Chapter 1: The Beginning
Elizabeth woke with a startle. Her body was covered in sweat. She recalled that in her dream, she was falling into darkness. And when she screamed for help, the only voice that responded was her echo.
Elizabeth layed in her bed wide awake. The winter winds outside her window howled and made branches of the trees bang against the house. She turned to her left, then to her right and the rolled onto her back, staring at the darkness surrounding her. She looked at her clock: 1:30 am. She turned again and stared outside the glass window.
Elizabeth thought of what had happened yesterday at Mike's house. She had come to his house to study with him, but ended up in his bed before she knew it. She remembered his hand slowly moving towards hers. She remembered the passionate kiss that took place during the "study session". She remembered his beautiful blue eyes gazing into hers and his stong hands running though her hair. She remembered his warm body touch hers. She remembered every single detail from yesterday.
There was a sudden rush of excitement that ran though her body, as it did yesterday. But then she had a feeling of guilt in the pits of her stomach.
She turned once again onto her side and stared at the other side of the room. Her wavy blond hair fell onto her neck and her large green eyes watching the still darkness.
Elizabeth crawled out of bed as quietly as possible in hope that she wouldn't wake up her parents or her eight year old sister, Melissa. She walked over to her bedroom door and opened it slowly in attempt to make sure that the door would hit anything in her room that would make a noise. She stuck her head out the door and checked to see if anyone was awake: there was no one in the household besides her that was. She stepped out the door and walked down the dark and empty hallway to her brother's room.
When Elizabeth was younger, she had always woken up in the night and walked to her brother's room to sleep with him because she was afraid of the dark after the stroke of midnight. It had been a routen for her to wake up five minutes until midnight and walk to her brother's room to sleep with him. She knew he'd protect her from monsters. She would come in and wake him up whispering, "Brian, wake up." And all he would do was turn around and move over so that she would have room to sleep in his queen size bed.
Elizabeth found herself face to face with Brian's door to his room. She opened it carefully, making sure that the door hinges wouldn't make a noise. She took a step in and searched for the light switch. Click.
"Aw, come on Liz! How come you're not asleep yet? Are you still afraid of monsters?" Brian said in a whisper.
"Ha ha, very funny Brian." Elizabeth whispered back.
"Then what do you want?" Brian said as he sat upright and rubbed his eyes.
"I...well...I wanted to...to talk to you." Elizabeth said as she looked down at her toes.
"Fine, close the door so you won't wake up anyone else."
Elizabeth gently closed the door and walked over to Brian's bed. She crawled on Brian's bed until she ended up sitting right next to him.
Brian sat in the same spot he had been before and watched her move across his bed with his dark brown eyes.
"So, what do you want to talk about?" Brian said in a yawn.
"Um...I...I..."
"Well, spit it out. You don't have to be embarrassed. You've always told me things, so go ahead."
"I...I..."
"Listen, if this is going to take all night, I'd rather sleep now."
Brian reached for his blanket, but Elizabeth grabbed his hand.
"I had sex with Mike."
Brian stared at Elizabeth and didn't blink.
"You what, Liz?"
"I couldn't sleep because I was feeling really guilty, and I remembered that when I was younger I..."
"All right, All right. Fine, you can sleep with me tonight."
"Um...are you wearing anything though?"
"No. Is that alright?"
"Fine, you're my brother. I guess it's ok."
"I was only kidding."
Elizabeth stood up and jumped off the bed. She walked over to the light switch and turned off the light. She then walked back over to the bed, except this time she walked over to the side that Brian was sleeping on.
"Come on, Liz. Couldn't you walk over to the other side? You're not a little girl anymore."
"No, I like sleeping on this side. I always have." Elizabeth responded with a beaming smile.
Brian mumbled something as he moved over. Elizabeth crawled into bed with her 18 year old brother. She turned and looked outside his window. It was starting to snow. She turned around again and found herself facing the back of Brian's head.
Elizabeth moved closer to Brian until her chest was against her brothers. She took her arm and rest it on Brian's waist.
Brian turned around and opened his eyes and looked at her. Elizabeth removed her arm, quickly.
"You cold, Liz?"
"Kind of."
Brian took his arm and hugged Elizabeth. Elizabeth's arm moved back onto Brian.
Brian's body was warm and his arms felt comforting: Elizabeth loved the feeling. She moved in closer to Brian until her chest was touching his. He didn't move though; he was in a deep sleep.
Elizabeth yawned, closed her eyes and fell to sleep beside him.
Outside the window, the snow was falling down harder than before and the winter winds had made the temperature bitterly cold.