Page 17 of Possessed By Shadows

“He’s mine,” Micah said as he returned with stuff for my hair, leaning over the back of the futon so he could fix my wild mop.

“I picked the wrong brother,” Sky said.

“I’m willing to share snuggles and goofiness, but the rest is mine,” Micah added. He loved messing with my hair, but he was very clinical about pulling it back into a firm braid so it didn’t tangle while we slept.

“Lukas doesn’t misgender you, right?” If he had, I’d totally break his face. His bullshit attitude toward me was bad enough, but if he treated Sky like crap…

“He doesn’t,” Sky said quietly. “I don’t think he cares enough for it to matter.”

“Then he’s an idiot and doesn’t deserve you,” I clarified. “I don’t care if he’s my brother, he’s still an asshole. Don’t let him treat you like crap.” I took the booklet back. “No classes with this SueLynn person. Got it.” There were two other options. One with Dion herself, so maybe we would start there. I put the booklet aside as Micah finished up my hair.

“You guys going to sleep?” Sky asked.

“Do you need us not to?” Micah answered. We all had occasions in which we stayed up late distracted by a movie or some project until we were so tired that sleep just sort of came.

“I don’t know?” She said quietly, more a question than an answer.

“Okay,” I agreed. “Do you know how this pendant thing works? There’s a booklet, but I guess I gotta put it together?” I dug the kit out to show her. It came with hemp cord in a pale cream brown color. The stone itself was an odd iridescent blue, with touches of green, and the more I moved it I could see a bit of a rainbow of colors.

“A rainbow fluorite? Pretty carving,” Sky said as she opened the package and read through the instructions. “Sort of New Age to focus on stones, but I’ve done a bit of reading on them. This one offers help with personal balance, focus, relaxation, and protection.”

“That all sounds good to me,” I agreed.

“The rope is pretty plain,” Micah said lifting the hemp from the package. “Does it have to be this?”

“Just something pliable,” Sky clarified. “They probably put that in there ‘cause it’s cheap and earth friendly.” She held up the stone, which was carved on each side with small openings to thread the string through, more like a bracelet than a necklace. “It will have more power if we wrap the band with hair. I would recommend a natural and non-animal product.”

“I have hemp and cotton. Maybe some bamboo?” Micah said. He turned and disappeared into his giant closet of crafts, returning a few minutes later with a box full of colored strands. “Hemp is more durable for jewelry. But I have better color options than the kit offered.”

I chose an ombre peacock colored strand from Micah’s pile, but had to admit I was too tired to really focus on jewelry making, and couldn’t help my yawn. “Hair sounds creepy. Does it have to be like hair of the white goat or something?”

“You read too many true crime novels,” Sky teased.

“More like mythology of paganism written by the church,” Micah added. “White goats are not a thing. It’s a Hollywood idea made to bring horror and revulsion to the idea of anyone practicing a non-Christian religion. The church’s attack on witches and pagans in the past are much more common than the few religions that practiced actual human sacrifice.”

“He’s so hot when he’s in history nerd mode,” I remarked to Sky. I knew in theory human sacrifices had a lot of history, though I suspected some things were a little skewed by the retelling through time.

“The hair should be from you and the people who love you. It’s a way to strengthen your spirit by having all of them with you,” Sky clarified.

“Oh, that sounds good.” I liked the idea of having my friends with me all the time even in a small way. I yawned again, barely able to keep my eyes open.

“Let’s do this tomorrow,” Micah said, taking the pieces and putting them into the bag the stone came in. “We can all go up to the loft and close the curtains. I’ll even play a meditation guide.” He moved around the room with purpose, putting things away, and turning off lights, making sure the door was locked, and Jet’s bowl had food. I made my way up to the loft with Sky close behind.

“He’s hot when he’s bossy too,” I added.

Sky giggled.

The loft space was fairly small, not large enough to fit more than the queen size mattress nestled snugly to the floor. There was a small set of shelves which organized all the bedding, but little else in our sleep zone. The line of blackout curtains we’d set up months prior provided a small cave-like space when shut, though there was always a dim nightlight glowing in the corner. That sort of thing was needed when noises sometimes woke us in the middle of the night.

My new doll Noel sat on the shelf above the bed, his own little mini bed set, very Japanese style with a futon on a Tatami mat. The doll bed had been a gift from Micah’s mother. I think it had been made for an American Girl style doll, but Noel didn’t seem to mind it was a little large for him. He was dressed in a pair of PJs and wore the wig that replicated Micah’s hair. He was my chibi Micah doll, an Asian Ball Joint style that Micah had bought for me at a cosplay convention we had recently attended. The top of the shelf near the bed had become a bit of his playground, filled with a mish mash of chairs, pillows, and other doll like toys. Not that he ever moved on his own. Not since that last night at the convention.

I tucked Noel into his tiny quilt, tugged the blanket back on our bed, and grabbed the extra set of pillows. My spot was near the stairs, Micah usually behind me, and now Sky too. It was a defensive thing. Like I could somehow stop an intruder from coming at them by being first in such a small space. I couldn’t even stop the cat as Jet pranced his way in before Micah, and settled down on his spot on Micah’s pillow. Sometimes he slept on mine, with his paws, and claws curled into my hair. That was always weird.

The lights went off below, leaving only the glow from our loft nightlight and the string of pale white bulbs hung on the bottom of the loft to illuminate the flat. Once we closed the curtain it would be dark enough to cause me a bit of claustrophobia. Though I understood Micah’s affection for the small space. It was a bit like a blanket fort. Protection all in our heads, but still that little thought of a closed space between us and anything else.

He appeared a moment later, climbing up the stairs and crawling into the space. The ceiling was too low to stand up. He tugged the curtains closed behind him and crawled over me. He took a minute to set up his Bose speaker, and put his phone on the shelf behind it. There were a handful of meditation apps we used frequently to help with anxiety or sleep.

The yoganidrachant, a sort of grounding thing that began with focusing on clearing your mind and then sliding through notations about pretty much every part of the human body, always worked for me. My mind raced to feel each part as it was listed, which would send me deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole and keep my mind from wandering, until I was out. It was like a sandbag to the noggin. As soon as I heard the first chime and introduction, I pulled the blanket up and got comfortable.