CHAPTER NINE: SOMETHING OUTSIDE THE WINDOW

I sat up with a quick start, sweating and panting so hard my lungs felt massively caged. I leaned across the bed and slammed my table clock on. 2:00am. It was barely even morning. I let out a groan, dreading my own room. i peered out through my room at the soft rays of the full moon washing into my face and bathing my room with a light pearly glow. 

 Just like the forest. 

" Enough of that" I whispered shakily " it was just a dream. Terrifying but still just a dream. Deep breaths Mira" I let out a deep gusty breath, running my hand through my neck and hair to be sure I wasn't still being eaten live by a vampire. I knew it! Shouldn't have read that interview with a vampire book so late into the night. It was probably just a trigger from Stephen king's horrifying story. Nothing to worry about. There was absolutely nothing to worry about. 

I leaned back and eased myself down to the bed slowly, trying to steady the persistent thrum of my heart. 

Something ruffled through my window ledge and I sat up, panting. I scrawled through my bed and took a long peek, letting out a sigh of relief. It was only a gecko. 

Gotta stop creeping yourself out Mira it was only a dream! With that done, my heart thrummed into a steady beat and I settled in, trying to catch a few more hours of sleep before school. I tossed and turned through the first ten minutes, until it came. A soft low whistle and then a series of chirps and the earthly music I knew too well. It was the nightingale. I snuggled into the warm sheets, suddenly feeling a wave of peace wash over me, falling asleep with the window in my face. And for some reason, the lamp post looked so much like a man.