“I think I have clothes you could change into. Will you wait here?” I asked. He nodded, but I was nervous to take my eyes off him in case he would run. My trip out of the bedroom with his jacket and pants was short and I returned with a clean change of clothing. “These should fit.”

He took the clothes and with my help, put them on. “Your bed,” he murmured.

There were streaks of his blood on the sheets. I helped him over to the window seat and made quick work of stripping my bed of the soiled sheets. I replaced them with fresh, clean ones and helped him back to the bed. After making sure he was comfortable, I brought the first aid kit back to the bathroom to wash the blood off the tools I had used, making sure to drop the piece of glass into the bin wrapped in what was left of his shirt.

I paused in the doorway, watching him on my bed. Cleaning him up had felt surreal, like I’d had an out of body experience dealing with all the blood and dressing his wound. “Will you tell me how you got like this?”

“I got into a fight.”

“And got stabbed by what? Remnants of a broken window? Must have been serious if the person you were fighting wanted to kill you.”

He went silent for a moment. “Something like that.”

“I still think you should see a doctor. I could drive you to the hospital.”

“No need,” he told me. “I’ll be hopping around in no time.”

 “Do you need me to drive you home?”

“I can’t go home right now.”

“Your parents will be worried.”

He made a noise that sounded like a stifled chuckle. “I doubt that.”

“And what about your brother?”

“I will deal with him when I go back to that house.” He sighed. “But if you want me gone, I can leave.”

I didn’t want him gone, but I was very worried. “You can sleep here. Wouldn’t be our first sleepover. I’ll change your bandage in the morning. Just get some rest.” I grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom to freshen up. “Don’t leave the room,” I instructed him, getting a blanket from my closet. “I can’t have anyone knowing you’re here.”

“Where are you going?” he asked. He winced when he tried to sit up and cursed under his breath.

“Don’t move around too much,” I warned. “I’ll sleep in one of the guest rooms.”

“Stay. No need to be shy. Didn’t you say this isn’t our first sleep over?”

There was a playfulness to his tone that baffled me. How could he try to joke right now? I knew I couldn’t risk him being found and if I stayed in another room, but I would have to wake up early to return to my own bedroom so that no one would find it suspicious that I’d slept elsewhere. Explaining the situation to Leanne was going to be a disaster if I was caught.

Giving in, I made sure the door was locked before I turned off the lights and got into the bed next to him. “You should be careful of people who fight that dirty,” I said when we had both gotten comfortable under the covers. “I don’t know anyone who would purposely try to kill someone.”

“It isn’t as serious as you might think. I provoked her, made her angry. She has quite the anger management issue and had a fit. This was retaliation.”

“Whoever she is, stay away from her.”

“Not possible.”

“Why?” I asked, concerned. “You aren’t in any serious trouble, are you?”

“No, I’m not. I poked a bear knowing it had claws. I just didn’t expect them to be so sharp. You should go to sleep.”

I turned on my side to look at him only to see he was already in a similar position, watching me. “Stop poking bears then.”

He looked at me for a while, regarding me carefully. “Your eyes,” he said softly. “I never noticed how clear they are. But because of the moonlight, they seem to take on a glow. They’re so beautiful.”

I flushed red, hoping he wouldn’t be able to tell in the dark. “Daniel…”

“Say it again.”

“Say what?”

“My name.”

“Daniel,” I repeated, earning a slight twitch of the corner of his mouth that I counted as a smile. “Don’t you feel embarrassed saying what you did about my eyes?”

“It doesn’t matter what I say. I could confess my undying love for you or tell you I’m a murderer and it wouldn’t matter in the least,” he said casually.

Meanwhile, I was confused. “Why?”

“Because, Nina,” he said, raising a hand to cup my cheek. “I can’t let you remember any of this. I’m sorry. Go to sleep.”

I woke up gasping for air and forcing my suddenly weak body into a sitting position. Struggling to breathe, I clutched at my chest, my heart beating slow and hard against my ribcage. A thought that I’d almost died crossed my mind, and I shook my head to dismiss it. I immediately regretted the action. Nausea and dizziness flooded my head and blurred my vision, bringing with it a slight headache.

I tried to calm myself down by taking deep breaths, gripping onto the sheets with one hand, my other hand on my chest feeling my heartbeat slowly speed up to its normal rate. That dream felt so real, like I was there, but watching from the sidelines at the same time. But it couldn’t have happened. I would have remembered it.

The clock next to my bed showed it was two forty-three and nowhere near time for me to get up. With how tired I was before going to bed, I thought I would be well rested to take on Monday. It seemed I was wrong.

I lay back against my pillows, willing myself to fall into a dreamless sleep, but I couldn’t. I stared blankly at the moon’s rays shining through my window until they turned into rays of sun. Morning had come, and I hadn’t gone back to sleep.

The sun shone through my open curtains and into my face. My head was pounding like a bass drum was keeping a constant beat in my head. The weekend had ended way too quickly, and I had a migraine. I groaned and got out of bed. Pulling on my robe and bed slippers, I trudged down the hall and into Leanne’s room. She was still sleeping but I could not have cared less, so I crawled under the covers next to her.

