was something very distinctive. It was the reason I was trying to be deathly quiet as I called Kale.
I was so scared the monsters would hear me and come get me before he woke up. I kept staring at my open wardrobe while I blindly reached down and shoved at Kale’s shoulder as hard as I could. He was sleeping on his blow-up mattress on my floor, as he always did when he stayed over, and it was pretty much his own piece of furniture inside my room.
It was probably the last time he would be allowed to sleep in my room. My father said now that he was thirteen, he would have to sleep in my brothers’ room when he stayed over, which delighted him and my brothers.
I blew out a frustrated breath when he grunted in his sleep, as if he refused to wake up.
“Kale!” I pleaded, my emotion shining through my voice.
He groaned and moved around on his mattress, trying to get away from me.
“What is it, Lane?” he grumbled. “I’m sleeping.”
The wardrobe door creaked, so I let out a little whimper, and like a shot Kale was up from his mattress and climbing onto my bed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, now wide awake.
I threw my arms around him. “The wardrobe – it’s open. They’re gonna get me.”
Kale released a laboured breath but kept his tight hold on me. He placed his hand on my back and rubbed up and down. The action calmed me down a little, but not enough to let go of him.
“The latch on the door is broken,” he murmured, his voice low to soothe me. “That’s why it opens when it’s been closed – you know this. We talked about it, remember?”
I refused to believe that.
If that was true, then why did the door just magically decide to open in the dead of night? Why not during the day when it was bright out and not scary? I’d tell you why: it was because there was no stupid broken latch on the door. It was the hideous monsters that lived inside my wardrobe that opened the door at night. They were planning to take me away.
“It’s them,” I mumbled into Kale’s chest. “I know it is.”
He sighed but chuckled a little. “I’m not going to argue with you. Move over and I’ll sleep on the outside of your bed, so that way, if they come out, they’ll have to fight me to get to you.”
I gasped in horror. “No! What if they take you away?”
They couldn’t take Kale away from me. No one could. I wouldn’t allow it.
“I’m not going anywhere – now move over. It’s really late, and I’ve to get up for my football match tomorrow morning.”
I did as Kale asked; I moved to the inside of my bed and shivered because that section of the bed was cold. Kale settled next to me, and I thought he was going to turn his back to me so he could watch the wardrobe, but he didn’t. He lay on his back and used his left hand to tug me over to him. I was wide-eyed as he settled my head on his shoulder. His arm was hooked around my body and his hand rested on my hip.
My. Hip.
I began to breathe heavily, and I felt myself blush like crazy. I could actually feel the heat crawl up my neck and spread out over my cheeks like wildfire.
What the heck was happening?
“You okay?” Kale mumbled to me, then yawned.
I cleared my throat. “Yep . . . just scared about the monsters.”
That was a lie; I wasn’t bothered about the monsters anymore. I was freaked out that I was feeling strange lying like this on Kale. He was on my bed, and I was just lying on him. I liked it. A lot. And that was super weird because Kale was like my brother, but I didn’t feel all tingly in my stomach when I lay with my real brothers, so why was it like this with Kale?
I’m coming down with a severe case of the flu, I thought. It’s the only explanation.
“Lane, are you sure you’re okay?” Kale pressed, worry laced throughout his tone. “You’re breathing really fast.”
I swallowed and tried to control the rise and fall of my chest.
“Yep, I’m good, like I said . . . just scared of the monsters.”
He sighed. “There are no such thing as monsters, Lane. I told you to pay no attention to those stupid lads