Sleepwalker

I wake up lying on my back in an unrecognizable forest. The mud is wet against my back and the rain has turned my shirt a darker shade of gray. There are a few scratches on my arms and legs but I can’t recall where they’re from, my clothes are torn to near shreds. Not again I think to myself as I achingly stand. Sharp pains run through my body making me nearly face plant back into the dirt. It’s not the first time I’ve woken up somewhere strange but I usually come to somewhere near my house. I’ve never gone to the forest before so I have no idea how to get home. I just start walking in a random direction.

I limp out through the trees and come up on a familiar city. Home. I try running but quickly give up. Don’t sleepwalkers usually make it back to bed while asleep? I feel like I heard that somewhere but no I have to end up in the middle of a fucking forest. Just my luck. I look through the windows of my house to be met with pure darkness. They’re still asleep thank god, I don’t know how I’d explain this to them. I quietly open the door and head back to bed as if nothing happened. It’s noon when I wake.

“Look who’s finally up,” Lisa mocks. I grumble back, and my mother rolls her eyes at us both. “Are you nocturnal or something?” she asks. I smile and nod in response; strangely, it doesn’t feel like a lie. I lean against the wall only to feel that same stinging pain from last night. I put a hand on my bandages and sigh. It wasn’t a dream. I was hoping it was a dream. Lisa notices my wince and does that thing, where she scrunches her nose and furrows her brow like she has a million questions. “Sleepwalking?” I don’t answer her but she knows the answer anyway.

“Maybe we should get a sleep study done, " says Dad as he walks into the room. He’s holding a " world's best dad” mug that I don't remember any of us getting him.

“No chance.” my mother is shaking her head. She’s very against the whole idea but I’m not sure why.

“It could be good for him.”

“Or it could be horrible, I’ve heard the horror stories.”

“Horror stories? They just watch him sleep.”

“Like stalkers?” Lisa chimes in (not helping).

“I don’t want to do a sleep study,” I mumble through bites of a sandwich. Mom points a flat hand at me with a look that says “I told you so” which my dad rolls his eyes at and takes another sip of his coffee. Jonah laughs as he walks in on this display. I smile at him and ruffle his hair before jogging out the door, I’m meeting with August today.

I’m not usually this excited about meeting with friends but August is different. He’s easy to get along with and despite my generally quiet personality, I can talk to him until I go hoarse. He’s sitting on a bench outside our favorite little coffee shop waiting for me. He’s wearing a black sweater over a white button-up and black jeans that are torn from falling off his skateboard rather than being the manufacturer's decision (I think they look cooler this way). He’s currently looking at the ground and fixing the already perfect knot on his Converse. He smiles when he sees me and I almost trip over my own excitement as we walk inside and out of the piercing chill of October.

I expect to feel that awful pain again when I sit but this time I feel fine. Odd, sure, but I just choose to believe it’s luck that Gust doesn’t have to see me in pain, he always seems kind of worried about me. He begins to analyze me, as he often does, and I feel my face get hot from embarrassment. He points at the dark circles under my eyes “You not sleep well again?” he asks, though it feels more like a statement.

“Sleepwalking,” I say plainly. He nods unimpressed.

“Right… where’d you wake up this time?”

“Forest…”

“Yikes. Sounds dangerous,” he says. “Most sleepwalkers end up back in bed, or at least stay inside.” I nod in response, unsure what to add. I usually find it better not to talk while he’s hypothesizing, I’ll probably just be wrong anyway. “It was a full moon too. Always is isn’t it? Maybe you’re a werewolf and you have no idea.” I laugh but his expression is still serious. I begin to question if that’s and actual possibility which he seems to notice and he starts laughing at my stupidity.

“I hate you,” I say, I’m trying to make it sound cold but I can’t help but laugh with him. His smile is contagious. “You’re literally the worst! You know that?” I exclaim as he gets up to put in our orders. Per usual they get it done incredibly fast, I think they know our usuals by now and start making them the second we walk in because that is genuinely the only explanation at this point. August is smiling at me and talking about his most recent hyperfixation (Tim Burton) and I get this weird feeling in my heart, like the flutter of wings. I shake it off and ask what I’ve been wanting to since the laughing fit earlier “Do you believe in monsters?”

“Well… yes.” He says, this makes my stomach drop for a moment. “I mean in a way. Humans are true monsters if you ask me…” definitely shouldn’t have asked him. Not after what happened. “But you know!” he starts again, trying to keep the mood light “If there are actual monsters like werewolves or vampires I’m sure they’re nothing like we think they are!” this makes me smile. Werewolves. Such a stupid idea.

Leaving August is always hard for a reason I can’t explain. His words continue to bring me a sense of comfort as I walk home “I’m sure they’re nothing like we think they are!” maybe monsters aren’t so bad. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if I was one. I think most of the real monsters are human anyway, just like August said.

I walk in and Lisa is staring at me with a large smile that makes me a bit uneasy “Sooooo…” she says, prompting, I just stare back at her “Really? Nothing?” she rolls her eyes and as she makes her way to her room I hear her say “You’ll realize you’re in love with him soon enough!” she’s the worst. If I was in love with my best friend I think I’d know it. I place myself on the couch where Jonah is watching SpongeBob and coloring (ah memories). He looks up at me and smiles. I smile back. And then…

“Is August gonna be my brother-in-law?”

“Not unless Lisa wants to marry him.” I respond; the idea of Lisa and August being together is like a knife to the heart.

“Whatever you gotta tell yourself Ro-ro!” Lisa calls from the other room. Which like 1 how can she hear us and 2 I hate when she calls me that. My name is Roman not “Ro-ro” It’s really annoying. Probably why she does it now that I think about it.

