At 256 Tunisia Avenue, Tanya Shields woke up on her bed. The television flickered light in the room and tricked her into thinking there was a lightning storm. Realizing there was no storm, she reached over for the remote in Danny's hand.

Danny wasn't there.

She heard a hyperactive banging from the hall.

Worried, Tanya left the bed. She slipped on her ducky robe and covered her slim 31-year-old body. On bare feet, she walked into the hall. She passed Freddie's bedroom and peaked inside. He slept with his Transformer sheets tangled around his limbs; his face concentrated on a dream. Tanya closed the door and tapered the sound to Freddie’s ears.

In the living room, Tanya found Danny at the front door. He nailed planks of wood across the threshold; a toolbox opened at his bare feet. Sweat soaked through his T-shirt and pajama bottoms.

Tanya stepped closer to her husband but kept a safe distance from his hammer. "Danny?" she said.

Danny stopped hammering and twisted around. His fear-filled eyes stared at Tanya. She knew that he wasn’t seeing her. Danny walked over to Tanya, raising the hammer for protection.

Tanya moved out of his way.

Danny stepped past her and looked around the living room. He checked the couch, the fireplace, and the tiniest spots behind the furniture. He walked into the kitchen and looked inside the dishwasher.

With nothing left to check, but still cautious, Danny walked back to the door. He picked up another plank of wood and nailed it up.

Tanya knew not to wake him. This wasn't the first time Danny had done something like this. A few nights ago he changed all the locks in the house. Then, a few weeks ago, he attached army-style booby traps on the doors. If someone broke in, the intruder would set off a sledgehammer aimed for the head.

On the way back to her room, Tanya found Freddie at his bedroom door. His sleep-crusted eyes curiously looked at her.

"Freddie, what are you doing?" Tanya asked.

"What's that noise?"

She kneeled down, blocking the 10-year-old boy's view into the other room. "Oh, Daddy is just working on something."

"Now?"

Tanya smiled at his amazement.

"Yeah, I know and he knows," she said. "But you know how your father gets when he sets his mind to things. Try and go back to sleep."

"Okay."

Freddie kissed her cheek and went back to bed. Tanya closed the door and walked to her own room. She dropped her robe on the foot of the bed, covered herself up with the blanket to her chin, and watched the open bedroom door.

The hammering stopped after a half hour, but Danny didn't come back to bed. Tanya relaxed enough to close her eyes and fall asleep. She woke up later when she felt Danny's body slip into the bed. Tanya carefully looked at him. Danny was asleep.

# # #

Tanya and her mother, Melissa Deal, moved to Owel from Asbury Park, N.J. when Tanya was seventeen years old. Her father, Keith Deal, died five months prior. His heart failed at the bank where he worked. Keith stood at the door in his security guard uniform when he felt a pain in the left side of his body. The paramedics didn't bring him back. Keith Deal was D.O.A.

Melissa was dependent on Keith. He was the money-gatherer of the family. Melissa had a few part-time jobs but they never lasted long. She could not perform menial jobs like cleaning up or unpacking boxes. Whenever Melissa gave the boss a hard time, they told her to get an office job if she didn't want to do this one. Melissa couldn't find an office job due to her lack of skills. She tried to accomplish what they expected of her, but she ended up ashamed and debased. Melissa quit the job before she finished the task.

Back at home Tanya did everything that her mother was too superior to do. Since she was eleven years old, Tanya cleaned the house and cooked the meals. Tanya didn't mind doing it. She convinced herself that her mother had a mental problem and a fear of lower-class domestic life. Tanya wanted to help her father with whom she had a strong connection. Tanya knew Keith busted his ass, working over-time to make up for the unemployment Melissa went through. Tanya wanted life easier for him. Keith saw Tanya's hard work and often showed his appreciation with a few dollars and small gifts.

When Keith died, Melissa fell apart, worrying about who was going to take care of her. Just two weeks after the funereal, Melissa started to date a few men and assessed them for marriage. The dating disgusted Tanya, but she wasn't too surprised. She knew Melissa had no pure love for Keith.

