Consumed » Kai Parker | Rewritten

Twelve

When the following night proves to be another wildly unsuccessful attempt at securing a dreamless sleep, I switch up tactics that week.

Kai stares at me through half-lidded eyes, blatantly judgmental. The exhausted witch is about to call it a night, but can't seem to wrap his head around the fact that I won't be following suit.

"Your new plan..." He yawns. "Is kinda stupid."

Ignoring that jab, I pull the quilt more firmly over my legs and peer down at the copy of The Giver that had been among Stefan's belongings. I had a comfy couch, enough lighting in the Salvatores' vast living room to ward off figures that might've blended into the darkness, and a novel to distract my brain with. It wasn't a stupid plan, despite what Kai thought.

"I feel like it's pretty logical," I say, a tad defensively, and frown up at him over the top of my newly procured book. He stands over me with a look of mild disbelief.

"Charlie, putting an end to your nightmares by not sleeping at all isn't logical. It's extreme. Not to mention unsustainable."

"It's not like I'm never going to sleep again. I'm just...you know, fighting the urge until I absolutely can't anymore. So when I do sleep, whether that's a day or two from now, I'll have disrupted the consecutive pattern of my nightmares and be so ridiculously exhausted that my mind won't have the energy to dream. About anything."

Well...that's the theory anyway. In practice may reflect something a bit more unfavorable, but I'm taking a shot at optimism here.

His eyes flit between the staircase and my spot on the couch. "So you're just going to stay down here all night."

"I might head upstairs later. Take a shower if I'm feeling drowsy."

"Sure." Kai lets out another yawn. "Or you could sleep. You've had the nightmare already, you know what happens. It's not like there'll be any surprises. Also–brace yourself for this mindfuck–it isn't real."

I narrow my eyes at him. "You don't need to state the obvious, Kai. The point is, I'd rather not keep seeing people I care about dead. Maybe this approach will stop it. Maybe it won't, but what's it hurt to try?"

Kai raises his hands in surrender, backing toward the staircase. "Fine. I'd join you in this all-nighter, but I'm beat. Scream if you need me."

"You're so funny," I mumble tonelessly, purposely lifting my book to cover his retreating figure.

•••

In the afternoon, I curl up on a lounger in front of the boarding house. I finished The Giver over my sleepless night and exchanged the novel for 1984. Stefan was a stickler for the classics and I was grateful that he had enough of them to keep me occupied in worlds and problems far removed from mine.

The words on the page start to blur together in a mishmash and I blink repeatedly to reassert my focus. My hands tremble slightly, worsening what I wished to be a peaceful reading situation. Unfortunately, the caffeine I readily ingested during breakfast with an enviously well-rested Kai was starting to backfire against me. My heart was ricocheting like a bullet, begging me to shut down.

The front door opens. Kai walks out, the sleeves of his charcoal hoodie pushed up past his forearms and head mid-tilt as he caught the dregs of his water bottle.

Without uttering a formal word of greeting, he crumples the empty bottle, tosses it, then swipes my book out of my hands. He shuts it without saving my page and flips it over to study the cover.