Troubled Girl
The time was late. The moon was out and the lights were dimmed. Tanya and Sherman were on the sofa watching a movie on TV. A candle-lit dinner and a movie, something they had not done for at least a year.
“I’m worried about her. I’m not sure what to do.” Curling up in her husband’s arms, Tanya shook her head and sighed: “I’m - I’m not really comfortable letting her read those books. She’s still too - too young to read romance novels.”
“That’s why she needs our guidance. Especially yours.” Sherman kicked his wife’s hair as he caressed her shoulder: “It’s helped her and - she DID stop having those terrible night terrors. We handled it. We’ll deal with the sleepwalking too.”
“I guess.” Tanya sighed again.
“And - are you sure she’s too young for those?” Sherman chuckled: “Because when we first met, YOU were reading much raunchier - ”
“Hey! They’re not raunchy!” Tanya slapped her husband’s chest flirtatiously: “They were just - spicy!”
“To-may-to to-mah-to.” Sherman snickered and held his wife closer.
Before their lips would touch, a shadow flashed across their doorside window. It was tall man in black. This instantly caught the couple’s eyes. Sherman shot up from the sofa and approached the window.
“What’s that? Did you see anything?” Tanya asked.
“Go upstairs and hide with Riley.” Sherman whispered as he peeked out the window.
Bang! Their front door lock was bashed from the outside and popped out of its position. The wooden door itself was kicked open. Two men in black coats and with their faces covered by black masks charged inside.
Sherman tried to stop the men, but was met with the butt of a shotgun on his nose. Tanya tried to run upstairs but was dragged down the stairs by a man holding a handgun.
“Please! Don’t hurt them!” Sherman could only beg while the shotgun was pointing right at his face: “Take the money! Take whatever you want! Just don’t hurt my family!”
“Shut up!” The man holding a shotgun barked, as his accomplice dragged Tanya to Sherman’s side and forced her to sit down. “Where’s the cash! Jewlery?!”
“It’s in the study back there.” Sherman moved to sit between Tanya and the barrels of the guns: “Please - just take everything and go. We don’t want any trouble.”
“Go check.” The man holding a shotgun nodded at the man with a handgun, who nodded back at him. Just when he was about to go, footsteps came from upstairs.
“That’s our daughter! Please!” Sherman almost jumped, but was forced back down by the shotgun: “She’s just - she’s just sleepwalking! Please don’t hurt her!”
The man with a handgun looked up the staircase, just in time to see a young girl in her pajamas walking down step by step with a book tucked under her right arm.
Nobody moved for a minute or two. The young girl walked past the four adults in the first floor living room, ignoring everyone. She sat down on the sofa and began reading. “Twin Stars of Different Names” the book was called, and the cover art was a drawing of two beautiful boys looking longingly at each other.
“Please - she’s harmless.” Tanya begged, tears ran down her face: “She’s just sleepwalking - she’s been doing this since she’s four - ”
“Go.” The man holding a shotgun signaled to his cohort to check the study in the back.
“Their eyes met. In a moment as short as the blink of an eye but also as long as the lifetime of a bright star, their hearts synced. They knew what was on each other’s mind. ” The girl read from the book out loud: “Their hearts were racing, their breaths heavier and hotter. The air grew thick, and they forgot everything other than themselves and the feelings storming inside them.”
The two masked men in black stopped what they were doing at the same time. They were already caught in the moment of eye contact. But it seemed they were either willing or unable to break it.
More bizarrely, while these two men were breathing heavily and loudly, their weapons were on the verge of falling off their grips. Neither Sherman nor Tanya could see clearly what these men’s eyes looked like. But with even just a few glimpses they could sense the bizarre and even creepy tension between them.
The young girl flipped a big bulk of pages and got to somewhere close to the end of the book: “... this was unthinkable, unimaginable, unbearable and horrendous. How could he do that? How could this happen? White hot rage burned in his stomach. He lost his cool. One hand flew up, then down. A clear, red palm mark was left on the face of the person he’d never thought he would hurt.”
Thud. Thud. The guns dropped on the ground. The man who had the handgun raised his right hand and swung it at his partner in crime’s face. Spit with traces of blood shot out of the other man’s mouth. He could barely stand on his feet and almost bumped into the wall behind him.
Sherman grabbed the shotgun and jumped straight up, pointing the weapon at the two intruders: “Hands up! Hands up you motherfu - bastards!”
The police arrived in just five minutes. It was a miracle that none of them was seriously hurt in such an armed home invasion. After a few basic questions, the officers agreed that Sherman and Tanya could come in the morning to give their statements.
Riley was tucked back in her bed and fell asleep almost immediately. For Sherman and Tanya, on the other hand, it would be a sleepless night.
Listen to this story read live by the talented Kirkpattiecake!