The Darkest Night

Chapter 1

“Will you marry me? You are my light and my life. I cannot even contemplate living my life from here on out without you in it and by my side. I love you with all my heart. So Cynthia, please will you give me the greatest honor of becoming my wife?” The candles that were spaced out around the restaurant flickered as the whole place went dead quiet awaiting my sister's response. The seconds ticked by and you could see Michael, my maybe soon to be brother-in-law, starting to get nervous. The poor man was shifting his weight ever so slightly, trying to ease the pain in his knee, and gave me a sidelong glance pleading for help. Obliging to his silent plea, I cleared my throat, helping to break my sister out of her shock. Her expression instantly changed from her frozen shocked face, to one of comprehension and, finally, to the happiest she had ever looked. She tackled him, screaming yes over and over again while kissing him. They fell backwards in a heap to the thunderous applause and amused laughter of the restaurant's occupants. I was so happy for my sister finally getting everything she had always deserved in life. The heaviness was slowly growing in the pit of my stomach, though I just couldn't ignore it. This feeling always happened when something bad was going to occur.

I plastered a happy smile onto my face as the happy couple untangled themselves and returned to our table. I had helped Michael plan this night and I would make sure it wouldn't be ruined by anyone, especially myself. Kaitlin and Leah, my sisters' two best friends, hugged her as she sat down and gushed over the ring Michael had slipped onto her hand before popping the question. It was a one caret blue diamond oval cut ring surrounded by chips of amethyst. It really was a gorgeous ring and I'm so glad I convinced Michael it would be perfect for my sister. The two love birds spent the rest of the evening holding hands under the table and gazing lovingly into each others eyes. If it was anyone else doing this I might have puked from how over the top they were being. The restaurant brought out a complementary dessert for the two of them, much to my sister's delight. She always did love strawberry ice cream.

When the bill came, I discreetly paid for it, making sure sis didn't see me grab it. Knowing her, she would insist on paying for it even though this was her engagement dinner. The waitress gave me a wink as i slid my card to her under the table. I'm sure she thought this was hilarious, acting like paying a bill was a drug deal. I smiled ruefully at her and watched her go. She really was quite attractive although a bit young for my preference. Being in my late twenties, the mere thought of dating someone too young to even go to a bar with me weirded me out. No harm in admiring briefly though. When the check came back for me to sign, I saw that the waitress had put her number on the bottom of the customer receipt. I folded the number and slipped it into my purse. I had no intentions of calling her, but I didn't want to be rude. I signed the check, slipping a fifty percent tip into the book and passed it back to her slyly as she walked by to another customer.

"Shall we all head out now?" I asked, grabbing my coat and purse. My sister looked confused at first before asking about the check. 'Don't worry it's already been handled."

"Wait, hold on, let me at least pay you back."

"Not gonna happen, sis. This is my engagement gift to you. I'm not so hard up for cash that I can't treat my sister to a good meal. Kaitlin and Leah chuckled. They were well used to our fights about money. Having been my sister's friends for twenty years now, they would occasionally bet each other on who would win to pay whatever bill was present. "Oh but I will take donations from you two by the way." I causally told them over my shoulder. They laughed again, knowing full well that I really wouldn't accept their money. I worked hard to be able to spoil my loved ones and took pride in being able to do so.

After our parents died when I was just sixteen, my sister had to quit college to start working immediately to take care of me. She had to sell our childhood home because nowhere paid enough for a twenty-year-old college drop out to be able to afford a two-story home in the suburbs. With the money from the sale of the house, we were able to live somewhat comfortably in a two-bedroom apartment across town. She worked so hard so that I could continue high school and graduate with no worries. As an ungrateful teen, I didn't understand her sacrifice. Now, as an adult, I want to repay her any way that I can for what she gave up for me. She could have had our Nana take me in or even one of our aunts, but she played parent and sister to me at the darkest part of my life. I owe her everything.

My phone chimed with my work notification sound. Glancing at my text messages, I saw my supervisor asking if I could come in for an extra shift right now. Sighing, I replied I could be at the hospital in two hours. Arms wrapped around my shoulders from behind as Michael whispered into my ear. "Thank you Liz so much for all your help. I don't think she would have loved it half this much without your input."

"No problem bro." I shrugged out of his hug and turned around smiling up at him. I'm not exactly a short woman, but Michael made me feel as short as a child. I don't know how my sister deals with it when she's a few inches shorter than me. Not only was he tall, but he was built like a linebacker. Broad shoulders with his six foot one height made him a very imposing figure. It was a stark contrast to his teddy bear personality. I know he wouldn't even hurt a fly, but I couldn't help feeling a bit intimidated by him. Sighing internally at the thought and recognizing it for just being the society we live in, I dismissed it. "So I have to go to work tonight so you two can have our apartment to yourself tonight."

"Work? I thought you had tonight off?" A puzzled expression marred his kind face.

"I did, but they just called me in. I guess Brittany called off again." Sighing in frustration at the thought of my lazy coworker, I made a mental note to file a complaint about her. This was the fourth time this week that she no-called-no-showed and I was getting sick of working short-staffed in the ER because she felt she didn't have to be there.

"Ah OK well, let's grab your sister and we will head to your guys, apartment then." Michael walked over, wrapping his arm around my sister's waist, whispering into her ear. She glanced my way at first with a worried expression that changed quickly to a wicked look. Looks like the implication of having the apartment to themselves came to her.

Cynthia said goodbyes to Kaitlin and Leah and the three of them made their way to Michael's car. The evening air was cooling fast, making me shiver in the early fall air. I rubbed my shoulders trying to sooth the sudden goose bumps that appeared on my arms. That heaviness in the pit of my stomach was back. Coupled with the flickering street lights overhead, it made me a little jumpy and paranoid. Michael's blue Subaru Forrester appeared out of the darkness as the street light flickered on and off above it. A crashing sound from behind me made me jump and spin around, only to be greeted by a fat raccoon scurrying off into the darkness.

"You OK back there?" Sis asked as she headed for the front passenger side door.

"Yeah just feels like a weird night." I said as I got to the car. Looking behind me one last time, I could have sworn I saw some shadows move.

"Well, it is a full moon tonight." Groaning, I facepalmed. I couldn't believe I had forgotten it was a full moon tonight. No wonder Brittany called out. Everyone in health care knows that full moons make the worst shifts."Well, hopefully you'll have a quiet night tonight."

"You did not just say that to me," I said in horror. How could she? My own sister?

"What?" She looked puzzled by my reaction. Realization slowly dawned on her and she burst out laughing. "Oh man I'm sorry kiddo, I totally forgot. I didn't mean to jinx you, I swear." Michael chuckled good naturally at my distress and started the car, backing out slowly from the parking lot. Groaning some more, I closed my eyes for the ride home, mentally trying to prepare myself for the hell that I was going to work that night.