Sleep Keeper

A novel written by

April Wilcox

Cover design by Khaliah Ingram

All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations used for the purpose of articles or reviews.

I couldn’t see a thing. My hot breath blew back against my covered face. My throbbing wrists were tightly secured behind my back. He yanked backward and dragged me across the room. I screamed… at least I thought I did. It echoed in my head and vibrated through my chest, but my heart was pounding so loudly I wasn’t sure if a sound escaped. Panic stricken, I flailed my body as much as I could. Every muscle was flexed… but it was useless. He was unusually strong and we were moving too fast to get a grip with my feet.

How did I get here?! What’s happening?!

I heard the muffled sound of another man’s voice. A flicker of relief – until I realized it was marked with the same desperation as mine. My heart tripped even faster. I was twisted around and pushed up against something firm. He grabbed the back of my head.

“Bet you’ll tell me now,” his shrewd voice snickered.

Tell you what?

With a shove, freezing water hit my face and swallowed my ears. The shock of the cold caused me to exhale what little air remained in my lungs. I struggled to pull my head out of the water, but I didn’t budge. My lungs burned. I kicked back with my legs but that only submerged my torso deeper under. All previous thoughts disappeared, replaced by a singular instinct to survive. I was a caged wild animal trying to escape. My head swelled and throbbed. Every muscle in my body trembled with exhaustion as I tried to escape, but just as with the previous attempt, it was to no avail. I was helpless. I was going to die. Waves of panic intensified with every additional second I remained under. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Then the pain disappeared and the diminishing fear was replaced with contentment. The air was silent. My body was weightless. I took a breath. No more choking. No more burning. No more pain. I opened my eyes. The shining sun peered back with soft shades of color swirling in a foreign sky. I looked down to a vibrant sheet of green. The yellow blur danced about as I tried to blink away the sun’s residue. Another few quick blinks and my sight slowly adjusted. I was standing on a bright green mat of some sort. It was thick and soft under my feet.

I am dead.

I followed my gaze outward. It wasn’t a mat; it was grass - lush and artificially green. It stretched as far as I could see with nothing else around except the painted sky and naked grass. The ground gave a quick rumble - then hundreds of trees pushed through in unison and shot up toward the sky. They were huge evergreen and pine trees with trunks thicker than my car. Moss crawled up their bark and spread out its tiny webbed fingers. Shrubbery filled in the ground, along with smaller trees and bushes. Flashes of color popped everywhere as varicolored flowers sprouted from tiny buds. Like a turn of a switch, the world was alive. Birds chirped in the treetops, insects sang in the shrubs, a hawk screeched from above, a gently breeze moved a few detached twigs across the forest floor. I blinked several times. I was in complete awe of the massive forest that surrounded me.

Is this heaven?

I must have been dead… but I felt the rise and fall of my breath. I felt the air in my lungs and blood pumping through my veins. I touched my arm… warm skin. I couldn’t be dead. I felt
so
alive, like pure energy was built up and ready to explode from within. I tried to recall the moments before all of this, but the memories were jumbled. A continuous crash roared from above and cool mist sprinkled across my face. I turned and gazed upon a waterfall. It towered farther and farther into the sky against a granite cliff; it must have been three thousand feet high. The water fell like sheets of translucent blue glass that shattered into foam as it hit the jagged rocks below. It continued its swim into a pellucid lagoon that broke into three separate pools, each cascading from different elevations with thin separate waterfalls that fell like strands of silk draped across the moss-covered cliffs. Each pool pushed its water further into a large placid lake below. It was breathtaking.

“Alexis…” whispered a sonorous voice.

Although familiar, his haunting tone sent shivers down my neck, causing unwarranted fear to bubble to the surface. I scanned in every direction, but there was no one else around.

“You will
never
escape me Alexis,” his voice snarled.

Alarms blared in my head and I felt like prey. My entire body trembled. The forest began to cave in closer, smothering me; tree branches cracked as they stretched out toward me. I was trapped in this place and couldn’t breathe. Paralyzed with fear, the only thing I could comprehend was the voice screaming in my head to
run
. So I ran. I pushed my way through the suffocating branches. I moved quickly at first, but the faster I tried to run, the slower I moved. My legs were weighed down. I tried as hard as I could, strained every muscle until I was frozen in place, but my legs did not respond to any command.

I felt something closing in behind me… I whipped my head around and gasped as a dark shadow raced toward me. I shrieked, but nothing came out. My mind was screaming but my body did not respond. I stood still, frozen, unable to defend myself against the shadow coming for me. Taking a deep breath, I turned my face away and squeezed my eyes closed.

I jumped up in bed, panting and trembling. I kicked off the blankets and peered around the room for signs of a threat. The night was quiet except for the soft snore of Mitchell sleeping peacefully beside me. My heart pounded under my sweat-soaked shirt.

It was just a dream. Just a dream. A terrible strange dream.

Trying to calm myself, I took several deep breaths and lay back down in the bed. After a long time, the memory of the nightmare slowly faded in my tired mind. The details turned into a blur, but it left me with the unsettling feeling of being watched. I stared at the ceiling and didn’t go back to sleep.

After glancing at the clock for what seemed like one hundred times, I finally slid from beneath the covers, rubbing my achy eyes. I dragged my tired body to the shower. Trying to push the replayed images out of my thoughts, I went through the details of the evening I had planned for Mitchell’s nineteenth birthday today. By the time I had finished my shower, the fear was gone and the nightmare was all but a faded memory.

“Happy birthday, cutie!” I sang, as I planted a kiss on Mitchell’s lips and handed him a small box wrapped in bright blue paper with a yellow bow.

Mitchell was still lying in bed, not yet ready to start the day.

“What’s this?” he asked with an exaggerated simper as he took the present from me.

