False God ★ M. Schmidt

11

[ Y/n ]

"How long are you going to pretend you don't know anything?" Garrett is next to me. I can only make out a fuzzy outline of him. "What are you talking about?"

A twig snaps behind me and I whip around, squinting to make out the new shapes coming closer. "Please don't hurt me." I step away from them.

"You have to accept it. Accept it and you'll see. Stop blocking it out."

"Blocking what out? Can you just tell me directly. I don't understand. I still don't understand and I am tired!" I plead.

"You're tired? You think you're tired?" The shorter figure in front steps closer to me. "Micheal comes back here every night. Abby only has us as her real friends. You have it the easiest because you are a coward! You do not even know tired!"

I recoil from the statements. "You're Abby's friends..?" That can't be right. No... That couldn't mean... "That's impossible." I whisper.

"Is it?"

"Hey, drink some water." Mike is crouched next to my bed. He passes me a water bottle that I sip from. "You're talking in your sleep." He comments, wiping some sweat from my forehead.

"What did I say?"

"Just something about being tired. Probably tired of being sick, right?" He smiles at me and I force a nod. He goes back to that day every night.

Every night.

"Sorry to ask, can I get one of those sleeping pills?" I hate to take them from him. Mike uses them for his insomnia. He used to just toss and turn all night as a teenager. I think it was partially nightmares he had.

And now he goes back to that place willingly.

"Yeah, you ok?" He places a hand on my forehead. "Wow, you're warm." I lay back down and watch him dig through the backpack.

"Here. Take an Advil too, it should help manage your fever for now. Hopefully it can stop it before it gets too bad." Mike passes me the pills. He watches me take them then presses a kiss onto my cheek.

"What's wrong?"

I turn to Abby. She's sitting up in her bed, rubbing her eyes. "Nothing, go back to sleep. Y/n just needed to take some medicine."

She shuffles around but lays back down. Mike starts to run his fingers along my arm. I admire his features as he settles in next to my bed.

I want to ask him if he's really still going back to the day Garrett went missing. I don't want Abby to overhear. Mike caressing me makes me want to fall asleep but this is too important.

"Close your eyes." He whispers. I shake my head. "Why?" I want to get him to come to the bathroom with me but I don't want to leave Abby here alone.

But can this wait? We'll only be a second and if we keep the door open we can listen for them coming down the hall. I mean, they weigh at least a ton. It's not like they're quiet.

"I need to go to the bathroom... Will you come with me?" I start to get out of my sleeping bag. Mike looks back at Abby and then at me.