Me and My Imagination: Chapter 6, A Risky Guest

I suggested Brooklyn talk to a counselor about her dreams, but she refused, claiming that they would likely stop on their own given enough time. I wasn’t thrilled with her decision, but I figured I had to respect it because it wasn’t my choice to make. As a compromise, she promised to tell me whenever she had another nightmare. For a few days everything was normal, but eventually her dreams returned.

We were both asleep in our separate rooms, across the hall from each other. I was awoken by screams coming from my sister’s room. I glanced at the clock, 3:14. I jolted out of bed, unaware of if I had imagined the screaming or not. I heard my sister scream again, erasing all confusion. I opened to the door to my room and stared at my sister’s door across the hall. I tried to muster all the courage I had before walking into the room.

My sister was sitting in bed, her face and pillow both wet from crying. “Another dream?” I asked. She jumped, as if she hadn’t seen me come in. She nodded, but said nothing. “It must have been a bad one,” I said, noting her appearance. She nodded again. “Do you want to talk about?”

“Not really,” she muttered. “I think I’ll just go back to sleep.”

“Sounds good.” I turned, ready to walk out the door. “You know where I’ll be if you need me.”

“Percy…” she paused. I turned back around to face her. “Maybe, you could sleep in here with me?” Her voice sounded unsteady, as if she was nervous about the request.

“You know that’s not a good idea Brook. Father would kill us if he were to walk in see us in the same bed, the same room even.”

“You can be gone before the morning,” she argued. “Here I’ll set in alarm.” She picked up the clock on her nightstand and began fiddling with it.

“But what if Father comes in before that? I’m sorry I just don’t think we should take any chances with the way things are right now.” She looked at me sternly.

“It’s just a few hours Percy. I’m not going to take no for an answer.” Sensing that this argument was going nowhere, and not wanting to stay up all night, I decided to give in.

“Ok fine, you win,” I replied. “But I’m sleeping on the ground.”

The party was that Saturday, and I awoke with a pit in my stomach. My sister and I stayed in our separate rooms for most of the day as the hired help set everything up downstairs. Around late afternoon I began to get ready. I put on the only suit I owned. Father had bought it for me a few years prior; he told me that this is what men wear. I always hated it because it was so constricting, but I did enjoy looking nice.

Once my suit was on, I walked into my sister’s room to ask if she was ready. I felt my face flush almost immediately. She was wearing a deep blue dress with sequins on it, one that I had never seen her wear before. “You look really nice,” I managed to say. She turned around to face me.

“Thank you.” She smiled. “I was worried that it was too much.”

“Well I do feel like lesser of a person in your presence, but that’s nothing new.” She chuckled. “Did Mother buy that for you?”

“She did. Just last week actually.”

“She certainly does have a way with fashion.” Right on cue, Mother walked into the room.

“My my my don’t you two look lovely,” she said. My sister and I both blushed. “Percy I just wanted to let you know that just because your Father and I have clients over doesn’t mean that this party isn’t totally about you.”

“Thank you.” Her words sounded hollow to me.

“I’ll tell you what, how about the four of us spend a night out on the lake. We could all celebrate as a family.”

“That sounds nice,” I lied.

“Great. I’ll see you two downstairs.” She walked out. Brooklyn made a gagging noise as soon as she was out of earshot, mocking her. We both laughed.

Before our magical family getaway,” she said sarcastically, “we have to make it through this party. How do we want to do this?”

“Well I have all the older kids, including the popular ones. I think it should be pretty easy for me to keep them under control in the entertainment room.”

“What and leave me with a bunch of toddlers outside? I don’t think so,” she said, shaking her head. “If anything, I should get the entertainment room.”

“How about we flip for it,” I suggested, grabbing a coin off of the shelf. “Heads I get the room, tails you do.” She nodded, and I tossed the coin into the air. I caught it and revealed the tails side sticking up.

“Hey cheer up,” she said victoriously, touching my shoulder. “I’m sure everyone will just end up gossiping anyway. You won’t have anything to worry about.