Woven From Dreams

6. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Elsie opened her eyes in time to see her mum pull up out the front of their house. She tried to ignore the feeling that washed over her at the thought of being home alone. "I'm fine." And she would be. Once she was inside and had checked everything was locked. She'd been doing that almost obsessively lately.

"Are you sure?"

Elsie met her mum's hazel eyes, the same colour as her own. A few times she'd wished she'd inherited the same colour blue as her father's eyes. "Go to work and stop worrying." She emphasised each of the words. "I'm not a little kid."

"Straight inside and lock the door."

She made herself roll her eyes. "Okay, Mum." She filled her tone with the usual exasperation she would have felt. "Stop fussing." Grabbing her handbag off the floor at her feet, she forced her lips into a smile before she opened the door. "I'll see you later." With a half wave over her shoulder, she shut the door as she was stepping away from it, keeping her gaze firmly on the front door rather than scan the area for danger. She shivered, trying to convince herself it was from the cold air. But it wasn't that bad with the sun out and her knitted jumper keeping her warm.

Surely whoever had taken Jaxson wasn't still in the area. Taking the key out of her handbag, she unlocked the front door, aware her mum remained parked on the side of the road. Slipping inside, she glanced at her mum, waving before she locked the door and leaned against it, her head tilted back so she stared at the white ceiling. How long would it take before she no longer felt uncomfortable in her neighbourhood? Or in her own home. No one had seen him leave the house. She couldn't get that thought out of her head. She'd been the last person to have seen him.

Pushing away from the door, she headed to her bedroom, hanging her handbag on the door handle and taking off her knitted jumper before she dropped onto the bed. She was so tired. Her sleep had been broken and she desperately needed more than a few minutes at a time. Not expecting she'd be able to sleep, she grabbed the book off her bedside cabinet and opened it up to the chapter she was halfway through. The story failed to hold her attention and she couldn't help wondering if she wanted to finish it. Her eyes grew heavy and it felt like she'd closed them for barely a moment before she was jerking upright, her heart racing and the room full of shadows, her dreams filled with vivid green eyes.

Switching on her bedside lamp, she leaned over the edge of the bed to pick up the book she'd dropped. Only her knitted jumper was on the floor. She leaned further over the edge, running her hand along the carpeted floor under the bed. When she still couldn't find the book, she staggered out of bed and dropped onto the floor, peering under it.

Frowning, she leaned forward more. There was nothing. Drawing back, she stood up and straightened the quilt, running her hands over the bed as she tried to find the book. It was nowhere. She scanned the room. Nothing was out of place. Only the book was missing. Again, she scanned the room. What had she done with it? As far as she knew, she didn't sleepwalk. Although she supposed anything was possible when she wasn't getting much sleep.

A message came through on her phone and she checked. It was Marinda asking if she could spend the night, that she didn't want to be on her own. Or put up with her mum hovering.

Of course you can. You're welcome to stay here as often as you like.

Marinda's reply came through almost immediately. I'll be there in a couple of minutes.

See you then. She sent the message, then had one last look for the book before checking all the windows were still locked. Satisfied they were, she headed towards the front door, waiting for her friend to arrive.

Minutes later a dark-coloured sedan pulled up out the front and Marinda clambered out, backing away as she talked to the driver, her hands moving to emphasise some of her words. She glanced over her shoulder several times, twice gesturing towards the house. Her black hair hung around her shoulders, drawn back from her face by a clip. She was a few metres from the car when she waved and spun to face the house, hurrying towards the door Elsie held open. She stopped and turned to watch the car drive off, glancing over her shoulder at Elsie. "You can't imagine how crazy Mum is driving me since Jaxson disappeared. You'd think I was going to disappear next."

Elsie stepped back out of the doorway. "I don't want to talk about it. Not after all the questions I had to answer this morning. I was starting to feel like I was a suspect." She spoke the words jokingly, but couldn't help wondering if there was some truth in them. She had been the last person to have seen him.

"How about we watch a movie or something." Marinda stepped inside, unbuttoning her jacket. "I've barely slept the last two days. Mum keeps checking on me all night as if expecting someone to steal me from my bed."

Elsie led the way to the television, putting on the movie she hadn't managed to watch with Jaxson. The menu music had her shivering as memories came back. She reached for the DVD player. "Did you want to do something else?"

"What's wrong?"

Elsie shook her head, lowering her hand rather than ejecting the movie and have to explain her thoughts. She didn't want to examine them, let alone explain them. Why had she sent him that message? She pushed the thought aside.

"Don't give me that," Marinda said. "What's wrong?"

She held her friend's gaze for a moment, seeing the determination in her eyes. Marinda would keep asking until she had an answer. "No one saw him leave here."

"He was kidnapped from your house?"

Elsie shrugged. "I don't know. No one seems to know anything."

"Were there signs of a struggle?" Marinda dropped onto the couch, her gaze remaining on Elsie.

