SAFE . . . reyna ramirez-arellano

48 - late night talking

BRIAR HAD TROUBLE falling asleep.

Coach Hedge spent the first hour after curfew doing his nightly duty, walking up and down the passageway yelling, "Lights out! Settle down! Try to sneak out, and I'll smack you back to Long Island!"

He banged his baseball bat against a cabin door whenever he heard a noise, shouting at everyone to go to sleep, which made it impossible for anyone to go to sleep.

She stared at the bronze beams on the ceiling. Her cabin was pretty cozy. Leo had programmed their quarters to adjust automatically to the occupant's preferred temperature, so it was never too cold or too hot. The mattress and the pillows were stuffed with pegasus down ( no pegasi were harmed in the making of these products, Leo had assured her ), so they were über-comfortable. A bronze lantern hung from the ceiling, glowing at whatever brightness Briar wished. The lantern's sides were perforated with pinholes, so at night glimmering constellations drifted across her walls.

She sighed and sat up on her bed, reaching over to turn on the lamp. She couldn't fall asleep, after two hours of trying. Not counting Coach Hedge being an absolute dick.

A million thoughts were going through her mind — her dad the most prominent. She couldn't deny her feelings about him and her mom. She was so angry that they'd left her. She was angry that her dad had taken her mom's side over her. She was angry that he hadn't considered her feelings at all. She was angry that her mom acted like she should forget the feelings that she'd felt over the past few years.

Briar was feeling a flurry of emotions, and none of them were good. Especially if she didn't have an outlet for them.

She hadn't wanted to worry Reyna — she already had enough to worry about with Briar. It seemed like the head injury affected her more than it had affected Briar.

The thought of her head injury sparked up more pain in her head. Briar let out a soft groan, dropping her head in her hands. She thought she was done with the headaches, but apparently not.

She swung her legs so her feet touched the cold ground. She'd go wash her face, because despite her sudden insomnia she was feeling too sleepy to exist, then she'd go down to the sickbay to get an aspirin or some ambrosia and maybe replace the bandages on her head because they felt awful. Hopefully she didn't look in a mirror on her way.

Naturally, Briar did, because she literally had a mirror right next to the door so she could see how hot she was every time she walked out the door. She quickly came to regret that decision, because her eyes trailed up to the mess of bandages on her head, and now they were stained with red. Dark red. Dripping from her head, down her body, staining it permanently . . .

Briar's legs worked on autopilot. She'd been in this situation enough for her brain to find the nearest ( and only ) bathroom, throwing up her dinner in it. She flushed the toilet and just sat there on the dirty bathroom floor, too lazy to get up when she heard someone knock on the door.

"Are you okay?" She heard Frank's voice on the other side ask quietly.

Briar swore under her breath, but she said a small, "yeah, I'm fine." She got up shakily and staggered over to the sink where she leaned on it for a couple of moments, then washing her face. Man, she really needed to do a full out skincare day.

This wasn't the time for that, Briar, she scolded herself as she opened the door to still see Frank on the other side.

"Sorry," she mumbled. She really had to crane her neck to look up at him. The guy was nearly a foot taller than her, and she's 5'5. Jesus Christ. "I'm gonna go to the sickbay, grab some ambrosia."

"That'd be smart," Frank said. "Do you need help with your bandages?"

Briar's stomach churned at the thought of dealing with her own bloodied bandages. She shook her head, despite this. "I'll be fine. Thanks for offering. I appreciate it."