The Summerbrook's

I wake up. I open my eyes and rub them. I stretch my arms and sit up. I look over at my alarm clock. 6:45 AM. My normal wake-up time. I look around in my room. My deep blue walls with waves on them always wake me up. My glow-in-the-dark sticky stars are faintly glowing. I stand up and start to get dressed. I have school today. I put on a pair of white sweatpants, a blue shirt, and a hoodie.

“SKYLAR. YOU BETTER BE AWAKE!” Erin yells up the stairs. “I’m driving you to school for the next few days!” I walk down the stairs and grab a bowl of cereal. I eat it all in a few bites.“Alright, Skylar! Hop in Erin’s car.” My mom says, and she kisses me goodbye. I hop out of my chair and run upstairs to brush my teeth and hair.

I step out to the garage and get in Erin’s Pontiac Firebird. She’s always liked speed. My parents are abnormally rich. My mom does all the work, so I’ve always found it weird. I look out the window and into the trees lining our driveway.

“Alright, Sky! Hop out. My first period is in a few minutes.” Erin says. I walk out of the car, and on the way to the doors, I think about why Erin and I are the only ones in school. My older brother Jayden should have been a senior with Erin, yet he dropped out.

I step into the doors of Summerbrook Middle School. I have no friends. I spend my passing periods and lunch in the bathroom. I’m just glad that we have a half-day today. Nothing too eventful happened. I hop back into Erin’s car. The smooth leather interior always soothes me. We drive home, and I immediately start my homework. I have 8 Algebra problems, and I have to balance science equations. I think it’s dumb, but I like my teachers.

As I finish my homework, I notice about 4 hours have passed. Where did the time go? My clock says 6:55. I have just enough time to hide. I find my usual hiding spot, a cupboard in the hallway. Azriel always puts me to bed, and for some reason, I have to go to bed so early.

My ragged breathing and my knees pressing against my stomach make breathing hard. I have to be silent. I can’t let him find me. The darkness and the fear make me shiver. The cabinet door slowly opens.

“Got you!” My brother Azriel yells.

“AH!” I scream.

“You can’t hide from me, Skylar,” he says. “It’s time for bed.”

“Noooooo…. I don’t want to go to sleep. It’s like… 7:30,” I say.

“You know you have to be in your room by seven.”

“Why? It’s so dumb. Just because I’m the youngest doesn’t mean I can’t hang out with my family past seven!”

“Just go to bed.” He’s demanding.

“How about… no?”

“C’mon, Skylar. You need to sleep.”

“Nuh-uh. I want to hang out with you guys. What do you all do every night that I can’t?”

“You sleep because of s-”“Don’t say school. Erin goes to school, and she gets to stay up.”

“Go to bed, Skylar.” He demands. I feel compelled to.

“Fine….” I walk up our carpeted stairs and into my second bedroom on the right. All of my siblings sleep in this hallway. My bedroom is across from Jaya’s. To the right is Azriel’s, and to the left is Chloe. The last two rooms belong to Erin and Jayden. I put on my pajamas, which were decorated with card symbols. My favorite. The card suites remind me of when I play cards with my dad. He’s too busy now. I go out and brush my teeth. I look up into the mirror as I’m brushing. Silky blonde medium-length hair, green and blue eyes, and short. I’ve always been embarrassed about my heterochromia. I finish brushing my teeth and walk back to my room. On the wall of my room is our family tree. I’ve always been shorter than everyone else. My dad, Gabriel, is married to my mom, Freya. The rest of the tree is scratched out. I always wondered who my grandpa was. He died right before I was born. I hear footsteps on the stairs. It’s my mom’s footsteps. Light, but with a serious stomp. She comes into my room.

“Hi, sweetie! I’m just coming in to say goodnight!” She says.

“Why do I need to go to bed so early?” I ask.

“Well, you need to be rested up for the next day! You get tired very easily.”

“I mean… you’re right, but I feel fine during the day! But right after I eat dinner, I get tired.”

“You should go to bed; it’s very late already.”

“Ok.” She turns off the lights and shuts the door. I ruffle my pillow and fall asleep. Thunder cracks as I’m in a haunted house. A person comes through the door. It’s Erin? I can see her long blonde hair and slimness in the dim light. She steps forward and grabs me. I wiggle as she covers my mouth. I mumble, try to scream for help, but I’m so tired. I should just go to sleep in her arms… I jolt awake. A few tears roll down my cheek. I exit my room and look around. It’s really dark. I go to Azriel’s room.

“Az? Are you here?” I turn on the light. There’s no one there. His covers are all ruffled up. What time is it? I look at the clock on his bedside table. It reads 12:09 AM. It’s so late out… where is he? I shrug and walk over to Chloe’s room. I turn on her light, and she’s not there either. This is really odd… I walk over to Jayden’s room, but he’s not there either. I walk to Erin’s, then Jaya’s. No one’s there. Is this another nightmare? I walk down the stairs and call out for my mom. No response. I’ve been everywhere in the house… Except for the basement. I’m not allowed down there. Only me. I don’t know why, and I’ve never seen anyone go down there.

Except once. I saw Jayden go down there. I don’t know what is down there. I… I’m going to go down. I walk over to the large wooden door with metal decor. The door is hefty. I push as hard as I can and just barely open the door. The stairs are concrete and cold. The lighting is cold and industrial. At the bottom of the stairs, I see a full-sized tennis court, a commercial gym, and my sister, Chloe. Who knows how big this is…

“Chloe!” I yell. “What is this place?” She’s focused on something else. She pulls her hand back and throws her hand forward. A large metal cube was lifted and thrust back.

