Lucky's (Mis)Fortune: CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Someone was looking at me through the window, I knew that even if I was completely groggy and perhaps even half-asleep still. I sat up on the bed and squinted my eyes, making sure that they weren't deceiving me but after observing, I was certain, someone was there and they were looking directly at me.

"Mom!" I scream shakily as I get out of bed.

I travel through the hallway of my childhood home, filled with family pictures and smiles.

"Mom! Dad!" I exclaim this time as I go into their room.

I breathe heavily as I realize they're not in their room. I ran to my sister's room on the first floor, hoping to find her there but just like the room before, this one was also empty.

I close the door, my back on the door, and sit down hugging my knees, biting my bottom lip to contain any sobs from come out. There was this immense amount of fear within me, in the pit of my stomach without even knowing why.

"They're dead..." I mutter under my breath, suddenly remembering the detail.

Why had I gone looking for them? They won't be able to answer me again. I knew that, at least part of me did. I was old enough to not be scared.

Someone starts banging on the door and I shut my eyes tightly. "Please go away, please go away," I murmur to myself repeatedly, hoping that my wishes would be heard.

It must've been at least two minutes later when the banging finally stopped and I hear steps retreating. I slowly open my eyes and then get up from the floor despite my shaky legs. I face the door and contemplate opening it for a second before pressing my ear to the door. There's no sound. I take a step back and stare at the door for another minute before finally reaching out for the handle. I slowly turn it and I step out of my sister's room. With cautious steps, I walk to the kitchen, not expecting to see someone's back.

My eyes widen in fear and I press my hands over my mouth to stop a shocked whimper from coming out.

I take a step back and then another, wincing when my bare feet step on a rock or something. I stop, my eyes still on the person with the black hoodie on.

I take another step back but I freeze when the person begins to turn around.

I jolt awake at that moment, breathing heavily and looking around the secure room I am in, full of paranoia.

It's just a dream.

A dream of a memory, a moment I had spent after my family had died and before I had to abandon that home in order to maintain myself.

I always guessed that the person there that night had been the one to kill my family and they had come back to finish the job, to kill me. It didn't make sense, however, how they never came back after that night, how they didn't run after me as I made my way to the police station with bare feet.

I shake the thoughts out of my head and glance at the clock on my bedside table. It was 4:43 AM, way too early to be up. I try to listen in, to see if I could hear noise out of my room but even Ms. Angelica seems to not be awake yet which was an even clearer sign that it was not the time to be awake.

I close my eyes and lay back down, placing my arm over my eyes, trying to forget the memory that my dreams had brought back.

It's hard.

I end up sitting up, my back against the headboard just like it had laid against my dead sister's door. I hug my knees just like that day and place my head between them. I don't cry this time despite the frustration of remembering that night and the terror it had brought. I couldn't sleep properly for days and days until I graduated high school and I had to sell my house to get an apartment close to the college and in order to buy myself food, my part-time job and the money my parents had left not being enough anymore.

It always haunts me that I didn't get to see the person's face. Their build had looked like a man's and the clothes that they wore were completely black but that was all I could properly remember. With me being scared and full of anxiousness, I couldn't exactly focus on who I was looking out just that a dangerous and uninvited aura had made its way inside my house.

When I got to the police station that day, out of breath and covered in sweat I tried to rack my brain for any other detail but the officers eventually said they couldn't do anything if I didn't have any details that could identify the suspect. They took me home and that was the last of it.

Something always felt off to me. Why hadn't they come back? Or rather, why did I never see them come back again? Perhaps they had and I had never noticed them.

That brings shivers to me and I have to wrap my blanket closer to my body.

Just as I raise my head, I feel a presence. I gulp and my eyes dart around the room until they find the bottom of the door. Through the crevice at the bottom, I could see someone pacing in front of it. The light in this hallway was always left on for the maids that get up early before there was light out but I knew for a fact that it wasn't them. They wouldn't be walking back and forth in front of my door.

I let out a shaky breath and bite my bottom lip in order to not cry, feeling a knot in my throat.

There's enough security around this house, no intruder should be able to get in, I thought. But there's always 'what if's. There's smart people out there as much as there is dumb ones.

What if the people that targeted me days ago were here and they wanted to kill me just like my family was killed?

I don't want to die this way.

I have to run.

In a panic, I jump out of bed, nearly tripping over the blanket. I move the desk aside as quickly as possible to gain access to the window. I try to pull on it but it wouldn't budge.

They were still there.

I continue to fight with the window, pulling on it over and over again with all of my strength but it was no use.

I look around my room, hoping to find something heavy enough to break the window but the only thing I could see was the chair. It would have to do. Just as I was picking it up, the door opens slowly and I freeze.

"W- What are you doing?"

"Eliott?!" I scream, my tears finally making their way out of my eyes out of pure relieve as I drop the chair then my body onto the floor.

Fuck, I was sobbing but the scare that he had given me was unbearable especially right after that dream, my second most traumatic experience after finding my family's dead bodies covered in blood.

"I- I just woke up with a really bad feeling..." I hear him mumble.

His warm hand on my back makes me flinch slightly but it soothes me when he begins to rub my back in circles.

I don't answer for a long time. I stay on the floor, sobbing with my face down while he kneels beside me, his hands rubbing my back and shoulders.

Finally, after I calm down and the only sound in the room, in the whole house, is my breathing I speak, "You have really shitty timing, Eliott."

He laughs.

He laughs?

I look up at him and his face is an expression I had never seen before, soft. He felt pity for me and I could see it in his eyes but I was thankful that he was here despite the scare he had given me.

"You should go back to bed," he whispers, looking into my eyes.

The eye contact makes my stomach flutter and my cheeks flush.

I look away and stand up on my own despite his offering hand.

"I'm sorry for scaring you," he tells me quickly as I sit on the edge of my bed, my legs being too shaky to stand. "I just thought that you were in trouble so I wanted to come check on you."

I shake my head slightly. "I- It wasn't you," I try to explain but my voice wasn't helping. I didn't want to tell him exactly what had happened or why I had been so scared. "Just... maybe next time don't pace in front of my room. It frightened me."

He sighs. "I'm sorry for scaring you, Jordan."

I shake my head again but I don't speak.

"You should go back to sleep," he says again.

I don't tell him that I probably won't be able to sleep again but he must've read my mind or perhaps he was just good at reading people or me. He says, "I... can stay with you until you fall asleep if that would make you feel better."

"Shouldn't." I clear my throat. "Shouldn't you also go back to bed?"

"I'm caught up on sleep, I can tell you're not."

I decide not to question him, I would appreciate having his protection now. "Okay," I whisper simply, heading over to bed.

I lay down awkwardly and he sits down beside my torso, his face facing me. I glance at him and see him looking at me quite intensely. I felt quite... safe, seeing how was taking this seriously. I knew nothing would happen to me as long as he was with me here.

I was half-asleep when I felt him take my hand. I didn't argue or take my hand back, I simply closed my eyes.

I didn't care about his intentions then, perhaps tomorrow but for now, his presence was enough to lull me into sleep.