Chapter 9

                                    

                                          
When I wake up in the morning I open my eyes to pale blue ones staring back at me. 
                          
"SLOANE!" I yell in shock, and she backs away almost immediately. 
                          
"I was cataloguing your facial expressions. You look calm when you sleep. It would've been impossible to predict an upcoming nightmare. That is, unless you were in the middle of having one. This was a trial run, I'll be conducting more follow up experiments in later dates."
                          
I sit up as she speaks. 
                          
"Uh... I'd like it if you didn't do that. I wasn't having a nightmare earlier." The lie wouldn't even come out of my mouth. It cracked and rose in pitch throughout the words wasn't having and nightmare. 
                          
"I may not be Lia but I think that that statement is false."
                          
"Uh huh." I decide to stick to sounds rather than actual words. 
                          
"Did you have another one?"
                          
I shake my head. 
                          
"Will you have another one tonight?"
                          
"Eh."
                          
"Hmm..."
                          
We fall into a silence, so I glance at a clock. 
                          
"Ugh, Sloane, it's 7:30am."
                          
"Yeah."
                          
"On a Sunday..."
                          
"Yeah?"
                          
"Judd won't make breakfast till when?"
                          
"10:00am pancakes."
                          
"And you woke me up for what?"
                          
"I didn't purposely wake you up. But studies show that the minds eye can sense when a presence is watching over you and causes you to subconsciously look up to investigate. That's what happened. The process is called scopaesthesia. It's a phenomenon in which humans can detect being stared at by extra sensory means and-"
                          
"Sloane. I'm going back to sleep."
                          
She looks at me with wide innocent eyes, and it makes me feel bad. 
                          
"I only got two hours last night," I whisper.
                          
"Oh alright. I'll wake you when breakfast is ready." Without another word she walks out of the room, leaving me confused and half asleep. I rub my eyes and lay back down with an exaggerated sigh. 
                          
How much you wanna bet someone knocks on this door? Three, two, one-
                          
A knock sounds on the door. I hadn't even noticed it'd been closed, but I thank Sloane for that. I roll over as quietly as possible and shut my eyes. 
                          
Not Lia. She would've just walked in. Not Sloane, because if it was she also would've already been in by now. If anything it's the boys. Judd and Dean don't seem the type to seek me out in here, at least not now, and if it's Michael it's not important. So I ignore the incessant knocking-
                          
Knock knock. 
                          
I ignore-
                          
Knock knock. 
                          
Okay, now I won't even try...
                          
Knock knock. 
                          
"NO!" I yell. 
                          
I hear the door crack open and take a deep breath. Leaning my head over and opening my eyes I see Dean standing in the doorway. 
                          
I did not picture him to be the person on the other side of the door. Then again, it explains the many reluctant pauses between each rap. 
                          
"Dean?"