Free Sapphire: A Paranormal Romance by Bryan W. Alaspa Page B

and
huge, long, reaching, and grasping fingers that ended in sharp claws.  He
grabbed Sapphire, the claws sinking into the flesh of her arms.  Sapphire let
out a sound that pierced Jimmy’s heart.  Then the man’s mouth opened, and it
was filled with row upon row of needle-sharp teeth.  Before Jimmy could catch
his breath, the man bit into Sapphire’s neck.  Sapphire screamed again and, in
the real world, Jimmy’s eyes snapped open.
    He stared at the
ceiling over his head.  The ceiling tiles were still there, but the shadows
were gone.  Sunlight streaked through the blinds and spread across the
ceiling.  He sat up, the covers falling away and looked down to see that his
entire body was slick with sweat.  The blankets were twisted around his legs,
as if he had been thrashing in his sleep.  He groaned when the blood rushed to
his head and his head pounded angrily in response.  He felt hung over again,
was thirsty, and felt as if he had not slept at all.
    “What time is it?”
he muttered to himself.
    He looked over at
the clock.  It was ten o’clock in the morning.  He blinked in surprise and
gazed at the clock face again.  Yes, it still said it was ten a.m.  Actually,
now it said it was after ten.  That was odd, to say the least.  There was no
way his mother would let him sleep this late.  It was a Sunday, sure, but the
best he could normally have hoped for was that she would let him sleep until
eight.
    It felt like a
knife twisted in Jimmy’s gut.  When his mom suddenly deviated from her rather
predictable norms, that meant she was about to try and teach Jimmy a lesson. 
She was angry.  Perhaps he would be getting the silent treatment from her all
day.  He sighed and freed his feet from the blankets.  The air in the bedroom
was warm.  It was going to be a hot day, he could tell already.
    The events of the
night before replayed before his mind’s eye.  Already much of it felt like a
dream.  At that thought, he immediately recalled the large man who had come
tearing through the trees and shot him back into the waking world.  The long
arms, razor-sharp claws, and needle-like teeth made him shiver, despite the
heat. 
    He stood up and
stretched, but his head continued to beat a steady rhythm just behind his
eyes.  He would need to take something to get rid of this headache.  He didn’t
have to work, which was nice, so maybe he could try to track down George and
maybe patch things up with him.  First, he had to get through the gauntlet that
was his mother.
    Jimmy grabbed some
pants and headed into the hallway.  The television was on, but the volume was
higher than it was last night.  He could hear the soft clinking of a spoon
hitting a ceramic bowl, and knew that his mother had also slept late and was
just now eating breakfast, probably on the sofa in front of the television. 
His mom was not the type to get up and make bacon and eggs for herself.  She
ate cereal and that was that.  If she was feeling particularly celebratory in
the morning, she might make herself some tea and toast coated with honey. 
    Jimmy frowned.  It
was unlike his mother to indulge in that extra sleep.  He wondered if she had
cried last night and, perhaps, even cried herself to sleep, convinced that her
once obedient-without-question-son had defied her and gone off with the mystery
woman from the side of the road.
    He quickly went
down the hall to the linen closet and got a towel.  He moved rapidly, ducking
into the bathroom, closing the door behind him, and turning on the shower
before his mother had a chance to get up from the couch.  He let the shower get
warm and then he undressed, assessing himself in the mirror.  He looked the
same.  He was skinny, his arms comical rather than muscular.  His ribs showed
and his stomach, rather than showing off a six-pack, seemed concave, as if he
were collapsing on himself.  He hardly looked like a bully-killer who had
injured one of the strongest jocks in school just