• “CHEYENNE NO STOP!” I screamed as I violently woke from a horrid nightmare. It’s just a dream, sure, but even so….it seemed too real, even for me. I could smell the burning of flesh; I could hear the individual screams of terror; which called out my name time and time again as I passed by. My forehead dripped heavily, the beads of sweat were more to enough to tell me that I wasn’t getting to sleep again tonight.
    “Time”
    “TIME IS 04:32 AM CENTRAL STANDARD TIME”
    Yeah, there is no way I’m getting anymore sleep. Crap. I’m wide awake now; once I use my voice activated alarm clock and I hear that cold inhuman like voice, I become wide awake. Gah, come on Eli get yourself together! This is crazy, it was a dream. I decided to just try to lay back and rest. Try to get to that edge of consciousness that is before sleeping but not fully awake. Kind of like that place someone gets when they are really focused; like reading a book… I closed my eyes and leaned back putting my hands behind my head…
    “Eli…” The faint memory of my little sister Cheyenne filled every space in my mind... Cheyenne is a year younger than me, and in several ways she is my best friend. Very seldom do we fight, but when we do we both have a stubborn streak. We’ve gone 3 months without speaking to one another. But that always ended as if it never began in the first place…. She was a beautiful girl, Green eyes that shine like the leaves on the trees in the spring, copper hair that was to her chin, and a face of an angel…. Those childhood memories are painful to even faintly remember, mainly because I miss seeing her at her peak of happiness. After losing our mom, she was never the same…
    Mom passed away a few years ago, when I was 17. Cheye was 16…. I knew it was bad when I went to the scene with Cheye next to me, to ID the body. That was my mistake I suppose, that is when everything started going downhill. Cheyenne was the commander of the JROTC color guard, the model student. She isn’t anymore though…Right now she is in room 56… at Wesley Hospital, in the intensive care unit. Cheyenne is in a coma. She is a vegetable now… but our father refuses to take her off the life support.
    No matter how much I forced the thought out of my head… the image of Cheyenne in that bed… with all those cords and IV's in her… Her hair tangled… and her normally luminous skin was a dull gray… “Stop it Eli… Stop, just stop it now…” I chanted normally speaking out loud helped keep unwanted memories from surfacing… Tears flowed down my face in a steady stream, as the bright images of a dark and dreary memory flashed through my thoughts; losing Mom was never easy for Cheye, she took it hard. As if she could’ve stopped the Cancer from spreading. A few days after Moms funeral Cheyenne begin getting these bruises and scrapes, which were pretty large. She played it off as tripping or bumping into things; that seemed enough of an excuse for Dad but I knew better.
    “Cheye what is that on your arm?” I had asked once
    “Oh that? I was at the store and I ran into one of the corners of the shelves. That’s all, I’m sure it’ll heal soon. I’m fine. “Smiling brightly as she said it.
    At that instant my hands clenched tightly into fists, even though I wanted to sound caring and to keep my voice as calm as possible it came out the complete opposite. “I’m not an idiot Cheyenne! That cut on your arm is at least five inches long! How do you get a cut that is that long by just bumping into things?! That is it Cheyenne, Dad may be blind to this whole thing but I’m not. You are not fooling me.”
    “Eli, please, please don’t do it, don’t tell Dad...” A few tears had filled her eyes and streamed down her cheeks, “please big brother, I’m ok, trust me, I just-“She stopped herself and ran to me, as a natural instinct my arms tightly hold her, my baby sister.
    What else could I have done then, let her fall apart at the seams and walk away? I shoved the rest of the memory away, and ripped the blankets off of me. I grabbed my favorite pair of Wrangler jeans and swiftly put them on. I put on one of my polo shirts and my leather jacket; then stormed out the door. The sky was lit by the street lamps and the air was cool as the morning dew started to collect to the grass. I have to clear my head, I cannot keep thinking about Cheyenne as if she is still healthy. As if she was still a functional member of society. I sighed heavily at the thought, Cheyenne here; healthy. I should have told Dad. I should have done something, anything.
    A few cars whipped past, Teenagers, out at this time… was not uncommon in this part of the country, but nevertheless its dangerous. I had walked right past the hospital that Cheye was in. Part of me wanted to drop by for a visit; not that it would matter, she’d never notice if I was there or not. I sighed at the thought. Maybe she is doing better; I turned around and went into the hospital. There was no need to ask for her room because she never moved. I went straight to her room and sat in her only chair. I was the only one who ever seemed to come to visit nowadays. The only sound in the room was her heart monitor beeping with every heartbeat. Beep…beep…beep…
    “Cheye…why did you have to do this to yourself…” I whispered remembering the night she had shot the heroine through her veins. The Tylenol that I had bought for her; to help with the pain of losing our mom. I hated myself for doing that for her. I knew it would not help, but she is my little sister I had to do something to help her. I never would have thought this would have happened. It wasn’t what I wanted, I wanted her to be happy, not stuck in this musky hospital room half dead, with needles stuck in her veins keeping her alive! I hit the windowsill out of anger as I thought of how I had wronged my sister. I looked at her face, nothing had changed from when I had found her passed out in her room that night.
    I went over and kissed her forehead and ran my fingers through her hair, then left. I went down to the river and walked around til around noon. It was a typical August day. Sunny and nice with a slight breeze that might make an outsider wear a jacket.
    I guess I should tell you about myself. My mane is Eliott Nite, I am 5’9’’ tall. My favorite color is Orange, and I am into old cars. I can tell you the make and model of just about any car, I can tell you what engine is running in a car by the sound It makes. I draw, well mostly I design cars. And I can do it in only a couple minutes. My hair is a dark bronze color and it only a couple inches long. My eyes are the same color as my hair. I am in shape but I am not really as tone as I could be. My style of clothing is casual but I like to wear button up shirts and jeans. But none of that really matters. Im fresh out of high school and am quickly going into adult hood.