After a few nudges and poking her cheek, she stirred and groaned before opening her eyes. “What are you doing in here?” she said sleepily.

“I have a migraine,” I mumbled into her pillows.

“Rakia?” she asked jokingly.

I groaned. “Leanne.”

“Honey, just take some meds and you’ll feel much better.”

“Is there any way that I could skip school today?” I asked with pleading eyes.

“Not a chance.” Right then, her phone rang. She answered it and mouthed ‘It’s your school’ to me. “Yes… Oh, I see… I understand… How long will it take?... Okay… You too,” she said and hung up. “Freakin’ psychic. Looks like your prayers have been answered. You and Cris have no school today. Something is wrong with the air conditioning and administration doesn’t want any accidents.”

I shot up. “I forgot that Cris was supposed to start school today!” I exclaimed then immediately cringed when I felt a sharp pain at the base of my neck. I considered telling Leanne about the nightmares, but my latest one was too fresh in my mind to talk about. “I’m going to go check on him,” I told her, and left her bedroom.

I knocked on my brother’s room door. Knowing that he wouldn’t have an issue with me entering, I went in. He was sitting on his bed in half his school attire trying to figure out how to tie his tie. He looked up when I came in and gave me a forced smile. “Nervous, huh?” I asked, closing the door, and sitting on the edge of his bed.

He nodded, handing me the tie. I tied it a few times for him to get it but when he went to put it on, I stopped him. “Feel like you need another day?” I asked. He nodded and fell back on the bed. I lay beside him. “No school today.”

He turned to look at me questioningly. “Something about the air conditioning.” I took a deep breath and let it out. I wanted to ask my brother if he wanted to do something with me today, but if he thought that I was trying to lure him too far out of his shell then he’d bolt and become even more introverted than what had become the usual. So, I decided to start with something simpler. “Do you want to help me make breakfast?”

He smiled and nodded. He took off his uniform and pulled on green sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt. I loved the tiny changes I was seeing with my brother. He wasn’t wearing depressing colors anymore at least. “Hey, I don’t think I asked how you’re getting along with the new face in the house.”

Cris shrugged.

“Are you alright with Austin?”

He nodded.

“Sure?”

He rolled his eyes and nodded again, this time a smile tugging on the corner of his lips.

“Wait for me in the kitchen. I’m going to wake Zayne.” When he nodded again, I left the room to go to Zayne’s.

I knocked three times, but when there was no response, I turned the handle. Just as I was about to push open the door, it was tugged open by Zayne. “Morning,” he said, a broad smile on his face. The smile quickly went away, replaced with a look on concern. “Baby, you don’t look so good.”

I brought my hands to my cheeks. “I didn’t get much sleep last night. Is it really bad?”

“Why don’t you go late today or have Leanne call in for you? I don’t know how good your makeup skills are but…”

I slapped his shoulder. “Be lucky Cris is waiting for me. I don’t have school today. Cris and I are going to make breakfast. Is Austin allergic to anything? Or is there anything he doesn’t like?”

“Uh,” Zayne looked behind him at the door briefly, then back at me. “I don’t think he’s allergic to anything, but he doesn’t like brussels sprout.”

Zayne had stepped out of the bedroom before I had a chance to go in, and he’d had a nervous look on his face since he opened the door. “Is he…?” I started to ask, lowering my voice. “Is Austin in there?” I asked.

Zayne looked down at his bare feet. “We might have lost track of time and-”

“You don’t have to explain,” I said quickly, noticing his ears turning red. “I’ll leave you two be. Just make sure to come down for breakfast soon,” I told him backing away down the hallway. I left him and went to the kitchen to meet up with Cris who was already taking ingredients from the fridge.

I noticed he had opened the French doors to the patio that led out to the pool to let some air in. Florida weather never ceased to amaze me. One day would be fifty degrees, and the next would be over eighty.

“What do you want for breakfast?” I asked him.

Cris pointed to a book he had open on the counter. It was a gift from a past Hungarian neighbor when they sold their home across the street from us. The book was open to an all too familiar breakfast meal. It was something Diego would whip up for us on the weekends. Shaking thoughts of him from my head, I started helping Cris prepare the meal.

By the time we were finished setting the table, Zayne and Austin had not come down yet. I didn’t want to go back up there in case they were… involved in something private. Leanne came down the stairs in a yellow tartan dress, her curly hair pulled up into a high bun.

“Ooh, where are you going?” I asked.

“Remember that guy I went on a date with last week? Michael,” she started excitedly. I nodded. “After our adorable disaster of a first date, he grew some balls and called me a few minutes ago asking if I would give him a chance to make it up to me. I said yes, and here I am ready for a breakfast date,” she said spinning around for me to see all her outfit.

I scanned her outfit, nodding in approval. “You look great. As always.” It was nice to see her so happy especially over a guy. Leanne hadn’t dated anyone since we moved across the world. “Let’s hope nothing ruins this date.”

She held up crossed fingers and took in a deep breath. That usually meant that bad news was coming. “I’m going Downton later to visit Diego, and I want to know if you’ll come with me,” she said. My smile disappeared. “Please, Nina,” she begged. “Your brother misses you.”