“Chloe?” She turns around.

“Sky! What are you doing down here?! You know you’re not allowed down here!” She yells.

“I had a nightmare! I was looking for mom. Where is she? What is this place?”

“You can’t be down here. Go back upstairs right now!”

“No! Tell me what this is!” She groans and picks me up very easily. She slings me over her shoulder like a burlap sack.

“Hey! Let me go, Chloe! How are you so strong?” I scream in protest. She doesn’t respond. She runs up the stairs fast and puts me in my bed.

“Chloe! Answer me!” She doesn’t. I try the knob again, but it’s blocked. She sat in front of my door. I have no other option than to sleep. I get into my bed, and I try to sleep. I can’t.

It’s 6:45 AM. My usual wake-up time. I walk down to the kitchen. Everyone is awake. Chloe sits at the kitchen island with Jayden. Azriel, my mom and dad, Erin, and Jaya sit at the kitchen table. I sit where I want. It mostly depends on the day. I sit on the island today next to Chloe.

“Hey Chloe… You, uhh, did anything last night?” I ask. She’s too engrossed in her phone to know who’s talking to her.

“No…” She responds. I tap my finger on the marble to try and get her attention. She finally looks over. “What do you want… Sky! Good morning. Oh my. You look like you didn’t sleep!” She finally says.

“You know EXACTLY why I didn’t sleep last night, Chloe.” I stand up. “Where were you guys? Where were ALL of you?” They all look up to me. “I went to everyone’s rooms, and NO ONE was there! I went to Azriel’s! He’s always in his room, but the ONE TIME I need to find him, he’s somewhere else! And you, Chloe? Where did I see you again?” “Sky, are you ok?” Asks Jayden.

“I’m fine. Now, what isn’t fine is… is…” The room starts swirling, and everything starts to become darker. I pass out. Another one of these dreams. This time, it’s Jayden. He’s gardening. He loves gardening. He touches a flower, and it grows. It grows lustrous, beautiful, and huge. I woke up again in my parent’s bed. My mom is sitting next to me.

“Oh! You’re finally awake! Are you feeling ok?” She asks.

“I-I’m fine. What happened?”

“You passed out. You look like you haven’t slept!”

“I didn’t. I had a nightmare last night, and I couldn’t find anyone. I… went into the basement.” I admit.

“You.. what? Can you say that again?”

“I went into the basement to look for you guys. I saw Chloe.”“You opened the door?”

“Yeah…?”“Oh my..” She walks out and grabs my dad. She walks back in.

“They opened the door, Gabriel!” She says.

“Am I in trouble?” I ask.

“Not yet. Why would you go down there?”“I had a nightmare! I was looking for you guys. Chloe was throwing something…”

“Go to your room right now!” My mom yells.

“Ok…” I return to my room, and my mom again puts a chair under my door. Why is this so common? I put my pajamas on. I look at the clock on my phone. It’s only 5 PM. I’m exhausted…

I get into bed and start to drift off to sleep. I don’t have a dream.

6:45 AM is my usual wake-up time.

“Honey! It’s time for school!” My mom yells up the stairs. My siblings have either graduated or dropped out, except Erin. I get dressed and step out of my room.

“Mom! Have you seen Cloud? She didn’t sleep in my bed the past few nights.” I yell down.

“She’s down here!” Erin yells. Her silky smooth voice slides up the stairs like a snake but sounds like a canary.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. We’re leaving in 10 minutes for school!”

“Thank you, Erin.” I run back upstairs to brush my teeth. I grab my lunch and get in Erin’s car. She drives a Pontiac Firebird because everyone in this house needs a fancy car. Azriel has a Rolls Royce, and Chloe has a Mercedes. Jaya has a Corvette, and Jayden has a Porsche. Our driveway is about a mile long. But of course, I still have to go to public school. I’m in 7th grade—the exact middle of middle school.

I go to Summerbrook Middle School. The worst part is that my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, I don’t know how many greats founded Summerbrook. My name is Skylar Summerbrook. We finally arrive at school, and I hug Erin goodbye. She’s a senior at the high school down the road. I walk into the school, and immediately, it’s deafening. I see Jeremy, Chris, and Ryleigh. Of course, she spells her name Ryleigh. They’ve been bullying me for maybe five years. They see me and walk up.

“Hey, when did they get here? No wonder I noticed something was off.” Jeremy says.

“Shut up, Jeremy. Doesn’t this get old?” I respond. “It’s not even the first period.”

“Who gave you permission to talk?” Ryleigh says.

“Can you just leave me alone?” I say. The bell rings.

“Bye, LOSER,” Chris says before they walk off. My first period was Science, and I loved it. My second is math, and then Music. Then we have lunch and recess. Recess is where the problems occur. The JCR’s, as I call them, control the yard.

“Look! The nerd is back!” Chris says.

“Leave me alone, Chris,” I respond.

“We’ll never stop until you beg on your knees,” Ryleigh says.

“What? That’s so embarrassing.” I say. I feel a buzz in me.

“That’s the point,” Ryleigh responds. I think of the color white. It’s all I can think about.

“Get on your knees, bitch.” Jeremy says.

“Don’t call me that!” The buzz is stronger.

“Get. On. Your. Knees. Bitch.” Ryleigh repeats. I can’t control the buzz anymore. I feel like I’m going to explode. I fall, clutching my stomach. I scream, and something pushes the JCR’s back. They fall, and I pass out.