The gentle trickle of light that beamed through the room reflected the warmth I felt within my mind; with the curtains that drooped over the lucarne doing little to prevent it seeping though. I tugged the duvet closer to my chest, suddenly feeling a slight breeze draft through the room as it tingled at my exposed skin. I rolled over onto my back, expecting to be met with the ruffled locks shielding Luke's head, but instead I found a void. I frowned, sitting up to scan the room. Resting in front of the photo that I had inspected yesterday was a crumpled note, with a scrawling of words. Reaching forward, I picked up the scrap of paper, my mind making sense of the letters.
Sorry, had a shift. I'll see you at breakfast -L.x
Discarding the paper, I made my way out of my room and to the bathroom, a grin etched onto my features. After ready, my feet trailed down the stairs still uncertain as to where I was going and which corridors lead to which rooms. Following the scent of freshly baked bread that flushed throughout the house, I made it to the kitchen. To the side of the room, a bench top ran across the wall, rounding a corner to create a vast worktop area, with shelves and cupboards bordering empty spaces. The room had been extended to create an area stoked with various sofa chairs and a television set. In the centre of the room lay a simple, wooden kitchen table, no longer than a few metres with a variety of fruits scattering the oak. My mother sat smiling patiently on one side, my father adjacent to her, his eyes glued to the newspaper in his hands.
"Are you going to take a seat or just stand there gawping?" He stated with his eyes still pried to the page in front of him. Stepping forward, I slid a chair back, taking a seat while catching my mother's apologetic gaze. "I understand that I need to get you someone to talk to concerning these night terrors, Adelaide."
I scoffed at his words, formulating the politest reply that I could muster, "I don't think that's necessary."
"Considering you had the whole house up last night with the racket you were making, I should think otherwise," he argued, placing his paper down. "I'll have the doctor speak to you about it when she looks at your rib."
"I don't need to see anyone," I seethed back. "They won't just magically go away with the wave of your hand."
"Adelaide," my mother cut in, taking a softer tone. "I think what your father is trying to say is that talking to her might help you understand where they've stemmed from."
I sighed defeated, knowing that talking to a doctor may actually help. Though at the same time, I knew that my father expected for me to just be able to stick a bandage over the images that haunted my mind, which angered me further.
The silence lingered for two or three minutes; I had my gaze focused on the table cloth, though I could feel my father's eyes boring into the front of my head.
"So you'll speak to her?" My mother questioned, causing me to raise my eye line. I glanced around the room, my eyes catching sight of the all too familiar green pair that had already been locked on mine. Luke stood tall against the far wall; his feet shoulder width apart, his hands clasped in front of him. Beside him were two other guards, none of which I recognised. I raised my lips in a smile toward him, wondering how I had missed him standing there.
"Adelaide," my father intercepted. "You're mother is speaking to you."
Ignoring him, I directed my response to my mother after returning my focus away from Luke and back toward them, "Yes, I'll speak to her," I replied before turning to my father. "If you think it would make more sense for me to talk to someone I've never even met, than my own parents, then fine."
"There's no need for that. We're trying to help," he retorted, his voice rising in volume.
"Help?" I laughed, though not one inch of it was fuelled by humour. "Because from where I'm sat it seems that you're just concerned about how much sleep your precious, little guards will get."
"They're keeping you safe Adelaide."
"Safe from what?" I exclaimed, rising to my feet. "See this is the thing, you won't tell me anything! Don't feed me any crap about you not knowing, because I know that isn't the case!" I slid my chair back in a hurry before leaving the room without glancing back.
-
"Adelaide, dinner!" My mum's voice rang throughout the house, bouncing from wall to wall until it met my ears. After a good few hours of moping around doing nothing, I'd gained the guts to go and apologise to my mother; she hadn't been in the wrong, what she had said had made sense, so I had no reason to be mad. I couldn't say the same for my father though. A contribution of him working and my want to avoid him had meant that I hadn't seen him since breakfast, so dinner was bound to be interesting.
"Hey," I grinned as I ran into Luke at the bottom of the stairs.
"Hey to you too," he replied, joining my side as we made our way toward the kitchen. I'd only seen him in passing throughout the day, his workload conflicting with any time he wanted spare. "Your mum mentioned that you'd sorted things out?"
"Yeah, I apologised and stuff. I felt bad; I didn't mean to just flip like that."
Luke paused, stilling his movements until he came to a halt, my body automatically doing the same. "Adelaide, you had every right to be mad."
I shrugged at his words, not really knowing what to say as I followed him into the kitchen, finding my mother by the stove, serving three plates with a variety of homemade food. The aroma hit you instantly, the smell invading my senses and soothing the hunger cramping in my stomach. Striding over to search the cupboards after greeting her, I found the dish drawer then pulled out another plate, placing it beside the others.
My mother cast me a curious look, confusion flushing her features before I tilted my head toward Luke, who was conversing with another guard. She nodded after a moment or two, as if she had been contemplating her choices.
Heavy footsteps pounded along the floor as my father sauntered into the room, taking a seat at the table. "Luke, come and sit down," my mother called, beckoning him over with a plate in her hand. Both Luke's and my father's eye brows rose, confusion flushing their features.
"Oh, I'm on duty," he stammered, taking a step back.
"I think we've got that covered Luke, come on," she persisted until he cautiously took a seat beside me.
The clang of cutler was all that was heard for the majority of dinner, discrete glances being tossed around the table as we ate. The silence was soon broken though, my father taking on an apologetic tone as he addressed me. "Adelaide, I want to apologue for earlier. I should have been considerate," he admitted, placing his knife and fork down. "I tried to deal with the situation as I would at work, which isn't fair or right. So, if you don't wish to speak to anyone about the- the nightmares, then I won't pressure you into doing so."
"I appreciate that, thank you." I offered him a genuine smile, because although I wouldn't believe anything without seeing it, he was making an effort, which was enough for the time being.
The silence that lingered next was a comfortable one, though I still felt the need to break it by breaching a subject that had slipped my mind until now, my curiosity hungry for a response.
"Do any of you know a guy called Bennett?" A clang of a fork plummeting to the floor to the side of me was the only sound that my response was met with. My eyes scanned the room, jumping from my parents to the guards, while Luke distracted himself with picking up his cutlery from the floor.
"Bennett?" My mother questioned, her face creasing up as she pondered for a moment. "No, I haven't heard that name before."
"Where have you heard it Adelaide?" My father interjected, while Luke raised himself back onto his chair.
"He was just in a dream I had."
"You've seen him?" Luke said, turning to face me.
I shook my head, "No, I only heard his name, but I felt as if I recognised it."
"I'm sorry Adelaide, but we don't know a Bennett," my mother admitted, focusing her gaze back onto the plate in front of her. Both my father and Luke did the same, though I couldn't help but notice the discreet, questionable glances shared between the two of them.
