Regina (4 page)

“Good! Need some help? I brought up the rest
of your bags and your purse. You left it in the back seat.”

I looked down at my things. The room needed
to be cleaned first.

“Thanks daddy. You can leave them there.” I
said pointing to the only open spot.

“You will be happy to know you have the only
room with a bathroom. Your mother and I have to share your
Grandfather’s.”

“I have a bathroom?” I asked.

He shook his head yes and pointed to the
corner of the armoire. The door was so little and hidden, I would
not of seen it unless I moved the armoire or someone pointed it
out. This made me more excited. My own private bathroom!

“Uh, Dad? I need to touch this room up so I
can be comfortable in here. Do you know where I could find a
vacuum, some cleaner and rags?”

“No but don’t worry about that now, sweetie.
Are you hungry? Would you like to help me hunt for something to
eat? We have the pie from the diner.”

How could I tell my dad that all I wanted was
to be by myself with my music and laptop? I had to ease myself into
this situation, by myself. I didn’t want to be with anyone else,
especially my parents. All I wanted was for them to forget about me
while they took care of their business. I wanted this summer to fly
by while I cleaned and explored my new world. I had a plan in mind
but here he was spoiling it!

“No daddy, I’m not hungry. Thanks though.
I’ll go downstairs with you. I need to find some stuff to fix my
room. I can’t stay in this room unless it’s clean.” I said shutting
the door behind me.

Dad rolled his eyes as he tilted his head up
in exasperation. He turned around and began walking back down the
stairs.

“I don’t see what the big deal is about a few
dust bunnies.” He muttered as he went.

In the kitchen mom was going thru the fridge,
making a list. The old wooden cabinets creaked when she checked
them for clean glasses. Her head nodded as if her suspicions held
true. She rubbed her fingers on the glass and shook her head at the
dust.

I laughed to myself. If there was one thing I
definitely inherited from my mom, it was her war against dust and
all things disgusting.

Dad and I exchanged a look between us. Of
course mom was in the kitchen getting it ‘straight’. I knew I
should’ve gone to mom when I needed cleaning materials.

My parents are in love and respect each other
but they are very different. I never met two people so opposite but
so in love. Daddy grew up rich in a Jewish family and mom grew up
poor in a Methodist family. Daddy traveled the world with his
family; mom never left the state until she was in college. My
father is the messiest person alive and mom is obsessive about
keeping things clean. He is the math/finance wizard, mom can’t
solve a math fraction if her life depended on it. I think the only
thing they had in common was their love for each other.

I saw dad putting out his hands to say ‘you
first’. I laughed and bounced forward. He knew he couldn’t win with
two ladies in his house. Cleaning was top priority for us because
we couldn’t be comfortable without a clean home.

“Mom? Where is the vacuum and cleaning
stuff?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. Dad doesn’t remember where mom
kept that. It’s already so late…” she said as she tapped her right
index finger to her chin. This gesture told me mom was seriously
debating whether or not to stay up all night to clean or do it
tomorrow.

I knew that tap. When Renee and I wanted to
go to Madison Square Garden to see the band Korn, mom said no
without one second of hesitation. But when I wanted to vacation
with Renee and her parents in Hawaii, she started tapping her
finger to her chin like she is now. She’s focusing on the situation
at hand.

“Yes.” She said nodding her head and agreeing
with her decision. “Let’s worry about this tomorrow. I saw bacon
and pancake mix in the fridge. Let’s have a quick snack and go to
bed. Tomorrow we’ll survey the “damage”, go to the local store and
arm ourselves to kill the dust. Sounds good?” She asked us
hopefully.

It didn’t sound good at all. But the look on
their faces told me to be quiet and go with whatever mom says.
After all, her mom just died, and taking care of her dad and
cleaning this house was going to be her main concern for now.

Dad was nodding his head in agreement.

“Sounds good mom.” I said. “But why is the
pancake mix in fridge?” I asked with joking disgust.

Chapter Four

Tonight was the first night in my vacation
room, as I came to see it. I tried to make myself as comfortable as
possible after dinner. The window was still open and I could hear
mom, daddy and Grandpa talking on the patio underneath. I had my
laptop up and a movie on. This time I had on The Slumber Party
Massacre, one of my all-time faves!