Texting August:

My entire family has convinced

themselves that we’re in love

August 🦇

Hello to you too

It’s so weird dude.

I swear they want us

to date so badly.

August 🦇

Are you sure this isn’t some ploy

to ask me out, werewolf?

Funny.

August 🦇

I know I’m hilarious

I would make a great boyfriend yk

But alas just like the spiders in the caves

the good ones have left me and I’m 

left only with their shallow graves.

Maybe you’d have better luck if you

didn’t talk like a sad love poem from

the 1800s. Not exactly what most girls want.

August 🦇

Not actually that interested in

girls, Wolfy.

You’re never letting that go are you

August 🦇

Nope!

I wake up in the woods again. It’s still dark. My phone is thankfully in my pocket and when I can’t find my way home again I stop at a park and start texting August again.

Woke up in the middle of nowhere again.

Can you come get me?

August 🦇

You’re lucky I’m an insomniac.

Where are you?

He gets here in 15 minutes.

“We gotta start locking your door or something.” he says (completely serious). I laugh and nod feeling the bandage over the new wound, thankfully August keeps a first aid kit in his car. Strangely I noticed that the wound from the night before is already healed.

“It’s weird I healed that fast, right?” I ask.

“Maybe you really are a werewolf,” he says, again completely serious.

“I can’t tell if you’re joking anymore.”

“Yeah…” he lets out a breath and I stare at him in confusion.

“Gust?”

“Mm?”

“You don’t like actually think I could be a monster like that right.”

“I don’t think you’re a monster… I think you’re a werewolf.” oh.

“Haha… you’re- you’re serious?” he pulls over and looks at me as if I just asked the stupidest question ever. I stare back in pure confusion. Suddenly his near-black eyes are turning lighter. Redder. I jump back, slamming into the door, and he laughs, sharp fangs flashing behind his lips. No fucking way. Monster. “Monster!” the word comes out before I can stop it and I nearly fall getting out of the car. I start sprinting with nowhere to go. He knows where I live if wants to hurt me he would just go there.  Well… if he wanted to hurt me he would have already. In the woods maybe. Where I’m easier to hide. Then what does he want? He’s just staring at me. Not chasing. He looks… sad.

I stop and slowly begin walking back. This gives him that bright smile I remember from the day before. “Sorry!” he calls out to me “I didn’t mean to tell you like that.”

“Tell me what exactly?” I ask still unsure if any of this is real.

“That I’m a vampire… thought that was obvious now. Oh, and you’re a werewolf. You haven’t been sleepwalking, you’ve been turning. I've been trying to tell you that for a while.”

I stare at him in disbelief. Suddenly I remember something crucial that had been hiding from me for a while. I roll up my sleeves in search and find a large scar on the back of my arm, it’s impossible to see if you’re not looking for it. It’s a bite mark. I don’t remember how I got it or who gave it to me but it does confirm one thing. This is real. August unbuttons the top two buttons of his shirt to reveal two pricks on his neck “Not as cool but it is very goth, no?” I laugh as this unbelievable interaction begins to feel half-normal.

I keep feeling myself staring at his fangs as we talk. The knowledge that he could pounce and kill me any time he wanted is terrifying, yeah that’s it. It’d explain this weird feeling in my gut. He wouldn’t do that though. Never. Everything is going to be okay. It’s all okay.

August:

My phone buzzes on my desk, I look down to find a message from our “sleepwalking” protagonist.

Roman 🖤

Woke up in the middle of nowhere again.

Can you come get me?

You’re lucky I’m an insomniac.

Where are you?

What an idiot. He sends me the name of some park and I get in my car. When I get there he’s sitting anxiously on a bench 20 minutes from his house. I wonder if he’s figured out what’s happening yet. “We gotta start locking your door or something.” I say as I wrap his wounds, I’m trying to make light of the situation but it comes off as serious as it is and I think he can sense it.

“It’s weird I healed that fast, right?” He asks as he pokes at last night's scar.

“Maybe you really are a werewolf.” I say, not so discreetly hinting.

“I can’t tell if you’re joking anymore.”

“Yeah…” I let out a sigh and he stares at me.

“Gust?”

“Mm?”

“You don’t like actually think I could be a monster like that right.”

“I don’t think you’re a monster… I think you’re a werewolf.”

“Haha… you’re- you’re serious?” Deadly. I can feel my fangs coming down which makes me panic. I pull over and we stare at each other as my eyes begin to glow bright red. I see the fear fill his eyes “Monster!” he shouts as he stumbles out of the car and begins running down the street. I think about going after him but that won’t help my case so instead I just stand next to the car and watch him run. Another one bites the dust.

Suddenly he stops. He turns to look back at me and I can see a million thoughts running through his mind, he begins making his way back and I feel a smile creep onto my face. “Sorry!” I call out “I didn’t mean to tell you like that.”

“Tell me what exactly?” He says, still unsure.

“That I’m a vampire of course! And you’re a werewolf. You haven’t been sleepwalking, you’ve been turning. I've been trying to tell you for a while now.” I can see the panic creeping onto his face like an awful memory has just taken over him. He quickly rolls up his already torn sleeves and starts looking for something. He finds a large bite mark on his arm and the confirmation punches him in the face. I unbutton the top two buttons of my shirt to show to pricks from fangs on my neck “Not as cool but it is very goth, no?” he laughs at this.

We talk for a while and I keep catching him staring at me in disbelief. He seems to be trying to figure out some emotion inside him. He keeps looking at my fangs. I try to ignore him and continue info-dumping about Tim Burton. I really hope he figures out the reason he keeps looking at me the way he does soon. Keeping my emotions a secret has proven to be much harder than I had expected.