Little Lightning

Special; Zaylee's Background

Ok, so when I have writers block, I like to write background stories for my characters. They're basically little scenes featuring whatever character I'm focusing on that reveal little details about the characters that you might not have known from the main story itself. The first one is for Zaylee. Also, I decided that the two drawings/character things I posted for the five hundred reads isn't enough, so I decided to post this. By the way, if my reads go up to six hundred, I'll post another one!

I kind of wrote it in an earth setting, so it's a little different. I'm actually quite proud of it, so I hope you like it!

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Zaylee lay still, eyes wide open. Glancing at her clock, she shuffled out of bed. Her internal timer chimed with the early morning alarm.

12 hours. The clock whispered. 12 more hours before they go to bed.

Zaylee ignored the voice, walking into the bathroom and running her hands underneath the sink. She splashed water onto her face and planted her hands on the side of the sink, looking at herself in the mirror.

Dark circles like bruises hung underneath her eyes, her face pale and drawn. Her blue eyes were red like she had been crying, and her cheekbones stood stark against her skin. She looked like a corpse. She watched as a drop of water left a wet streak on the side of her face, dripping off her chin.

12 hours.

She shoved away her rising panic and pushed herself away from the mirror. Exiting the small bathroom, she skipped the shower and pulled on her clothes. Her eyes burned with fatigue, and her body was heavy. It was all she could do to not fall asleep. Walking out of the room, she walked down the hall to the kitchen and pulled open a cupboard, reaching for the second to last cup of raman. Muttering a curse, she opened the cup and pushed it into the microwave. Closing the microwave door, she was just about to turn it on when she remembered she had to put water in it or it would catch fire. Sighing, she pulled it out, and put it back in, this time with water.

She slumped into the wooden chair that was bolted down to the floor on a sliding latch, allowing the chair to move back and forth. She worked the chair back and forth slowly, listening to the sound of the microwave and the sound of the metal wheels on the chair moving back and forth.

11 hours.

She winced and stood up, pulling out the raman. Blowing on it for only a few seconds, she slurped up the broth, the hot liquid scorching her tongue. Too tired to care, Zaylee drained the broth and began eating the noodles.

"Zaylee?" Zaylee looked up, just finishing the last of the noodles, a few dangling from her mouth. She slurped them up quickly. Zyan stood in the kitchen.

10 hours.

"Are you ok?" Zaylee only managed a pained smile, hiding the grimace and shoving the voice back down into the corner of her mind from whence it had come from.

"I'm fine." Zaylees stomach tightened, nausea making her stomach turn. She rested her head against the table, letting out a breath.

"You don't look ok." Zyan scooted closer, sitting on the chair next to hers.

"Appearances can be deceiving." Zaylee mumbled and lifted her head.

"How much sleep have you gotten in the past month?" He asked her. She stayed quiet, looking at her hands. "Zaylee. How much?" His tone hardened.

"12 hours." She whispered.

"Zaylee, its been 26 days. You're going to die at this rate!" Zaylee pushed back her chair violently, sick of the conversation.

"You think I don't know that?! You think I don't understand that if I don't get sleep, I'll die?"

"Then why don't you change it?"

"Because it's not that simple!" Zaylee shouted. "I can't just make it go away, it's not that easy!"

9 hours.

Zaylee collapsed in the chair. She desperately tried to push back the voice but this time it wouldn't leave her mind.

She inhaled and found that she couldn't. Not fully. Exhaling, she tried to inhale again with the same result. Panic rose in her. She couldn't breathe. The fear was drowning her, and she couldn't stop it. She had tried. It never worked.

She leaned over, hands going to her chest, as if her hands could draw out some sort of better ability to breathe.

"Hey, hey. Calm down, Zaylee. You're ok. You're safe." Zyan whispered, his hand rubbing her back steadily. Her wheezing breaths were loud in her ears, echoing slightly. "It's still a long time before dark. You don't have to worry about sleeping for a little while."

"You don't get it." Zaylee gasped out. "It doesn't work like that. That worry is always there. Constantly pushing, constantly keeping me away from what I need." Her shoulders relaxed as her ability to breathe returned and her fear receded a little. "Like breathing, for example." She remarked dryly. "Or sleeping." Just the thought of sleeping scared her.

"Well, Zaylee, you can't keep going on like this." She sighed, agreeing. An idea occurred to her.

"I know just what to do."

Hey! So this is just a little background story for Zaylee. In case you haven't figured it out, Zaylee has a phobia of sleep, called somniphobia. It can also be called hypnophobia or clinophobia. She also has anxiety when it comes to this aspect of her life. Because of her fear, her power acts as an internal clock that often reminds her of how much time she has before sleeping. That is, when everyone else goes to sleep. While she struggles with it still, she's much better by the time she meets Lyrical. Somniphobia can often be caused by reoccurring nightmares, anxiety over things like spending your time badly, or from a feeling of loss of control. Anyway, I think this helped develop her character better, and I really enjoy writing these little background stories.