I hated to leave my clothes in the suitcase
but they were safer there than in the armoire. It was nice to take
my time and put some of my favorite stuff out like Mr. Cuddles, my
pink bear given to me when I was a child, my jewelry, some
knick-knacks and pictures.

I was standing beside the bed, holding the
picture frames and trying to decide which one was best when I
turned my head. Someone was there, sitting in the desk chair and
looking at me. My eyes scanned over it quickly so I didn’t realize
what it was the first time. Chills ran down my spine. Did I really
see that?

I quickly looked at the chair again and saw
nothing.

Someone was there! I know I saw someone
sitting in the chair sideways. The top half of their torso was
turned, with their hands holding the back of the chair. I’m not
sure of it because it happened so quickly, but I think it was
smiling at me. I moved closer to the chair, trying to make sense
out of the images in my mind.

Then, someone knocked hard on the wall beside
the armoire.

I think I jumped a foot in the air and
screamed a little. No one came running to my aide, so I must not
have been too loud. I was shaking now. My hands trembled terribly.
I may question myself about seeing something but I know I heard
that.

Knock, knock, knock.

There it was again! They were hard and sturdy
knocks, one right after the other.

Of course, my first instinct was to run
but I’m a city girl. I don’t scare
that
easily. I marched over to the armoire
confidently.

At first, I didn’t hear anything. I stood in
that little corner for almost two minutes and nothing happened.
Wait! Could the knocks of come from the bathroom door?

Knock, Knock, Knock.

I jumped again and screamed my head off. The
knocks did come from the bathroom.

But, everyone was downstairs!

Scared out of my wits, I lunged for the
bedroom door as fast as I could. I had to get out of the room!
Unfortunately, the carpet in front of the door was very old and
worn. My foot caught and I managed to trip. My feet flew out from
under me and I landed on my left side.

Ouch!

I got up, sort of, and began rubbing my side,
but the bathroom door clicked and inched open slowly. The hinges
squeaked as the door opened all the way.

“Annnnnaaaa.” Something whispered from the
open doorway.

Screaming and not looking back, I bolted from
the room. My feet took me downstairs and thru the house. I knew I
wasn’t crazy and had to find daddy. He would help me!

They were drinking coffee on the patio when I
came thru the door like a lunatic. I was shouting and pointing to
the window of my room.

“Something’s in my room! Something is up
there!” My screams came fast. Mom and daddy looked alarmed at
first.

“Snake?” Grandpa asked with his eyes
raised.

“No Grandpa! It was….well, I’m not sure.
It…it was big enough it open my bathroom door!” Stuttering like a
crazy woman, I tried to explain what happened, but I left out the
person sitting in my chair.

“Let’s go check it out.” Daddy said after
looking at mom. She gave him a look that asked him not to carry on
with this.

“I’ll grab my pistol. Just in case.” He added
after he saw my face. Grandpa knew of my fear of guns and later
warned me about the ones he had stashed around the house.

We hid behind Grandpa as we went up the
stairs.

“Hope I don’t have to do this every night for
a spider.” Grandpa mumbled. “City Yankees.”

I saw mom and dad hide their laughs. Mom was
right, Grandpa was old school southern.

My room was empty. The bathroom door was open
but there wasn’t anything else around. Grandpa searched my room for
me. He was so sweet, he even checked under the bed. They all swore
to me it was most likely a little animal.

“No one has lived in this room since your
mother left. Probably some critter who lived in there. You probably
disturbed his home when you moved in tonight.” I knew that wasn’t
what happened but for the sake of my sanity, I accepted it. “You in
the country now, doll. I carry a pistol at all times and I suggest
you wear my rubber boots when you go outside.”

“Why?”

“Snakes. Lots of snakes in the summertime,
‘specially ‘round the tank. You best keep your eyes open ‘round
here.” I shook my head letting him know I understood.

