I Guess I'm Dreaming Again -- Chapater Cinco

Hayley tripped a bit over her own feet as she made her way through the dark living room over to the sleeping boys.

"Guys" she said in a loud whisper. No one stirred, not that suprising.

"Guys" she said louder. Still, no one moved. Letting out a sigh she walked over to Jeremy, deciding it was probably best to wake him first. She shuffled across the floor to where he lay and knelt by his head.

"Jerms" she hissed into his ear. she rubbed her arms, shaking slightly. "Jeremy" she said a bit more angrily than she meant to.

"Hmm..." He grumbled, turning over and reaching for a blanket to pull over his face.

"Jeremy" she pleaded placing both hands on his shoulders and shaking him.

"What?" He asked yawning.

"Some...someone just tried to break into your house. And ,uh, well your brother is on the phone with the cops."

Jeremy sat up suddenly awake and fully alert. He didn't say anything while he let her words process in his tired mind.

"Whoa." He managed to say after a minute or two.

"Jeremy, they were right by your door...and I don't know but..." She let her voice trail off.

"What?" He replied in all seriousness.

"It's just, something's off. Its, uhg, I think something is really wrong here, like ever since the other night at the hotel..." Her explanation was cut short as the room was suddenly filled up with light from ceiling to floor. Jeremy's parents walked in followed by a whimpering Red.

The other three sleeping bodies shuffled uncomfortably. Josh, sat up, sensing something was wrong, while Zac reached for a pillow to pull over his face mummbling "5 more minutes."

"What's going on?" Jeremy's step-mom asked, it was obvious she had just gotten up, her eyes were barely open and she weakly tried to tie her robe together in the front.

"Some one tried to break in" Mitch said coming up behind them, there was no emotion in his voice. Mitch, to Hayley had alway's seemed a bit strange, like he was more a machine than an actual person, especially in his voice. "But, I, um I called the cops." He fininshed.

Mrs. Davis, Jeremy's step-mom's mouth fell open slightly.

"Oh lord" she whispered.

Hayley hesitated but began to tell everyone her story.

"Well" Mr. Davis concluded. "How long did the cops say they'd be?" He turned to Mitch.

"I dunno." He shrugged simply and walked away.

Strange, strange, strange was all Hayley could think about that boy.

Josh was worried, he got up and sat next to Hayley. She rested her head on his shoulder and watched Jeremy get up and follow his family back into the kitchen. Taylor and Zac had both reluctantly gotten up sighed.

"Man that's kind of creepy." Taylor whispered, he was unsure of what to think, the whole situation just seemed odd.

"Yeah." Zac agreed. "I'm completely weirded out."

Hayley just sat silently, staring off into space. Josh, being a guy of few words, hadn't said much, but to felt like a heavy tension had blown over the whole house.

The cops came a short while after. A rather round one interviewed Hayley, and after a short pause between her story and the Mitch's decided they'd keep a cop car in the neighboorhood but doubted anything else would happen.

"These things rarely happen twice, especially in the same night." He had said, but failed to reasure Mrs. Davis or really anyone for that matter. "But we can't start do much more, based this story, or conclude much more since there is no physical proof." He said in a long drawled out voice, shifting his weight from his left foot to his right. "Sorry." and with that, all but one cop car had gone.

Hayley felt a pang of dissapointment. ' What if Red hadn't been here, anything could have happened.' She thought to herself.

"I think I better get you guys home." Mr. Davis said looking at Josh, Zac, Hayley and Taylor. They nodded in agreement and in a few minutes they found themselves stareing aimlessly out of the Davis's mini van windows. No cars drove by and no words were being spoken. They pulled up to a red light. A single volvo crossed the intersection in front of them. As the noise of the car drifted away, another noise arose. A noise coming from the back of the van. Mr. Davis whipped his head back. Slowly rising from the shadows of the trunk area, a figure emerged. Climbing over the seats row by row until he was right behind the four kids, who sat shaking in their seats, hardly daring to turn around, to face the man they all reconized. The man they had been bumped into on the side walk the day prior. The man who made them quiver with fear.

"Keep driving" he hissed through serpent like teeth. The whites of his eyes were stained yellow, most likely due to long term exposure to the sun. He let them glance over the terrified teenagers eyeing up each and everyone of them. His lips curled inwards to conceal a grin and he redirected his vision to the front of the van.

Hayley's hand groped the seat in search of Josh's. When she found it she gripped it tight, not daring, not even for a second to look back.