“Just a little something I picked up for you,” I beamed, hoping he’d like it.

I was always nervous whenever I gave someone a gift, Mitchell especially. Even though we’d been together for what seemed like forever, I never knew what to get him.

Mitchell peeled off the bow and wrapping paper, discarding them on the coffee table. He removed the lid off of the box. His eyes widened as he took out the watch to examine it.

“Do you like it? It’s nothing fancy, but I thought it would look nice on you,” I persuaded, wondering if his smile was genuine.

“I love it, thank you, babe.” He put on the watch and leaned over to kiss me again.

I draped my arms around his shoulders. “Well, I love
you
,” I declared.

“I love you too. I’m the luckiest guy in the world to wake up next to you,” he said with a smirk.

“Yes, you are,” I agreed and laughed.

He pulled me down on the bed and started to tickle me.

“Stop! Stop! I don’t like tickles!” I snorted and squealed.

Mitchell ignored my plea. As much as I hated it, I burst out an uncontrolled exuberant laugh. Mitchell always took this as fun, but it was a type of torture for me.

“Please don’t!” I cried.

I was nearly in tears. He finally stopped his torment but remained on top of me. I socked him in the shoulder for retribution, but it didn’t faze him. He stared down at me, locking in with his seductive brown eyes. He was an attractive man. I ran my hands through his tussled hair. He gazed intently at me then leaned in for another kiss. His lips went deep into mine then glided down to my neck, causing his whiskers to brush against my cheek. Even though I teased him constantly about his patchy stubble, it felt good against my skin. I moved my hands under his shirt and ran my fingers across the smooth skin on his chest. I tilted my head back, enjoying his touch… until I noticed the time.

“I have to get ready. My class starts in less than an hour,” I said.

Mitchell groaned, wanting to continue our playtime. Just moving into our own place together gave benefits we hadn’t yet gotten used to.

“You have class too, mister,” I pushed him off and tried to escape.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me back on top of him. “It’s
my
birthday…” he smirked, and slid his hand across my waist.

“Tonight…” I promised, then gave him another quick peck and ran into the bathroom before he got any other ideas.

“I made reservations tonight at your favorite restaurant,” I called out while brushing my hair.

“That’s not what I had in mind,” he replied.

I laughed and ignored his comment. I usually leave my chestnut hair in its naturally wavy - more like frizzy - state, but since today was a special occasion, I took extra time to tame it and add soft curls that fell midway down my back. I lightly lined my thin brows and added crimson color to my lips. Inspecting my narrow face, I decided to add jet-black mascara to brighten my brown eyes.

Better.

I bet this nineteen-year-old could pass for twenty-one easily tonight if I tested it.

I rummaged through my wardrobe, squishing my nose at outfit after outfit. I finally decided on a sage-green top with thin straps and a pair of snug dark blue jeans. Mitchell commented before that this top complimented my honey-colored skin nicely. I emerged from the bathroom and met Mitchell in the living room.

“You look beautiful,” he proclaimed and he stood up to kiss me.

“Thank you Sir,” I said with a frivolous roll of the eyes.

I never was comfortable accepting compliments, but I was more than willing to accept his kiss. I grabbed my backpack and headed off to campus before he tried to talk me into to skipping class.

On the half-mile walk from our new condo to campus, I thought back to when we first met. I was eleven and my best friend in the whole world, Becky, had just moved away. Becky and I had known each other since… well forever… and I thought my life would never be the same. By mid-summer, another family with two kids moved into her house, three doors down from us. My parents, being the socially responsible people they were, quickly invited the new neighbors over for dinner and that’s when I met Mitchell. A gangly eleven years old with shaggy brown hair and big brown eyes. His face changed a lot over the years but he’ll probably always hold a tinge of that innocent boy face I met when I was young. Mitchell also had a twin sister, Heather, and they were like two peas in a pod. Heather immediately replaced the role of my best friend and Mitchell always tagged along.

By the time school had started in the fall, the three of us were best friends. We were inseparable. The following summer however, everything changed. We were walking home from school and Heather ran out in front of a car. She died before she made it to the hospital. The loss shocked us all, especially Mitchell. I continued to go to his house every day and we would lay out on the grass in silence. Eventually the pain wasn’t so raw, and instead of silence, we would talk about school and life. We both replaced Heather for each other and we were best friends of two in the years to come.

When high school started and all the young girls and boys were starting to take interest in each other, Mitchell and I were completely content hanging out alone instead. Sure, other boys were cute and I even kissed one before, but I never felt a connection with anyone else. I had a few dates with some schoolboys, but nothing ever evolved. Lots of girls were interested in Mitchell, but he seemed disinterested. It wasn’t until the end of our sophomore year in high school that our relationship evolved into more-than-friends.

It was early May, and the first bathing-suit-weather Saturday of the year. A group of us celebrated the occasion by making a daytrip to the lake. Mitchell and I went off for a walk alone, like we usually did. We were sitting near the shore when he first looked at me differently. It wasn’t the friendly smile I was used to seeing. It was… different. His gaze penetrated me and held for longer than usual. A piece of my hair had fallen from my braid and he moved it back behind my ear, pausing with his hand grazed on my neck. Suddenly my heart was thudding like crazy. His eyes were a beautiful shade of chocolate brown. I never noticed the specks of gold in them before. His lips were plump and wet. I had an overwhelming urge to either pull away or kiss him. I wasn’t sure which one I should choose. I never had these feelings for Mitchell before. He was ‘Mitchell’. My goofy best friend I played hopscotch and board games with… the boy who had cried at cheesy movies with me and put popcorn in my nose when I fell asleep first at his house. I never thought about him like that before… but when he looked at me with those luring eyes, all I could think about was kissing him. I didn’t have to wait long. When I finally got enough guts to lean forward, his lips were already there.