Sshh, Be Quiet

During the night, Lisa was woken up by a crash. She sat up quickly looking to see the silhouette of someone by the window. She reached for her glasses, put them on, and saw Brian standing there, looking out where there was now a missing piece of wood.

“What’s up?” Lisa asked, reaching to turn on the light. She blushed seeing that he was only wearing a pair of boxer shorts.

“You didn’t feel the cold wind that was blowing in?” he asked.

“No. But maybe if you didn’t sleep half naked, you wouldn’t feel the breeze.” She smirked.

“This window doesn’t even open, where the hell would a breeze come through?”

“A crack maybe? Dude, do you even know how old this house is? Now explain the crash that woke me up.” Lisa tried to keep eye contact with him, trying to ignore the toned, tattooed body in front of her, and the urges to jump him like a crazy person.

“The ghost pulled a piece of wood off the window.” Brian smirked over his shoulder.

“Ah, the boy's got jokes too. Okay then.”

“I swear I barely touched it and it fell off.”

Brian shrugged then went back to bed and laid down. Lisa followed suit, turning off the light and also laying back down. Within a matter of minutes, she could hear the deep soft snoring of the man in the next bed. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark and as she rolled over, watching Brian sleep, she then really thought about it. She was sleeping in the same room as someone she thought she would never meet, someone who she couldn't deny having a a crush on like some middle school girl. She chuckled to herself as she comfortably placed her head on the pillow and dozed off.

Sometime later, another crash had woken Lisa up. Once again, she sat up and looked, expecting to see Brian standing by the window. Nothing.

“Brian?” she whispered.

Lisa turned to his bed, and he was sound asleep. She felt a sudden chill on her bare arms and turned to the window. She stepped out of bed, her bare feet contacting the unnaturally cold wood floor.

“Oh shit,” she whispered in surprise at the chill.

She walked towards the window, and put her hand by it, feeling for a breeze. There was nothing though. She turned back to her bed, but a glow on the nightstand between the beds had caught her attention. It was Brian's laptop. The top was open just a little, and before thinking, she went and opened it. A box was on the screen. An instant messenger box. Lisa thought about ignoring it, not wanting to get into Brian’s privacy, but as she turned away, it beeped. She turned and decided to read what was there.

We start tomorrow night. Lisa read the message to herself.

“Start what?” She asked herself silently. She leaned down and tapped on the keys, typing in a response. Seconds later, a reply popped up.

Start the killing. Start the killing.

Lisa instantly recognized the line from one of the band's songs, so she assumed it was one of the guys playing a prank. She closed the laptop then walked out of the room, down the hall. Passing each door, silence came from all the rooms. No lights under the doors, no sounds, nothing. She went back to the room and saw the laptop open, blinking with a new message.

You know I make you wanna scream.

She read the message to herself, then quickly typed a response. Why are you quoting song lyrics?

Lisa waited for a response, getting one seconds later. What songs? Lisa blinked and closed the laptop, backing away. A moment later, she opened it again, seeing a new message. You’re scared, aren’t you, Lisa?

As she typed a response in, a new message came up before she could enter hers. Don’t bother asking. The other nine are sound asleep in their beds.

As fear washed over her, she jumped on a bed, thinking it was her own, until she heard a groan. “What the fuck?” Brian groaned groggily at the woman who was nearly sitting on his chest.

“Do any of them send anonymous instant messages to you at all?” Lisa asked, reaching to turn on the lamp.

“No, why?”

“Look at your laptop.” She got off Brian’s bed and sat on her own, hugging her knees to her chest.

Brian picked up his laptop and looked at it. As he started to say it could be one of the others, something else struck him. “I don’t have an internet connection right now. How the hell is this getting instant messages?” He asked himself before turning it off and taking out the battery.

“That is fucking scary,” Lisa said, still hugging her knees tightly.

Brian raised an eyebrow towards her. “Not as scary as nearly getting your nuts crushed by someone jumping on top of you while you're sleeping.”

Lisa blushed as she began to lay back down. “You know you liked it.”

“Maybe.” Brian smirked as he shut off the lamp. Lisa laid back, listening to him. She thought she heard a frustrated sigh, and felt bad for waking him up.

“Sorry for jumping on you like that,” she said, blushing to herself lightly.

“It’s fine,” he mumbled. “Not everyday a pretty girl jumps into your bed.”

Lisa smiled as she rolled over and tried to fall back to sleep. She stared at the wall, listening to Brian’s breathing become deep as he fell back to sleep. Then he started to snore. Her mind wandered to the instant messages, and she became nervous. Lisa curled up and tried to calm herself down. Then she began tossing and turning, still unable to fall asleep.

“Can’t sleep?”

Lisa turned and saw Brian sitting on the edge of his bed, looking her way. She shook her head. “You fall asleep and wake up so quickly.”

“I wasn’t asleep.”

“You were snoring.”

“Okay so maybe I dozed for a bit. Don’t worry, I’m sure the computer thing was a glitch.”

“You said there was no internet connection. You can’t get messages without an internet connection.”

“It’s off now. Go back to sleep, and it’ll all be fine in the morning.”

“It's just...it's weird. It's kinda scary.”

Brian bit his lip as he stood up, knowing that she would have trouble calming down and falling back to sleep on her own. “I think I can help you calm down. Just...don't take this the wrong way or something.”

“Umm...” Lisa watched as he approached her bed, pulled the covers aside and climbed in next to her.

“Brian?” She instinctively scooted back, almost off the other side of the bed.
“I've been with girls long enough to know how to help when they're anxious or scared. Like I said, don't take this the wrong way, or a weird way.”

“No, it's fine. It's just a bit awkward because...well...I like your band, I like you, but I just met you the other day. Would your wife approve of this?” She asked before she could stop herself. “Shit...I'm sorry,” she said quickly before realizing that he hadn't even moved.

“If I was still happily married and not in the middle of a divorce, no I probably wouldn't be doing this. Anyways, it's late. Let's get some sleep.”

Lisa felt awkward and very uncomfortable, but knowing that somebody was right there had given her a sense of relief. She rolled onto her side, facing away from Brian. After a slight hesitation, she scooted until her back was against his side. The discomfort had slowly disappeared and she bad become more relaxed, almost feeling protected and had fallen back to sleep quite quickly.

Notes