Asleep

32 Confronted

Charlie~~

I'm drinking a glass of red wine by my pool when my phone alerts me that someone's at my front door.

Even though no one sleeps in Somnia besides me—and other Class Ones—I don't usually get unannounced visitors after midnight. I don't bother changing out of my sweatpants or leaving my glass on the iron poolside table to answer the door.

Tye stands on my doorstep clearly in distress if he's here without prior warning. He's been to my house before but never unannounced.

Opening the door farther, I motion for him to come inside. "I didn't know to expect you." Did Dad send him? "Is something wrong?"

"I should have texted." He runs his hand forward through his black hair as he steps inside. "I don't know why I didn't. I'm not even sure what to say." If Nora told him what happened, I'd expect him to come with fists raised, so I have no idea what this is about.

"Wine?"

"Please."

As I lead him out to the pool, I take us through the kitchen to grab an extra glass. Once out by the pool, he takes the seat across from mine. With only the blue glow of the pool as light, I take the wine bottle from the middle of the table and pour the wine into his glass.

I wait until he's drank from it to ask why he's here and take a sip of my wine.

"Radia. She's missing."

The wine goes down the wrong pipe, and I cough.

"It happened tonight at her work. We saw her on camera being taken."

I'm not aware of Dad apprehending any Lucid tonight. He usually has me verify they are before acting.

"Her phone's been disconnected. Our apartment has no record of her living there and all her stuff was moved to my apartment." That does sound like a Lucid situation. "I told you about Isaac. I thought he disconnected his number because he was paranoid. I convinced myself that there being no record of him was only him going off the grid. But now that the same thing is happening to Radia, I can't look past it."

Being able to accept things that don't make sense is a cornerstone of dreamers. Eventually, he'll come to believe Radia disappeared because of paranoia that she created in her own mind, as long as no one keeps reminding him that it doesn't make sense.

Dad ordered me to confirm that Isaac was a Lucid after he began to suspect the boy was.

Isaac's dead.

His heart gave out during a nightmare he was put into. I'll never forgive myself for the role I played even if I was only acting on orders.

"Nora thinks you know here she is."

I take a long pull from my glass. "She does?"

"She had told me you two had an argument and that she quit. When Radia went missing, her story changed, and she said you turned her into the government . . . because she had been acting, well, off."

"I didn't turn her in."

"So she lied?"

"What else did she say?" I refill my glass.

"That she was beaten. That you're connected to the people responsible. I know it sounds preposterous. She doesn't even have any injuries."

The pool water is still; though, I love when there's a slight ripple making the lights seem to dance. "She's right."

He stares at me. "Charlie, you can't be serious. She looks fine."

I shrug, conjuring a rock over the water. When the rock appears and consequently drops into the pool, it causes the water to ripple. Tye notices the splash but never sees the rock.

"There are inexplicable things in this world. I don't know what happened to Radia. I had no part in that. But Nora was taken. She had injuries. Now she doesn't. It's inexplicable for you, but I was there."

"You let them hurt her?"

I tap my finger against my glass. "Yes." In choosing not to wield the fists against her myself, it became my decision to let them hurt her.

His chair scrapes against the pavers. "Then I quit."

I bow my head. I had to have known this was coming. Tye's the closest thing I have to a friend. I've known him for almost a year. After what happened with Isaac, I read Tye's file and transcripts. He played lacrosse in high school, and his dad noted that he probably would have made captain. His dad was a single parent who died a few months ago while driving on an icy road.

I've never seen Tye's real body because it's in our northern facility, and I've never set foot outside the eastern one. But all these things made me feel like I knew the true him—the part of him that's so deeply buried in his mind that he doesn't even know it's a part of him.

"Okay," I say at last.

"That's it?"

"What do you want me to do? Beg for you to stay?"

"Maybe explain yourself better."

I set my glass down and meet his eyes. "You can't understand."

He drives his glass down onto the table, shattering it. He swears, pulling his hand back. Glass shards stick out of his skin, and blood rises to the surface of his cuts.

I picture his hand healed, and the cuts seal.

He scrambles out of his seat, grasping his wrist tightly as if he means to separate his hand from the rest of his arm. "What the hell is this, Charlie?"

With a sigh, I pick up my glass and sip the wine. "Believe Nora, Tye. She's going to need you."

This question is inspired by JulianaTheis. Who in this book needs a hug the most?