Sleepwalker: (Sleepwalker Trilogy Book One)

  Sleepwalker

  Janet Crewe

  Sleepwalker

  Copyright © 2019 by Janet Crewe.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations em- bodied in critical articles or reviews.

  For information contact :

  janetcrewebooks@gmail.com

  Chapter One

  Makenna Lestrange hated driving on Route 11. There was something creepy about it and it always made her feel like it wasn´t really she who was driving, but someone else and that she was just a spectator.

  She wasn´t the only one who felt like that and the highway was even known among the locals as Route eleven far from heaven. Not that the seaport in which she lived in wasn´t safe. It was in fact almost too safe because nothing ever happened in Gravesend, Massachusetts population 9 000. But if something did occur every thirty years or so, like a car crash, or knife stabbing or a kidnapping, then it always happened on that highway.

  Makenna picked up the speed a little which was kinda stupid since it was raining cats and dogs and she could barely see anything. They´d been lucky enough to get a flawless summer but now things seemed to be turning the other way. The pine trees were so drenched by the rain that they had turned black. They were reaching up to the sky, choking a strip of what looked like a melancholic, grey veil.

  She told herself that she should probably slow down as the trees flashed by, but she was already late and she wanted to get away from the highway as quickly as possible. Her hands seemed to be blurring out and she blinked, shaking her head.

  Why was she suddenly so tired?

  Makenna weaved the window down a little, scenting wet asphalt, tried to breathe deeply but she squirmed in her seat. She felt watched, as if eyes were hiding from deep inside the woods and were now examining her. At the sound of her phone vibrating Makenna jumped and accidentally bit the inside of her cheek. Her annoyance didn´t go away after she looked at the text and saw that Jacinda had written in caps lock.

  WHAT´S TAKING SO LONG??? YOU SAID YOU´D BE HERE BY 8! YOU´RE A TRAITOR AND A LIAR AND THE WORST COUSIN EVER!!!

  Makenna sighed and ignored answering. Jacinda was always so over the top and the bossiest person she knew. She had even dictated what Makenna was going to wear tonight so that the two of them could match. Makenna thought that matching at the age of seventeen was a little cheesy but she´d done as Jacinda had asked, even though she didn´t really want to go to her party in the first place.

  Getting some space from her friends and her cousin over the summer had actually felt quite good. She´d known her friends since kindergarten and sure they were nice to her, kept telling her that she was family but after a while their words had started to feel forced. Makenna couldn´t help blaming them for being so lucky and not really knowing just how lucky they were. Over a year ago she had been just like them meaning a wealthy, spoiled princess but ever since her father had suffered a stroke everything had changed.

  The Lestrange´s had been forced to move from an influential part of town to a sad, little cottage in the woods. Makenna and her friends had previously said all kinds of things about that area, such as that only lazies and crazies lived there but now it was Makenna´s home. The first day Makenna walked in there, pushing her father´s wheelchair over the threshold she´d been met by a swordfish trophy hanging in the hallway. Mrs. Lestrange who usually got a passionate sparkle in her eyes when talking about vulgar interior and poor taste, had just laughed a little and told Makenna that they wouldn´t stay there for long.

  But Makenna didn´t believe that, since her dad wasn´t getting any better and her mom couldn´t work because she had to take care of him. And so Makenna who always had taken everything for granted was now just like the other kids she had previously passed in school, without even throwing them a glance. Sometimes she even thought that her classmates looked as if they secretly enjoyed her downfall. Gone were the expensive clothes, the spa treatments, the tennis lessons and skiing in the Swiss Alps. Serves me right, Makenna thought. She´d stopped asking herself “why me” a long time ago and now she asked herself “why not me?” Only maniacs thought they were special, only…

  …Makenna let out a shriek and stomped on the pedal so hard the wheels screeched.

  She´d hit something.

  And it hadn´t been an animal.

  Makenna loved animals but she found herself wishing that it had been one, because she would have preferred an animal over a human. But it was a figure in a hoodie that had run out of the woods and tried crossing the highway. She´d been so occupied with her own silly, little thoughts that she hadn´t had time to stop. The highway was of the narrow kind, so maybe the runner had thought that he or she would have time to cross it, even if it had been an extremely reckless thing to do. This was what Makenna had been afraid of ever since she got her driver’s license. That she would accidentally kill someone and now it was possible that she actually had.

  “Oh, my god, oh, my god,” she murmured. “Please don´t let this be a nightmare.”

  She got out of the car, registering absently that it had stopped raining. The highway seemed empty of any dead person and Makenna´s heart started beating like a drum when she realized that the person must be lying underneath the car. The street was bone dry, as if the rain had stopped quite a while ago and on unsteady legs Makenna bent down on her knees and looked under the car but there was no one there. Her breathing slowed down as well as her frantically beating heart. It must have been a hallucination. She only thought she´d seen someone because her car window had been so blurry. Makenna rubbed her eyes and smiled to herself from relief.

  The forest was lush and so dense that it was almost eerie but no eyes seemed to be watching her. She inhaled deeply, waiting for the sharp scent from the pine trees but it was missing. There was no smell in the air at all. Strange she thought, turning around and she jerked at the sight of him.

