Insomnia's Loudest Hour

It was a well known fact that Akani was an insomniac. She had joked about having that "family-insomnia-death-thing" more than once, but those closest to her couldn't help but question if this was just a joke she found funny, or a joke she used to also silently request reassurance. She had never been particularly good at coping with mental distress, so it was hard to tell with her. But on this night, as she sat curled up on a couch staring at the window curtains in the dead of night, the real reason for her insomnia began to take its sweet time tormenting her.

As always, it started small. A soft, nearly inaudible call of her name. She lived with two roommates, but both were male, and the call was from a female. She shook it off, could have been one of the boys with their phone on speaker. She wasn't oblivious to the fact at least one of her roommates talked shit about her on the daily. Sure, it was like two in the morning, but that didn't make it impossible. She was also painfully aware, however, that it almost always started out insignificant and small. It was like a cruel game her brain played to see how tightly it could twist the coils of the jack-in-the-box that was her sanity before she exploded. 

A distinct shuffling behind the couch startled her enough to make her look up from her fetal-position to see who was trying to sneak up on her. As she expected, it was no one. Her eyes slowly narrowed, as if that would make someone appear. When nothing happened, she put her head on her knees and wrapped her arms back around her shins. She stared, or rather glared, at the curtains again from behind a small gap between her knees that let her see them. It needed to be morning. Why couldn't the sun just pop up on command? Groaning softly, she buried her face further into her little ball and huffed, barely managing to make that sound instead of the whine she had felt growing in her throat.

A few precious moments of silence settled around her, and just as she finally leaned to the right enough to fall onto her side on the couch, thinking she could rest if she just lay down, she heard the hushed whisper of a boy from behind the couch: "You don't belong here!"
"Fuck!" Akani sat up, eyes wild and head swiveling this way and that to try and find the source. She unraveled herself from her protective ball and vaulted over the back of the couch, silently but quickly rushing to her roommates rooms. Both were sound asleep. She closed the doors silently, and began to panic. "No, no, no, don't..." It was getting bad again. She quickly returned to the living room, but stopped before going back to the couch. The voice that had whisper-yelled in her ear was haunting her still, it had only been a minute or two since it happened, and suddenly the couch looked like a dangerous trap coaxing her into a false sense of security.

It was time to put an end to this, she just couldn't do it tonight. She gave the sober world one last chance and looked out the window that was over the sink, twisting and turning, contorting her body so see from every possible angle. She was trying to search the sky for any kind of light source to suggest she had fallen asleep and any amount of time had passed by since this started. No such luck. She sighed, again, and went to the fridge to rifle through their low supply. She was searching for something spiked to eat or, preferably, a hidden beer can. She sighed and hung her head in defeat. "Stash is gone." She mumbled quietly to no one, realizing she'd need to ask one of her roommates to go buy more. She could try doing it herself, but it was always a bit of a gamble. Being only nineteen, she wasn't exactly able to legally restock their alcohol supply. In the past she had been successful in flirting her way out of a gas station with a twelve pack, or was just fast enough to out-run her pursuer. She made sure mostly to hit small locations; the places where people just weren't paid enough to put up with an underage girl stealing some beer. Those that did mind or tried to stop her were fairly easy to seduce or be convinced to turn a blind eye. If flirting didn't work, well, she always had a weapon on hand. Not that anyone in the shithole apartment complex's neighborhood could honestly say they weren't armed.

After a third search through the fridge and two in the freezer, she opened the freezer a third time to give it one final look-over. Maybe she had missed something, anything. Shuffling had her turning to look behind her with a sneer, glaring at the expected nothingness. "Why?" She growled quietly, slamming the freezer shut and just starting to pace the kitchen. Back and forth, back and forth - the repetition was slightly relaxing, she could feel her jaw loosen just a bit. Back and forth, back and forth - Oh, there's a thought. She came to a stop and blinked, surprised by herself. 'Background noise', she thought. For once, her brain had actually found a solution that wouldn't result in an overload of impossible emotions and leave a bloody mess in its wake. Determined to find something loud but not annoying, she goes back past the couch - still giving it a piercing glare - and past it towards the tv stand. Kneeling down, she opened the little cupboard doors beneath the stand where the tv was placed, searching through a mess of games, movies, and CDs.

Shuffling. This time, sure that if she can just find something she knows enough to practically quote it the sounds would stop, she ignores it. As she finally finds two that are worth a try, she mumbles their titles to herself, before she goes stiff. There was no noise; why was that more frightening than voices screaming in her ear as she tried to fall asleep? It was so silent, but she felt a heavy weight in her gut. Someone was there. No, her roommates were asleep, nobody else should be in the living room. Quietly, cautiously, Akani looks over her left shoulder and goes rigid. Short, dark brown hair and yellow eyes that shone like a lighthouse in the dark of the room. The only light was from a bathroom near the hallway, the one her roommates usually used. She must have woken one of them.

Still dressed in black slacks and a tan tank-top shirt, the elemental hybrid casually asked: "How the fuck can you see what you're doing?" Akani snorted and gave a soft laugh, relaxing. Every fiber of her being was thanking whatever god or deity existed it wasn't Dontis standing there, but instead Harkin. "Part vampire." Akani opened her mouth and pointed to her very distinct fangs. "Ah" was all Harkin managed, blushing slightly at how easily he had forgotten. "I'm half asleep, alright? Don't laugh." He walked over and sat down on his knees next to her, looking at the two movie cases she held. "Which one?" Akani asked him softly, holding them out towards Harkin, who was already clearly debating the choices before she asked his opinion. "Lady and the Tramp or Home Alone? If it were Christmas I'd say you're obligated to pick it," he took the case of Home Alone and popped out the disk, turning on the tv. "But it's a good movie any time of the year."
 "That's what I always say!" Akani grinned, amused at how her mild-mannered friend was quoting her without knowing it, and when he realized it his face went red again.

With the disc inserted into the DVD player, the two sat on the couch side-by-side, Akani resting her head on Harkin's shoulder as he pressed play on the movie. A few minutes of basically silence during the opening credits was enough to let Akani look over at the back of the couch once, but that was all he needed to know to understand why they were watching Home Alone at two in the morning on a summer night. "Are they bad tonight?" He asked warily, relieved when she nodded instead of trying to deny it like usual. She must have been really tired to so easily admit it without a single joke. His bright eyes softened as she settled her head on him again, trying to watch the movie. He couldn't help but watch her silently, seeing the bags under her eyes and the lackluster shine in her usually bright eyes just twisted his stomach in knots. How long had it been since she slept this time? How many nights when she'd needed someone but no one came had gone by for her? Why wouldn't she just come to someone? He had told her before she even moved in (already aware of these auditory hallucinations) that he was always going to be there for her when it acted up. He was tempted to scold her for it, but he was smart enough to not start a fight with a sleep-deprived, slightly-paranoid Akani. That was asking to be maimed. Not only that, but as he'd gotten lost in his thoughts, he looked again only to see her eyes had closed, and her breathing had slowed. Blushing, he realized she was asleep in record time. Was it the movie? Was it him? Would that be egotistical of him to think he was what eased her mind, or should he feel hopeful as this was possibly proof he could actually help someone who had helped him for years? He shook his head and sighed as quietly as he could, deciding to lean back his head and just enjoy the movie. He'd be stiff in the morning, sure, but it was worth it.