk in the third person about herself?” Jenkins whispered.

  “I do believe she did. Personally, I’m contemplating the idea of going back to bed and pretending that last night and this morning didn’t happen,” Matt said.

  Kayn opened the door and Kevin’s jaw dropped when he saw her. Kayn knew she had makeup on and her hair was done, but did she really look that different?

  Kayn gave Kevin a flirtatious, “Good morning, handsome.” She felt like she had guts this morning. It was strange and exciting. She leaned in and planted a provocative kiss square on his lips.

  Kevin put his hand to his lips after she pulled away. “What the hell was that for, Kayn?” he stammered, still standing in the doorway.

  “Just for being you, sweetie,” she replied in a flirtatious tone. He had been flirting with her like crazy since she woke up. He sure was acting freaked out over a little peck on the lips. Perhaps she misread his intentions. Maybe he did just want to be her friend?

  “The boys are in the kitchen,” she said. She had the urge to smack his butt as he walked past her, and she did.

  He jumped and put his hand over his behind. He stared at her and said, “Do you feel okay this morning?”

  Kayn shook her head and said, “I feel amazing.”

  Kevin kept walking towards the kitchen and Kayn went upstairs. She felt like she needed to lie down and rest her eyes. She was so tired. She wandered up the stairs to her bedroom and felt like lying down in Chloe’s bed instead of her own and so she did. She was out cold in a matter of minutes.

  ~

  Kevin wandered into the kitchen and said, “She just kissed me and smacked my ass. What in the hell is going on?”

  Jenkins said, “Your guess is as good as mine?”

  “That’s why we asked you to come over,” Matt said. “She came down here like that today.”

  “She’s acting like Chloe, like a horned up version of Chloe. Did something happen between last night and this morning?” Kevin asked.

  “She remembers everything now. It happened last night. When she woke up this morning, she came downstairs as Chloe. She switched back to Kayn, and then to Chloe again,” Matt replied looking drained.

  Jenkins added, “Apparently she can hear what we are thinking now, too.”

  “I’m going upstairs to check on her” Kevin turned around and walked quickly up the stairs, feeling his stomach suddenly tied into a knot. Had she just snapped after all the memories came rushing back last night? Kevin had been there for so many months. He couldn’t believe that he hadn’t been there when she had remembered that night. Had remembering the night her family was slain been too much for her fragile mind to comprehend?

  He walked by the photos in the hall and wondered if he would ever walk down the hallway toward her room, and not have a flashback from that night. He paused outside her bedroom door and peered in. She was out cold and she was sleeping in Chloe’s bed. She had never once slept in Chloe’s bed. He walked into the room and sat on the side of the bed for a moment and imagined that everything was as it once had been.

  This was Chloe. She had kissed him at the door. For years he had dreamed of nothing more than that. In every fantasy, she would randomly kiss him as she had at the door that morning. Kayn was his best friend, but Chloe had been his fantasy. He would have been sitting on her bed and she would look up at him, wanting him. He touched her hair as he watched her sleep. If this were really Chloe, she would wake up and call him a dirty pervert right now. He let her silky hair run through his finger tips. Snap out of it, man, he thought.

  Kayn opened her eyes and looked straight into his. “I saw you wipe my kiss off of your lips after I kissed you at the door,” she pouted seductively.

  Before he could stammer out an apology, she slipped her hand through his hair and pulled his lips toward hers. He couldn’t help but respond to her, feeling an intoxicating mix of guilt, shame, and arousal. He succumbed to her kiss and as her tongue slipped between his lips he lost any control that he had left and kissed her back until every nerve ending in his body felt wildly exposed and raw. Her hands began searching under his shirt and he shivered as they met with his flesh.

  He heard a voice and footfalls on the stairs as Kayn’s brother hollered, “Hey, you guys okay up there?”

  Kevin pulled away from Kayn abruptly and yelled back a couple octaves too high, “I’ll be right down.”

  He took a moment to regain his composure as the blood pulsed through his body and he touched his swollen lips. Kayn or Chloe, or whoever he had just been kissing, rolled over and went back to sleep as if nothing had just happened between them. Could Kayn be possessed by her twin? He had the feeling it was really happening. Kevin had seen and sensed a lot of things lately. Things he had once believed to be impossible.