I thanked them for coming to my rescue.
Grandpa told me to come get him anytime I needed something. After I
closed the door, I went to the bed and tried to sleep. Even though
they tried to convince me it was an animal, I know what I saw.

After a lot of reluctance, I let the fear
leave me and I closed my eyes. I kept my laptop plugged in and on
the whole night.

Chapter Five

The dark haired beauty dropped from the
second story window to avoid the camera’s on her way out. Security
was tight at the Will Lawson Academy. The garden lights kept the
campus well lit and gave a brilliant view of anyone on the
property. The girl knew she must work fast, time was of the
essence. In three minutes, the campus guard would patrol the south
side while she was free to exit the north. Great care was taken to
stay out of sight while security watched the grounds.

The night was quiet and every step she took
seemed to echo across the well-manicured lawns of the school. As
the guard moved to the south side the four hundred year old
brunette moved with ease across the grounds. A blue ribbon kept her
hair up and out of her face. The dark blue leather body suit hugged
her curves tightly and gave her such massive confidence. No one
could see it on the outside, but this girl was frightened on the
inside. Hundreds of years of training for it can’t compare to the
real task.

On her way out, she stopped to look once more
at the sign; just to be sure it was real. She smirked at the sign,
The Will Lawson Academy. Clever, very clever. She took her phone
out and clicked a picture of the sign for proof. Later, when they
found the girl, she could tell everyone how they hid her in plain
sight, so to speak. Maybe all these years have made the Law
overconfident, she thought.

Confidently off the grounds, her spirits
lifted. All the confusion and lost hope was erased. This was their
first step in locating Regina after she was spotted two years ago.
Water splashed the sidewalk as cars by her. Her cell phone began
vibrating silently, as she expected. She snatched it open
excitedly.

“Your Report?” He demanded.

“I found her.” The girl replied quickly.

“Where is she?”

“I’m about to narrow that down, sir. I’ll
have a full report tomorrow night.” She said and waited for it.

“
I expect your call tomorrow night.” He
finally said.

“Yes sir, ten o’clock sharp.” She said,
emphasizing the word sharp.

The young girl turned left down a deserted
alley and disappeared into the night.

Chapter Six

I don’t remember how the dream started, but
I was soaring thru space and galaxies. I ended up in a school and
something was on the loose. I never saw it but I think it was
yellow. I tried to tell everyone, to warn them but they flooded
into the hallways. I kept telling everyone to be quiet, it was
looking for us. I found a room to hide in and saw a man thru the
door window. The next thing I know, he picks me up to fly away as
if to rescue me. I heard someone shout, “Hurry up! Here he comes!”
I felt we had to hurry and I was afraid. Just as we were about to
fly off, He showed up. He had dark hair and pale skin. Those dark
eyes looked into mine. I took his hand and felt so much relief and
love.

We were all flying now because I wouldn’t
let go of his hand. I knew that he couldn’t leave with us and would
lose him if I let go. So I didn’t. Yet I heard “Let Go!” as we were
getting higher and further away. I remember kissing his hand and
thinking I couldn’t let go but he was the one we were escaping
from. With great reluctance, I began letting go of his hand. I
don’t know what happened next because I woke up.

-----

The next morning brought a lot of bright
sunlight. It streamed thru my window with such strength, the whole
room lit up. The lace curtains were perfect against the sunlight. I
left the window up by accident and was so happy I did for the birds
were quite loud this morning. They sang a good morning song while I
got up to brush my teeth and hair, but I closed the window on my
way, it was getting very hot.

My bathroom was the size of a jail cell but I
didn’t care. The white tile floor was clean and the fixtures were
decent. There wasn’t a tub but the shower head sprayed hard, it
felt great. The blue tiled walls were clean as well, the white
grout was outstanding. No one probably used this room in a very
long time. It certainly did feel like a jail except for the
beautiful chandelier hanging in the middle of the room. It was
small and round with holes, almost like a disco ball. I don’t know
if it was gold or the color made to look like gold, but it was
impressive with crystals hanging down from the circular frame. Only
two bulbs were enough to light up the room with a yellow glow. Kind
of strange to have such a nice fixture in a bathroom, I
giggled.