While Melissa hunted for a husband, Tanya noticed the mortgage, the money accounts, and the bills. The money Keith left them was decreasing. Instead of paying bills, Melissa used it for more important things: new dresses, make-up, etc. They had to move into a cheaper home. Tanya found an apartment at the edge of Owel, just on the border of Jackson. It was the top half of a two family Victorian house.

At first, Melissa didn't want to go. Tanya then sat her down and showed her the bills and the money left in their account. Tanya told her mother they would be kicked out and homeless if they didn't pay the bills. Melissa’ s mind shifted in favor of the move. How could she meet a man if she was homeless?

Tanya started school at Owel High School that September. She also worked 30 hours a week at the local K.F.C. Tanya worked every night and took over-time as much as the manager allowed. She came home, tired and greasy, and did her homework. Her day ended at 1 A.M., then started again at 6 A.M.

Melissa found a job as a hostess at a local restaurant. She loved it. Melissa dressed up everyday, and felt superior to the staff. All she had to do was show the customers to their tables. If there was a mess, someone else cleaned it. Plus, Melissa met a lot of rich men.

As for Tanya, life felt hard with no reward. All she did was work and go to school. She had a few friends, but she was too tired to see them. Tanya felt like her father when he came home at night. No one was there to appreciate her, only to take what she earned. Melissa did nothing to help except give Tanya part of her paycheck for the rent and food. Tanya took care of the finances and cleaned up the apartment so Melissa could bring a possible husband home to entertain.

Then a little light came into her life.

In late October, she fell asleep with her face in her open Algebra book in study hall. A boy with an arm cast sat next to her. He told her that she was snoring and drooling on the pages of her book. Completely embarrassed, Tanya dried her face and book.

"Don't you get enough sleep?" the casted-boy asked.

"No. Not really," Tanya admitted. "What happened to your arm?"

The boy turned and took away the smile Tanya thought was so cute. "I hurt it one night."

"In a fight?"

"No. Accident."

"Oh."

"My name is Danny Shields."

"Tanya Deal."

# # #

The alarm played the morning news at 6 A.M. Tanya lowered the volume to a tolerable level. She turned to Danny and watched him sleep.

Although they were the same age, Danny looked a lot older. His temples grayed up on his light brown hair; lines formed around his eyes and mouth. They didn't look like smile lines, quite the opposite. But underneath all the hard changes, Tanya still saw the same smiling face that protected her since the first day they met; before life turned scary.

Tanya smiled down at Danny. She placed her palm on his chest, under his shirt, and made circular motions. He opened his eyes and smiled back at her. They both knew that they were going to delay their day. The morning was the best time for them. At night they were both exhausted. Plus, Danny had the stench of garbage he brought home from work. He drove a truck for Plutarch Waste Management in Staten Island.

"Ooo, you're cute," he said. "What's your name?"

Tanya straddled his hips and rubbed his belly. "Does it matter," she said. Tanya lowered her mouth to his.

"Just want to know what name to call out when I cum."

"What makes you think your mouth won't be busy doing something else," she countered.

They both smiled at each other and got down to business.

# # #

Tanya ate breakfast with Freddie in the kitchen. They were dressed for the day. Freddie worked on a bowl of Lucky Charms, picking out the marshmallows and eating them. Tanya looked from her eggs and toast at Freddie and gave him a suspicious look.

"I hope you're going to have more than marshmallows for breakfast," she said.

Freddie took the spoon, scooped up the healthy bits and mouthed it, chewing loudly and smiling.

Tanya smiled back. "Thank you."

Danny entered the room and kissed Tanya and Freddie on the top of their heads. "'Morning all." He then looked into the living room and noticed the boarded front door. Danny walked over to the barricade, confused.

Tanya stepped up behind him.

"Did I do this?" Danny asked her.

"Last night."

Danny looked at Tanya. "I don't know how... I'm sorry."

"It's okay. We'll just use the back door."

"I'll fix it tonight. I promise."

"Okay."

"I'd do it now, but I'm running a little late this morning."

"Oh, what have you been doing?" Tanya prodded.

