Chapter 11 Part 2

   Skye finally knew the pills starting to kick in when she felt the pain in her temples start to lift and ease off a little bit. Enough to be completely unaware that she was holding her breath, she then let out a long deep sigh and felt her body relax. She laid back down in her bed surrounded by her big fluffy pillows that were much too fluffy for her and a Husky that was the size of a wolf lying down beside her and the vague recollection of the wolves in her dream came to her and was just as quickly gone again. Kona taking up the rest of the room in the bed was OK, that part she didn’t mind so much since it was empty and she missed the company but it was still his side of the bed.

  All at once she felt anxious and panicked, forgetting even so soon that Cyrus was up in the attic more than likely looking for Deacon’s Journal. The journal that she has never heard of that would answer hopefully all of their questions. She bounced out of bed and her body immediately revolted making her drop to the floor and within and instant she was dry heaving. There was nothing in her stomach except the water and pills to come up, but by some small miracle they didn’t. Skye continued to wretch anyway until the muscles in her stomach and neck were sore. There was no way to make it to the bathroom so she prayed that no bile would come up and the pills would stay down as a result of the practically empty stomach.  Hoping it had been long enough for them to dissolve into her bloodstream completely.

   Her prayer was answered and as her stomach stopped convulsing the gagging stopped as well. She could feel beads of sweat on her brow and goosebumps erupt on her arms once the spasms stopped and her blood cooled. With shaky legs she attempted to stand being sure to do so slowly. Even though her body was vibrating all over she found that once standing and fully upright it made her feel better.

   “Ok…” she said under her breath and steeled herself as she took two steps forward to the closet where her robe was hanging from the hook on the back of the door. As soon as she picked it up Kona stood up on the bed and at once gave herself her morning shake.

  “Kona! Get off the damn bed!” she yelled and her head threatened to pound once again. Kona jumped down and pranced around her masters’ feet tripping her up as Skye tried to walk out into the hall. Once she got out into the hall and around the big hairy beast of a dog, she took hold of the balcony railing and leaned over it yelling, “Kyra, let Kona out please!” her voice was like thunder inside her head but she was OK and determined that she could handle that much now. The Tylenol was working quicker and she was grateful.

   Pushing off the railing Skye pivoted to the left, doing so with confidence as she continued past the bathroom and followed the walkway around to the right of it she saw that the attic ladder was down. Sky didn’t like the attic; it was much too warm and much, much too dark up there. There were two peaked windows that brightened it up in the evening because they faced the west and got the light from the setting sun. Cyrus used to ask to live up there when he was younger and they always said no because he was too small and might fall down the ladder. Now he was 15 and surely not thinking of this now as she could hear him rummaging around.

  Skye stood at the bottom of the ladder and took what she thought was going to be a deep cleansing breath and she found that it made her more nervous about going up. “Oh screw it…” she said to herself and shook of the feeling of dread and forced herself up the ladder. Rung by rung she convinced herself that she was being silly and when she reached the top put half her body through the attic door she couldn’t see Cyrus at all but she could hear him in the right corner of the room by the far window. The light shining from his flashlight was moving drastically all across the ceiling and walls as he opened boxes, rifled through them and pushed them out of the way furiously.

  “Wow…” Skye said softly as not to startle him, “you are a man on a mission right now.”

   Cyrus could hear the roughness in her voice from the hangover she was now finally feeling relief from. He stopped briefly feeling like he should be mad at her for the way she acted when so much weirdness was going on. First her passing out and then the army of men in the house because she passed out and last of all the thing that infuriated him the most was the way his mother heard only part of the ridiculous story they had been told and let them treat him like a child. “Ya, well I have one now don’t I?” he growled, not a question but more of a statement.

“Look Cy… I don’t remember a whole lot about what happened after Maury started… pouring,” She searched for the right words. “But none of what Dominic said… sounds…real.” she shuffled towards him and although her eyes adjusted she couldn’t see anything but the shadow of his head in a corner behind some boxes that she hadn’t looked at for years. His hand flew up palm out to stop her right where she was. She stopped and flushed glad that he wasn’t looking at her or able to see her face right then.

   Embarrassed that he was so angry with her after what he had done and having to call her to go pick him up in the middle of the night from the police station. She sighed and knew his emotions when it came to his father were troubled enough and now that something was wrong with her Cyrus must have felt like he had no control. “Cy…” she started again as her anger at him petered out.

   “Look, mom…I couldn’t sleep at all last night. If I can find this journal that uncle Dom is talking about then maybe we’ll get some answers.” Skye felt the same and thought to herself that Cyrus finally sounded grown up… he sounded like his father. She felt a pull in her chest at the thought of Deacon while all of this is coming to light. Yet she still couldn’t shake that feeling that Dominic was telling her the truth even though he didn’t tell her everything. “Cy…let me help you,” she paused “please…” in the corner she saw his shoulders slump over and his head droop. Cyrus shrugged in the way of a sad pouting child as if to say ‘fine I give up, you win’.

   Skye scanned the room and it dawned on her that she had no idea where to start. She always hated the attic and even now to her left she could hear light scratching in the walls. She shook it off thinking to herself that it was her imagination playing tricks on her. “Ok, where have you looked so far?” she asked Cyrus. He leaned back from behind the neatly stacked boxes he was surrounded by to look at her.

“I haven’t been up here long and started here.” He raised his arms and gestured at the circle of boxes around him. Being up here gave her the heebie jeebies.  A thought came to her, “Before I do anything I need some light.” She turned towards Cyrus and moved quickly to where he was sitting with her hands out towards him. He momentarily looked at her like she had lost her head before he realized what it was she wanted and handed her the flashlight. “I know there’s a lamp up here.” She mumbled and moved the flashlight around the room trying not to see things in the shadows. As she scanned the room she saw the old couch that they had moved in here with, covered to protect it from dust besides the fact that it was hideously ugly. She couldn’t bear to get rid of it and now she sat thinking of the nights that she and Deacon curled up on it to watch TV and would end up with their clothes on the floor because they were young and all over each other. Even once Cyrus was born they couldn’t get enough of each other and if she thought about it…2 of their 3 children were more than likely conceived on that couch. Sadness welled up in her again even as she smiled at the memory, the pain of remembering sometimes made her want to forget but she smiled through the tightness and it loosened.

  Her smile didn’t last long as she crossed the room to the couch, she heard shuffling and in the middle of her stride she kicked something small… something furry…and she screamed.