  He was standing by the trunk of the car, a hoodie still over his head and his fists were clenched. The adrenaline that had passed came back again and Makenna wanted to jump in the car and drive away. Something really had been in her way but now that something or someone was just standing there, instead of lying hurt on the street as he should have been. The figure kept his head down and Makenna couldn´t see his face but he was tall, roughly 6.2, could cause damage and the smartest thing to do was to get in the car again.

  “Are you ok?” she shouted, because her conscience got the best of her and she held her breath as the person turned around.

  He was slender built but still quite muscular and had dusky, green eyes that almost looked out of place in his pale face. He had a strong jaw, broad and slightly fuller lips and dark eyebrows that were now frowning. The guy looked like trouble but Makenna relaxed and took a step closer. She knew him.

  “Daniel, are you all right?”

  Daniel Barlow had moved to Gravesend just before summer started. Makenna had seen him around whenever she´d been over at Jacinda´s but she´d never spoken to him, even if Jacinda flirted with him at every chance she got. Usually Makenna liked meeting new people but with Daniel it had been different for some reason. There was nothing wrong with him; he was very good looking but a little strange.

  Whenever Makenna caught a glimpse of him, she´d felt like the safest thing to do was to leave him alone. Or maybe she was just subconsciously angry with him for moving into the house where she had previously lived.

  Daniel nodded, his clenched fists loosening but then he locked eyes with Makenna and she gasped. His eyes were both sinister and grateful and they seemed to z
oom her in, hold her in place and she felt paralyzed. Something suddenly passed between them, some kind of a promise or as if a dice just had been rolled.

  “You´re here,” he said.

  It was the first time she heard his voice and it was low and slightly hoarse. He sounded both amazed and devious, as if something that was too good to be true just had happened. The menacing expression in his eyes disappeared and he looked at her up and down, as if he was drinking her in. For a second Makenna almost thought that he would run over to her and lift her in the air and roar with satisfaction as if he´d just won a prize but thankfully he didn´t. Maybe it was the confusion from having been close to death that made him act this way.

  “I´m so sorry,” Makenna continued. “I swear I didn´t see you, it was all so blurry and you just…you came out of nowhere.” It was odd that he had decided to cross the highway like that. But maybe he was high on drugs or something.

  “How do you know my name?”

  Firstly Makenna was perplexed but then she realized that the two of them had never been properly introduced.

  “Uh, my cousin Jacinda Price is your neighbor. She told me your name and I´m Makenna Lestrange. I used to live in your house, actually.”

  “I´ve seen you before,” Daniel said slowly and took a step closer to her. “When the firesquad came.”

  Firesquad, Makenna thought in confusion but then she remembered when she and Jacinda had tried to light a little fire in Jacinda´s garden. They had almost burned the house down and the firemen had been forced to come. It had been so scary and Jacinda had run around like a crazy woman, screaming and panicking and crying so much she´d almost prevented the firemen from doing their job. All the neighbors had come out to watch the spectacle, even Daniel apparently.

  “Yeah, that was really embarrassing,” Makenna said. “We must´ve looked real stupid but I promise you we´re not always like that.”

  For some reason she wanted Daniel to get a good impression of her and she didn´t know what to make of that. She´d never cared before about a boy´s opinion.

  “I thought you handled it well,” Daniel said. She stared at him in surprise. “You stayed calm the whole time even though I could tell you were scared,” he continued and he had a strange expression on his face. It was curious, admiring and triumphant all at the same time. Makenna couldn´t think of anyone else who had looked at her like that.

  “Was I?” she asked softly, suddenly shy and she couldn´t remember but apparently he did. Daniel seemed to want to tell her more but chose not to and Makenna realized that they were standing in the middle of a highway and that a car could come any second.

  “Yeah, maybe I was. Listen, I should be going. So sorry again that I almost killed you.”

  “You don´t have to apologize to me,” he said and she didn´t know what to say.

  Makenna didn´t know if she´d ever met a guy this intense and yet so out of it as if he was sleeping with his eyes open. And why wouldn´t she apologize? Was he fine by almost being killed or what?

  “Ok then, ok good,” she smiled but he didn´t smile back. Daniel didn´t move muscle, it was as if he was so tense that he was unable to act normally. Makenna was just about to get into the car, when she stopped. It wasn´t nice to just leave, he looked cold and maybe he was confused and it was the least she could do.

  “Hey, do you want me to give you a ride? I was going to Jacinda´s anyway and since you…”

  Makenna expected him to say no, because she thought that if you ran out like that there had to be some place where you were going.

  “Sure,” he said to her slight remorse and slight excitement. His voice was strained and he got into the car before even she did. Clearly he hadn´t even sprayed his ankle.

  Daniel didn´t bother putting on the seatbelt, just sat with his hands on his knees while looking straight ahead. They drove for a while and none of them said a word. Makenna kept looking at the clock, it had stopped for some stupid reason and her phone battery had died even though she´d just charged it before she´d left.

