The Year of the Lumin Read Free

down.  Is it alright if I go up?”
    No one said anything for a long moment.  They were trying to figure out what he meant.  “Yeah, you go,” Steven finally replied.  “I think you two should catch up together by yourselves.”  He smiled.  “You don’t need us boring old people to ruin your fun.”  With that, Noir stood up, said thank you for the apple, and walked to the bottom of the stairs in the other room.  When he left the room, the adults started up their conversation again.  Noir took a few moments to take a deep breath before starting up the stairs.
    He climbed each creaky step and came to the door that he knew was hers.  It was closed and had various band logo stickers covering it.  He knocked and waited.  After no answer, he knocked louder.  When no answer came again, he slowly grabbed the doorknob, opened the door, and stuck his head in.  Aimee was sitting at a computer, her back to the door with headphones on.  She had on a black t-shirt and baggy green pajama pants.  Her brown hair was in a short, spiky pixie cut.  Noir had known Aimee for all of his life and she had always had long hair.
    "Hey Aimee?  Can I come in?”  She didn’t answer.  “Ok, I’m coming in then.”  Noir walked in and closed the door.  Cautiously, he walked over and sat on her bed which was next to her computer.  He waited for a minute not knowing what to say.  Aimee was playing a computer game, but he could tell that he was in the side of her vision, so she knew he was there.
    Finally, without turning from the game, she said, “How’s your leg?”
    Noir usually didn’t like to talk about it, but he was just glad she said something .  “It’s not good, really.  I still limp and it hurts sometimes, but at least I can walk.”
    “Could be worse.”  There was another long pause, so Noir leaned over and watched the game she was playing.
    “Hey, I’ve heard of that game.  Are you playing it online right now?”
    “Look.”  Aimee turned sharply around and made the first eye contact with Noir in a year.  She spoke very quickly.  “Why did you take me to that stupid cave anyway?  Why me?  I didn’t even want to go with you.”
    Noir was taken back.  Since his dad’s comment in the van earlier, Noir had tried to imagine how Aimee felt, but he hadn’t imagined she’d be angry about it.  He fumbled some words and then said, “I don’t know.  You're my friend and I guess I just wanted someone else to be there with me if I found something cool.”
    “Yeah, well your 'something cool ' has landed me in a psychiatrist's office for the last ten months.”
    “What?  Why?”  Noir asked.
    “What do you mean, ‘ why. ’”
    “It happened to me, not you.  I don’t understand.”
    Her jaw dropped and she looked even angrier than before.  “Well, let me put it like this.” She slapped her hands on her legs for emphasis.  “Have you ever seen one of your family members almost get killed by something you could have stopped?”  She didn't give him time to answer.  “No, didn't think so.  I have thought over and over, 'if I had just stopped him' or 'if I had forced us to go home.'”  Her words got a small quiver in them as she spoke.  “Or if I had just never agreed to go with you in the first place.”
    “Aimee.  It was my fault.  I shouldn't have climbed up there to see that ca--”
    She cut him off.  “And that stupid cave!  I've had dreams about it every night since.  The doc keeps telling me it's because I feel bad for not stopping you.  But it's more complicated than that.”  She wiped an eye with her hand, leaned back in her chair, and looked at the ceiling.  “They aren't normal dreams.  I see... weird things.”
    She paused for a moment so Noir asked, “What kind of weird things?”
    “You don't want to know.”  She paused for a long moment and Noir wasn’t sure if she was going to say or not.  Then she continued.  “We’re fighting in them.  And we