How to Make a Sinner Sleep

45 | hallucinations; eyes under the bed

Kaden begun to feel his back coated in slick sweat, a fever running in his veins and hallucinations creeping along the edges of the room, hiding within the shadows. He kept the light on, even curled on his bed.

He wasn't quite scared of the dark, but rather what was inside it. And while he saw whispers creeping in the shadows, it was better than the pitch black of night.

The Devil's Moon would occur in two nights, and he only needed to endure until then. It never happened before—this agony that came like a dull beating with every thump of his heart, and slowly aching up his limbs.

He saw blinking eyes under the bed, but when he peered down, there was nothing. The cabinet drawers creaked open, but when he blinked, all was normal.

He thought he saw a person, tall and slim and watching, standing in the corner of the room, but it was gone by the time he turned his head to look. It was all his imagination, all not real and nothing that could harm him.

But knowing that his imagination created false monsters didn't mean he wouldn't look, double-checking to make sure it was really just his mind playing tricks.

Thankfully, he'd kicked Noah out of the room, though the dragon seemed reluctant and on the verge of prying the door back open on its hinges, forcing his way inside to his own bed.

It couldn't be helped, really. Noah already knew of the nightmares that kept Kaden up at night, and it would be no good for the dragon to be there for more of his weakness. 

His pathetic state. Or states, plural. Which was worse.

He heard voices speaking outside, but his senses were dull. A shadow plopped down in the space beneath his door, and Kaden frowned.

He heard Niklas and Noah speaking outside. The words didn't register with his mind as he was suddenly overtaken by a sudden burst of sleepiness, and the hallucinations became much more vivid.

He wanted to sleep; he couldn't sleep.

His eyes had to close; he had to open them to check.

Triple check the monsters, the creatures of the night that roamed along the edges of his mind, and his room.

He dragged himself up, blankets draped over his shoulders, tugging them closer to his body as he wandered to the door. Closing his eyes, he leaned, listening to the crinkle of paper, the turn of a page and steady breathing.

Noah. 

He mouthed the name deliriously.

What a ridiculous person he was, sitting outside. Kaden would've told him to stay with Niklas, but he was too tired to speak.

His body swayed in the murmurs of sleep, to the movement of paper that flipped at a steady pace, relaxing his mind. The person who wasn't a hallucination, a body resting outside against the door.

His body slumped to the ground with a soft thud.

The sound of paper stopped.

And a voice, cautious and low from the weight of exhaustion that came with night, called, "Chauvet?"

"Present." said Kaden hoarsely, rubbing his aching back.

He leaned against the wall, feeling the vibrations through the wood of Noah's voice behind. He was more awake now, a little more alert.

"How do you feel?"

"Better than I've ever been before."

There was a brief of silence, and Kaden imagined Noah's penetrating stare that was both scolding and irritated at his sarcasm. The man chuckled against the door. One day, that dragon would make a good parent, or even a teacher.