Page 4 of The Sun
Using one finger, I pushed open the door. The light from the hallways spilled across my floor and caught Elias’ attention.
When his dark eyes landed on me, his shoulders sagged with a hard breath. He sank straight to the floor, cradling his knees to his chest.
I hesitated, scared. Intrigued. Then I took a few steps into my room. “What were you doing?” I asked.
“Looking for you.”
“Oh.”
“I thought you were gone.”
I liked his voice. It was soft and soothing, like water lapping at the side of a boat.
It made me feel. . .something deep inside. Safe or happy maybe.
Whatever it was, I just wanted him to keep talking.
“Do you like your room?” I asked when I sat Indian-style in front of him.
He picked at a loose thread on his pajama bottoms and shrugged. “I don’t like the dark.”
“Me either.” I pointed at my fairy nightlight. “Daddy put a boy one in your room.”
“Still dark. I’ve never slept by myself before ’cause I don’t like it. It’s not safe.”
“It is safe.”
“Nuh-uh.” He adamantly shook his head. “That’s why I watch you. So you’ll be safe.”
“That’s why you were in here?” My silly heart skipped and jumped. I felt like a princess from one of the fairy tales Momma read at bedtime. Maybe Elias was a secret prince sent from a faraway land to rescue me from a danger I was not yet aware of. “To keep me safe?” I said, pointing to the spot where he’d been sleeping, and he nodded.
“From what?” I asked.
“Bad things,” he whispered, his voice so low that he must have been worried someone would hear.
That cold feeling seeped through my body again, and I pulled my arms around my waist to ward off the unease. Instead, I focused on the newly discovered fact that Elias Black evidently didn’t hate me. We may build pillow forts after all…
“Bad things don’t happen here,” I said.
His face lifted. “Is that why you sleep so good? Every night, you sleep and sleep.”
“I guess. It’s what you’re supposed to do at night though.”
Elias finally jerked the loose string free from his pajama bottoms, balled it up, and threw it. “Wish I could sleep like that.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the doorway, knowing what I was about to say was a sin that would make Jesus frown. Momma always talked about boys and girls on TV sleeping in the same bed and how it was shameful, but I felt bad for Elias, not to mention, now I was a little scared myself. If it made us both feel better, surely God wouldn’t send me to hell for sleeping with a boy one time.
I hopped up and straight onto my mattress then patted the empty side. “You can sleep up here,” I offered. “Then we won’t be alone.”
Chewing at his lip, his gaze drifted from me to my bed like he wasn’t exactly sure if he liked that idea or not. “You don’t kick, do you?”
“I don’t think so.”
He gave one curt nod, then he got to his feet and crawled across the end of my bed. He flopped back on the pillow and yanked the covers over us both as he inhaled a deep breath. “Why do girls smell like candy?”
“I don’t know. Candy smells good, though.”
I laid stiff and still, afraid to let my body brush against his, frightened he was like a stray cat that I’d scare away. He kept fidgeting under the covers; then, after a few minutes, he exhaled as though he’d been thinking hard about whatever was about to come out of his mouth. “I heard you tell your maw I don’t like you. I do like you. I just don’tliketo like people.”
