Ghoul Interrupted by Victoria Laurie

someone right behind us asked, “What did you see?” We both jumped and let out a small yelp.
    “It’s only me!” said Mrs. Lujan.
    “Ma!” Heath chided, then lowered his voice to a whisper. “Don’t do that!”
    She sat on the couch and took in the damage outside. “Tell me what you saw,” she insisted.
    “Something big,” I said.
    “Very big,” said Heath.
    “Very, very big,” I added.
    “Yes, yes,” she said impatiently. “I get it. The thing was enormous. What did it look like?”
    I opened my mouth, but words failed me at first. Heath stared at me blankly—he didn’t know how to describe it either. “It looked . . . ,” I began, “. . . like a dragon.”
    Heath nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Like an evil dragon.”
    Mrs. Lujan’s face paled. “It looked like a dragon ?” she repeated.
    I nodded. “It was like a demon dragon. Absolutely hands down the scariest thing I’ve ever seen!” And that was saying a lot coming from me.
    “How tall?” Mrs. Lujan asked, and there was an urgent note to her voice.
    Heath and I looked at each other. “Eight or nine feet tall. It’s hard to tell until the sun comes up and we can see how far away the trees are.”
    “What color was it?” Mrs. Lujan asked next.
    “Black,” I told her. “But it sort of shimmered too. There was this glimmer from the moonlight off its body.” And then I realized what I was saying—that I’d just seen a giant dragon move into the trees—and I wanted to laugh.
    But then I remembered the patio furniture and all the humor left me. Mrs. Lujan stood up and offered her hand to Teeko. I noticed that her lips were pressed hard together and she seemed to avoid our eyes. “You three should go back to bed,” she said.
    I was stunned by her suggestion. Heath must have felt the same way. “You’re kidding,” he told his mother. “You want us to go back to bed after seeing that ?”
    “Yes,” she said bluntly. “We can’t do anything about it now, and we’ll have a lot to talk about in the morning.”
    “But what if it comes back?” I argued.
    “It won’t,” she said as if she were certain. “It’s gone for tonight.”
    Heath shook his head. “How can you know that, Mom?”
    “Because I know more than you,” she said, wrapping her arm around Teeks and moving with her down the hall to the bedrooms. “Get some sleep or just rest if you can’t. We’ll talk more in the morning.” With that, Mrs. Lujan let go of Teeks, went into her bedroom, and ordered both her and Gilley to go back to bed too.
    Gilley came out into the hallway clutching his pillow; then he latched on to Teeko like a joey koala bear. He and Karen looked at us as if they couldn’t believe what Mrs. Lujan had just said. “Ma might be right,” Heath said. “Whatever that thing was, it’s probably moved on for the night.”
    My heart rate was starting to come down and I could feel the exhaustion seep back into my frame. I didn’t know why, but I thought I agreed with Mrs. Lujan and Heath—whatever that demon was, it probably wouldn’t come back again tonight. “We might as well turn in and at least try to get some sleep,” I told them.
    Gilley and Teeko looked at each other. “Can I sleep with you?” Gilley asked. That made me smile. Gilley. Asking to sleep with a girl. That was a first.
    “Sure,” she said, a bit of relief in her voice.
    When those two had gone back to bed, Heath and I checked on Doc, who seemed fine and drowsy himself, and then we turned in. Well, I turned in. Heath stood by the window looking out for a long time after I managed to nod off.
     
    The next morning I fought to stay asleep for as long as I could, but eventually the rich smell of waffles pulled me out of my slumber. With a tired sigh I opened one eye and gave in to the urge to inhale deeply.
    “That smells like heaven,” I mumbled.
    Heath rolled over and wound his arms around me. “Ma’s cooking breakfast,” he said. “And I can tell you from