  He had to stop staring at her and get off of the bed. The pull between them was so powerful that it felt almost impossible to move. Maybe, he was in shock? He touched his lips again. Could it have been Kayn that kissed him like that? His whole body still hummed with raw physical need. He had to think clearly. He wasn’t going to be able to do that if he kept sitting on the bed willing her to wake up and rock his world like that again. He stood up and realized he couldn’t exactly go downstairs in his present condition. He went into the bathroom and as he entered the room he could see a sleeping Kayn behind him in the reflection in the bathroom mirror.

  He splashed some cold water on his face and looked back into the mirror and a bloody Chloe was sitting on the side of the bed watching Kayn sleep. He turned around to look behind him and there was nobody there. Looking back into the mirror the reflection replayed the same scene as before. Chloe looked up from her sister and met his eyes in the bathroom mirror and put one finger on her lips, signaling Kevin to be quiet. He turned around again; the adrenaline rippling through his veins. She wasn’t there when he looked behind him. The ghost of Chloe had vanished.

  He felt guilty for taking advantage of Kayn and kissing her back as he had while he was reliving old fantasies of Chloe. His mind was playing tricks on him. He looked back at the mirror to make sure Chloe wasn’t there. Chloe was gone. He looked between his legs and his problem had been solved. Apparently fear trumps being turned on, he thought. He stood up and left a sleeping Kayn to her dreams and silently hoped that she wouldn’t remember that kiss. He had wanted their first kiss to be incredible and it had definitely been that, but preferably he wanted it when she was completely awake, and he was completely sure that she wasn’t being possessed by her dead sister.

  Kevin quickly ran down the stairs and bumped squarely into Matt who said, “What took you so long? I thought you were just checking on her.”

  “I’ll tell you if you promise not to hit me,” Kevin said with hesitation in his voice.

  “You didn’t have time for anything I would beat you up for,” Matt retorted. He gave Kevin a playful big brotherly shove.

  “I kissed your sister. I’m not entirely sure which one I was dealing with, but it sure seemed like Chloe,” Kevin replied using caution.

  Matt shoved him again, this time not lightly and said, “What are you thinking? She’s clearly not herself today, and Chloe is dead, Kevin. We buried her.”

  “I know! It’s just that she kissed me and I could swea
r it wasn’t Kayn because she would never kiss me—not like that.”

  “What do you mean, like that?” Matt inquired as he glared at Kevin.

  He didn’t need to glare as Kevin already felt guilty enough. He had taken advantage of his best friend in a weakened state. “She kissed me with experience; like porn star experience or something.” Kevin stammered, trying to explain the situation in the best way he could.

  “Let me get this straight before I smack you again. Are you calling my dead sister a porn star?” Matt took a step toward him and Kevin took a defensive step back.

  “No, calm down. I’m just telling you that there’s an obvious difference between Kayn’s and Chloe’s experiences with the male sex.” Kevin’s hands were up in self-defense. “As far as I know, Kayn has been kissed only a few times and that was in elementary school. The kiss I just got was from someone with serious experience.”

  The Neanderthal in Matt was not capable of hearing what Kevin was saying. He acted dumbstruck.

  “Should we call her doctor or a priest or something?” Kevin asked cautiously.

  “Why, do you want to marry her first? Because I’m all for that,” Matt replied.

  He had been playing with him the whole time. Matt had a giant shit-eating grin on his face as he patted Kevin’s shoulder and snickered, “You must name your first born after me.”

  A look of relief spread across Kevin’s face, followed by frustration and the urgent need to somehow communicate with Kayn’s sometimes simple as an ape brother.

  “Listen, I’m not kidding; there’s something really wrong with her. It’s like she’s not Kayn. She’s behaving like Chloe and Chloe is dead. Are you following where I’m going with this conversation, Matt? Either she’s mentally ill, in need of a psychiatrist, or she’s possessed, in need of a priest,” Kevin stated and waited for Matt’s reaction. “My bet is on possessed because I saw something in the mirror upstairs in her room that makes no logical sense and has me frankly kind of freaked out,” Kevin added, as Matt stared at him with a look on his face that suggested he thought his sister’s best friend was completely full of shit.