  She wanted to text Jacinda to say that she was on her way and that Daniel was in the car with her but now that was out of question. Maybe it was absurd but she was a little paranoid over him being in her car. Something about Daniel made her a little uncomfortable. Makenna could handle it when he was at a safe distance away from her, but now he was right beside her and the fact that he seemed unpredictable was both a little chilling and intriguing.

  “So,” she asked after a while to ease the tension. “How do you like Gravesend so far?”

  “I don´t like it,” he said, “It´s too sedative.”

  Makenna hid a smile. He had slight dark circles under his eyes so something sedative would probably be good for him. Daniel turned his face to the side and his eyes flickered over her, making her feel self-conscious and she was glad that she was dressed up. This wasn´t like her, she usually didn´t care about whether a boy thought she was pretty or not but with Daniel she apparently did. He was different than what she´d expected. When she had seen him talking to Jacinda, he had appeared friendly, polite and charming but with Makenna it was as if that smokescreen was gone. There was a sudden rawness to him that she found strangely appealing.

  “It does get boring around here,” Makenna said, “and people aren´t really that super friendly even though it´s a small town. But the school is ok and the shopping is not too bad.” She stopped herself, when she figured that Daniel probably wasn´t interested in shopping. “Will you be going to Gravesend High?”

  “For a while.”

  “Does that mean you´re moving soon again?” she said in surprise.

  He didn´t answer and out of sheer nervousness she continued talking.

  “Where did you live before you came here?”

  “Murdstone,” he murmured and Makenna raised her eyebrows. Murdstone was a little over an hour away by car and it was known for being extremely uppity but without any of Gravesend´s picturesque appeal.

  “But we needed to save money so mom transferred us here,” Daniel added.

  The area where Daniel lived now was the most affluent in town so he had to be extremely rich in that case. She was curious about why they needed the money, but thought that it would be too intrusive to ask.

  “Have you gotten to know anyone here over the summer? I know people can act stuck up, but that´s just until you get to know them.”

  “They can´t possibly be more stuck up than they are in Murdstone.”

  “No, you´d be surprised,” Makenna laughed and his face softened as if he liked the sound.

  “How about you?” he asked and she gave him a quick, questioning look. “What was your summer like?”

  “Just normal, I guess,” she answered. “Maybe a little boring but I shouldn´t complain.” Makenna couldn´t resist adding the last part, because her previous summers had always been filled with travels to exotic locations and lavish hotels. It sucked to be poor.

  “I could tell you were the kind who prefers a little danger,” Daniel said in a low voice and he sounded like it pleased him.

  Suddenly Makenna didn´t dare to look at him. She´d never said anything about danger and what did that mean anyway? Most people her age thought danger was letting their cars slide freakishly close to the highways edge, where they could fall over the ocean cliffs. Something told her that it wasn´t what Daniel was referring to. He noticed her perplexed silence and shrugged.

  “But to answer your question, I don´t really care about making random acquaintances, it´s not exactly my top priority.”

  “Got it,” Makenna nodded even though she thought it sounded quite strange. “But now you can at least add me to your random acquaintances.”

  “That´s not how I see you,” Daniel drawled and added absently. “I´ve been wanting to know you for some time now. In a proper way.”

  Makenna swallowed.

  “How…how come?”

  “Just seemed to me like you´re the only one worth
knowing around here,” he shrugged and she relaxed a little.

  Makenna had always been quite popular but she´d never given it much attention. Curiously enough his words made her want to get to know him better too, even though she had the feeling that she would need to be careful with him and not let her guard down too soon.

  “Don´t know about that,” she said. “And who knows? You might find me disappointing.”

  Daniel threw her a glance and his eyes lingered on her legs and her heart skipped a beat.

  “That´s not possible,” he said firmly and she waited for her heart to calm down. “And you should have come over and introduced yourself when you saw me talking to your cousin.”

  He probably thought she had no manners, Makenna thought to herself and tried not to blush.

  “We could´ve met sooner that way,” he continued and she quickly looked at him. His voice was causal but she could see something stirring beneath the surface, some kind of impatience.

  “Yep, you´re probably right,” Makenna said and nervously pulled at the sleeve of her dress that had slid down her shoulder.

  “Why didn´t you then?” he asked and she felt uncomfortable by his inquisitiveness. “Was there something about me that stopped you?”

  Something told me to stay away from you, Makenna wanted to say but of course she didn´t.

  “Just… just circumstantial,” she lied and she could have bit her tongue over the stuttering. To change the subject she asked. “Aren´t you going to tell me what you were doing in the woods?”

  “Walking,” he said curtly and she looked at his Doc Martens. They were perfectly free from mud.

  “It´s not exactly suitable weather for walking,” Makenna said and he nodded in agreement. His clothes weren´t even wet. “Strange how it just stopped raining like that.”

  Daniel said nothing, instead he just looked out the window as if he suddenly became aware of his surroundings and he gave a short nod.

  “It´ll probably start soon again,” he murmured and Makenna looked up at the sky. Gone was the grey and instead it was covered in heavy clouds, projecting a light that was both familiar and illusory.