"Not with the boy in the room."

"I can hear you," Freddie offered from the table.

"See," Danny pointed out.

Back at the kitchen, Tanya cooked Danny an egg sandwich for the road. Danny gave Freddie a kiss on the top of his head and made plans with him to help take the planks off the door. Freddie looked forward to it.

Outside the house, Danny kissed Tanya good-bye.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you more," he smiled back.

# # #

Tanya knew Danny was a sleepwalker since they started dating in high school; it never bothered her. She discovered it herself the first time they slept together while her mom was away on a romantic weekend. Tanya woke up and found Danny roaming the apartment, following something, playing a game that only he could see. When Tanya confronted him the next morning, Danny had no idea what she was talking about. Danny never knew that he was a sleepwalker.

At home, Danny lived with his younger brother by two years, Ray, and his mother, Juliana Shields. Danny's father, Bernard, died four years ago from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Bernard was a sleepwalker all his life. In fact, Danny believed that his father was asleep when he shot himself.

When Tanya broke the news to Danny about his own late night strolls, he worried. Danny started tying himself with a thick rope between the leg of the bed and his own leg. It worked. In the mornings, Danny found himself on the floor and attached to the bed.

Then there were the Beings.

Danny had seen them since he was a little boy. He told Tanya about the first time. Danny slept in his bed, and they floated over his body. At first, he was a little frightened, but then he grew used to them, and realized that they didn't really do much. They watched and smiled. Then the Beings became a little daring. They touched Danny, tickled him or played games with him.

When Tanya asked Danny what they looked like, he drew her a picture. Most of their features were human. They had arms, legs, and a head, but their skin was waxy and white. Their faces were perfectly round and flat with cat-like noses and slotted eyes that revealed green and milky light. Their mouths were vagina-like, horizontal.

Tanya accepted the Beings. Yes, it was weird but she found them non-threatening. Danny was the sweetest person she had ever met. She considered herself luckier than the rest of her friends at school who had to deal with pussy hungry boys that never gave them the time-of-day unless they spread their legs or opened their mouths for six inches. Danny never rushed her. He always thought about her and how she felt. Danny never dragged her anywhere, but asked her what she wanted to do. When Danny asked her to marry him that summer after graduation, even though he was a hallucinating sleepwalker, Tanya said, "yes" before he could finish the question.

# # #

Tanya sat in the break room and ate a burrito and diet soda from the Jamesmart snack bar. Charley Blair, a man in his mid-twenties who worked in the automotive section; and Kim Lit, thirty-six and head cashier, sat across from her. Kim endlessly chatted about a movie she saw the other night called "Sixteen Candles." Tanya zoned out, more interested in how Kim talked and ate without taking a breath.

A half hour later, Tanya finished her food and left the room at the point where Kim declared her sexual attraction to Anthony Michael Hall. Tanya walked out into the store and slipped on her blue apron where plastic tags advertised her name and the 40% off sale in her department.

Tanya worked in House Wares for the last 5 years. She liked it, but she didn't love it. It was a job. She was around long enough to be one of the highest paid employees. Plus, she had great benefits that covered Danny and Freddie, making the sick times easier on them, especially Freddie.

Even before Freddie was walking, he touched and grabbed things, always resulting with a smash on the floor or on his head. Some of Freddie’ s accidents were funny, like when something soft fell on him and he made a funny face, but there were others when a lamp fell on his head and he needed a stitch or two.

Tanya stepped to the counter of her department and relieved a part-timer named Tom. She picked up the sale markdown that he started for her. The rest of the day was easy until after 3 P.M. when customers came in for the sale, but Tanya didn't mind. It gave her a break from thinking about Danny.

# # #

About a year ago, Tanya woke up in the middle of the night to hear Danny screaming. She entered the living room and found him on the floor, wide-awake and bleeding from the arm. Tanya wanted to bring him to the hospital but he insisted on staying home. She helped him into the bathroom and nursed the wound. It looked like a large animal bite; like a wolf or dog left four canine teeth punctures in his forearm.