Joining Marinda on the couch, Elsie sat sideways so she could face her friend. "I don't even know what that'd look like." She picked up the remote. "We watching this?" She didn't want to listen to the endlessly looping music. What if someone had taken him from her house and if they had, why hadn't they taken her too?

Marinda nodded. "What is the last you remember about seeing him?"

That she'd been trying to find a way to ditch him. Keeping that thought to herself, she started the movie. "Are we going to watch this?" She gestured with the remote. She didn't want to spend the rest of the day talking about it. Not after spending all morning being grilled by the police. Or at least that had been the way it had felt.

"Sure, but that doesn't mean I can't talk."

"I really don't want to talk about it." She kept her gaze on the movie, determined to focus this time. Or at least determined not to think about unsettling facts. What had happened to Jaxson? Was he still alive? Images of a shadowy figure digging a long, shallow ditch in the middle of the bush filled her mind. She forced them aside. He had to be alive. She didn't hate him. Had only wanted to stop dating him. He was too nice a person to hate. She almost groaned at how ridiculous that thought sounded to her.

Marinda turned her attention to the television screen. "You will have to talk about it, eventually."

Not if she could help it. Yet again, she kept her thoughts to herself. She tried to focus on the movie, but all she could see were cushions scattered across the floor and Jaxson lying beside her, interspersed with images of a figure digging a hole. If she never saw the cushions again, she wouldn't mind in the least. She closed her eyes in an effort to block out the images. Leaning back onto the cushion behind her, she ended up falling asleep. Annoyed with herself at falling asleep again, she forced her eyes open.

Vivid green eyes filled her view and fingers lightly brushed across her face so she was forced to close her eyes. The air was filled with a peppery citrus scent. Before she could open her eyes again, a scream pierced her sleep, dragging her upright.

Marinda stood in the doorway, a finger pointed at her. "You vanished."

Elsie frowned, trying to make sense of Marinda's words, rubbing at her eyes in an effort to wake properly. "Vanished?"

Marinda nodded, lowering her hand. "You weren't there for at least four seconds. Maybe longer."

"Vanished."

"Will you stop saying that?" Marinda demanded. "And tell me what's going on. Where did you go?"

Elsie smothered a yawn with her hand, leaning back and expecting to sink into the cushion. She encountered the frame of the couch. Sitting up straight, she turned at an angle to stare at the spot where the cushion had been. "Where is it?"

"What?" Marinda remained in the doorway.

"The cushion." Elsie's gaze was drawn to the armchairs. Both of them still had their cushions. "The back cushion for the couch." She glanced at where her friend had been sitting earlier, finding the second back cushion remained in place.

"Forget about the cushion," Miranda said. "You vanished. Completely and utterly vanished."

"Impossible." Elsie scanned the room. "The cushion has to be here somewhere."

Marinda's eyes widened, her voice becoming hushed. "Do you think it was aliens? What if that was what happened to Jaxson? What if it's your house? This could be like some sort of Bermuda Triangle for aliens."

"It's not my house and Jaxson wasn't taken by aliens." She rose far enough off the couch to peer over the back of it. The floor was clear. "What happened to the cushion?" She took a deep breath at the slightly hysterical note in her voice. Aliens didn't exist. No matter how much Marinda wanted to believe in such things, they weren't real.

"Forget the cushion. What happened to you?" Marinda demanded.

"Nothing. I was asleep."

Marinda studied her. "You can't have been. You vanished. I know what I saw." She paused a moment. "Or didn't see. I knew there was more to life than everyone says there is. Now I have proof."

"Will you stop going on about it? I didn't go anywhere." Elsie rose from the couch. Surely she'd know if she'd left the house. She did a slow circle as she tried to find the cushion. "What did you do with it?"

"Nothing." Marinda took a step into the room. "I'll prove it. Next time you sleep, we're going to record you."

Elsie held up a hand, taking a step back and stumbling against the couch. "No way. That's not going to happen."

Marinda grinned. "We'll see."

"No, we won't." Elsie glared at her friend. "You are not going to record me while I'm sleeping."

Marinda's grin remained in place. "I made dinner while you were busy vanishing."

"Did you hear me? You're not going to record me." She followed Marinda to the kitchen when her friend didn't answer. "Well?"

"Sorry, think I'm going deaf." Marinda gestured to the table, where there were two plates with steak and chips. "Not fancy, but I don't do meals that need heaps of prep."

"You and me both." Elsie pulled out a chair, remaining standing. "I'm serious and you can stop changing the topic."

Laughing, Marinda sat at the table. "Eat your food before it's cold. Or next time I'll let you starve."

Elsie dropped onto the chair, sighing. "Thanks for cooking."

"You looked wrecked and I was hungry."

Elsie thought of and discarded several comments, remaining silent as she ate the food. It wasn't like she could argue the comment. She always looked terrible when she didn't get enough sleep. Dark shadows under her hazel eyes, her skin unnaturally pale, an inability to concentrate and a tendency to appear startled when she did notice what was going on around her. Not a good look at all.