Tanya asked Danny what happened. Danny told her that he heard something out in the living room and investigated, thinking it was one of the Beings. But it wasn't. It was something else altogether. In fact, Danny didn't even get a good look at what attacked him. He said it moved fast like a vicious animal.

A few weeks later Danny started to get paranoid. Instead of sleepwalking, playing, he moved with a purpose. He was frightened of something. Danny started securing the house, protecting them from something that only he saw or felt was out there trying to get him. Whenever Tanya asked him about it, he turned quiet and secretive.

Tanya later found out that it was nothing new. Danny's brother, Ray, was doing the same thing. Ray was bitten by something that same year. He adjusted his house and protected himself from the same monsters that haunted Danny.

Tanya asked Ray what was going on with them, but he wasn’t sure. Ray had a theory that it was something hereditary. Bernard, Ray and Danny's father, experienced the same symptoms as them before he killed himself.

Tanya felt helpless and scared. This was out of her league, and she had no one to confide in. Her mother, after finding a new husband for the third time, moved ten years ago to Orange County in California, and Danny's mother died five years ago, finally finding relief from the depression she lived with after her husband's suicide. Tanya feared that she was going to follow the same path as Danny's mother.

# # #

Tanya left work at 8 P.M. and drove straight home. She parked the car on the cracked driveway and headed up to the door. Tanya tried to walk in, but the door was planked up. She figured Danny would have fixed it by now.

Tanya went to the back door and entered the house. She expected Danny home with Freddie, watching television with him on the floor, but no one was around. Worried, she went to the phone and called Ray's house. He picked up on the first ring.

"Ray, it's me. Is Freddie there?"

"Sure is. What happened?"

"Danny didn't come by to pick him up?"

"Nope."

"Well, where is he?"

"I figured that there was traffic on the Turnpike," Ray offered.

Tanya said that she would be right there.

On the way, Tanya came up with a few possible scenarios of where Danny could be. All of which were bad. Danny could have fallen asleep at the wheel and drove into a car accident, or some drunk could have knocked him off the road. Maybe there was an accident at work. His arm could have been caught in the crusher at the back of the truck. It happened to one of his co-workers a few months ago (took his arm off at the elbow and almost bled to death.)

When Tanya arrived, Ray was waiting for her on the front lawn, smoking a cigarette. Ray smiled and waved as he walked to her car.

"That was fast."

"Ray, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. I like spending time with him," Ray said. "Besides, tomorrow is my day off." Ray worked the morning shift at the local Pathmark where he chopped up meat for the deli department. He kidded around with people and told them that he understood what it was like to be a serial killer, hacking and chopping at dead flesh. People walked away and gave Ray a weird look. He just smiled and waved, getting off on their reaction.

From the house, Freddie came out with his school backpack on and a bunch of papers in his hand. "Hey, Mom," he screamed at her.

Tanya kneeled down and opened her arms for a hug.

"How was your day, sweetie?" Tanya asked.

"Alright."

"Do all your homework."

"Yeah, Uncle Ray helped me."

"Ah, not by much," Ray said, rubbing Freddie's brown-haired head.

"Look what we did." Freddie showed her the papers under the streetlight’s glow. They were cartoon style drawings of Ray's white cat, Michelina. "This one here really happened. Michelina was reaching for a fuzzy toy mouse on the top of the fireplace and knocked over a glass. She really did make that face."

"That Michelina," Tanya said. "She's a silly cat, huh?"

"Can we get a cat, mom?"

"Oh, honey. You know your father is allergic."

"Maybe he can get a shot, or something."

"We'll talk about it."

Freddie turned to Ray in disappointment and said, "That's another way of saying ‘no’."

"You know you can see Michelina whenever you want," Ray offered. "She always asks about you."

"Okay," Freddie said, slumming.

Tanya thanked Ray again and took Freddie home. When Freddie asked her where his father was, Tanya told him that he got stuck in traffic. He should be home soon.

# # #

By the time Danny came home, Freddie was asleep in bed, and Tanya was in the living room with the television keeping her company. It was eleven at night. With the wettest pair of eyes, Tanya looked at Danny.

"I'm sorry," he said, entering through the back door and not able to look at her.

"Where were you?"

Danny searched for words, trying to come up with something. "I can't lie to you."

"That's good. Then tell me."

"I was out."

"Where."

"I'm. . .trying to get help for us."

"That's great," Tanya said, sarcastically. "But don't you think you can tell me where you were?"

"No. Not yet. I'm sorry."

Danny walked to the bedroom.

Tanya, feeling tired and angry, curled up on the couch and went to sleep.

# # #

Tanya and Danny slept in separate rooms for the rest of the week. While she slept on the couch Tanya woke and saw Danny in a state of paranoia and fear, roaming the room. Sometimes he camped out on a kitchen chair in front of the door and waited with a knife in his hand. Other times, he searched the house, looking for a threat.

That weekend Danny removed the planks from the front door. Freddie stood by his side and helped, gathering and holding the tools that his father needed. Tanya watched them from the kitchen and saw how gentle Danny acted with his son. For a moment she felt a pang of jealousy. It looked like they were sharing something only they could understand.

It ate her up not knowing where Danny was till eleven at night. Tanya knew he wasn't with another woman or hanging out with his friends. She believed him when he told her that he was trying to get help, but from who?

Tanya finally found a clue when she gathered a wash down in the basement. Tanya searched Danny's shirt pockets and found a business card:

DR. TARALLAB

SOMNABULIST

# # #

The address on the business card was in town. She turned off Route 9 to a small block of stores and parked her car in the lot. There were four stores, but only two of them were occupied. One was a record store, The White Noise Maker, with a big cassette on the roof and the other, with an empty store in between, was a photocopy center.

Tanya walked to the empty store at the end. The business card said the doctor's office was at 346 Route 9 South. The number at the top of the glass door said the same. It was abandoned. Brown paper bags and smeared soap covered the windows. A "For Rent" sign was attached to the locked door.

She entered the White Noise Maker. Husker Due came out of the speakers. Shelved cassettes and posters covered the walls. The room was only ten feet wide and two yard long, just barely giving people room to move down the aisle and look through the wooden browsers of records in the center. Immediately to the right, she saw a heavy man with a dark brown beard writing something down on a ledger and sifting through some tapes.

"Hi, can I ask you a question?" Tanya asked.

"You can ask me whatever you want," Danny Westerberg said from behind the counter, dropping his tapes and offering his hand in greeting.

Tanya smiled, flattered by the attention and not used to getting any in a while. "I'm afraid it has nothing to do with music," she warned.

"Then, yes. I am free for dinner"

"Um, I'm afraid that’s not it, either."

Danny made a fake frown and sat back on his stool. "Okay. Shoot."

"That store on the end, the one that's empty, have you ever seen a doctor's office there?"

"Nope. I've been here for a year and a half. There has never been a doctor's office here. But there is one just further down the highway," he offered.

"Thank you."

Tanya left the store and went back to her car. Her watch said it was just after six. If Danny was coming here after work, then he should be here soon, she thought. Tanya took the business card out of her pocket and studied it. Maybe it was a decoy to steer Tanya away from where Danny really was. This office space was hardly the kind of place a legitimate doctor would hold a session. Plus, it was for rent.

She saw his car pull up. Danny parked in front of the building, left the car, and entered the office.

Entered the office?

Tanya swore that it was locked.

She left the car and walked to the building. Tanya stopped at the door and found it ajar. Tanya stepped inside, letting the parking lot lights shine in. It was as she expected: dark, dusty, and abandoned.

"Danny," she called out.

No one answered.

Tanya took a brick from the floor and propped it in front of the door, holding it wide open. She walked deeper into the room and looked around. Tanya called Danny's name a few more times, but there was still no answer.

At the back of the room was an entrance. The light from the front door didn't reach that far and all she saw was pitch black. But Tanya heard something. A wheezing.

"Danny?"

The wheezing grew stronger and closer.

Tanya ran out of the abandoned office. She didn't stop until she was inside her car. Tanya looked up at the office and saw a distorted, hulking figure hidden in shadow close the door.