𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙕𝙤𝙣𝙚

One

FLETCHER MOON

These new blue pajamas my auntie bought me today are really starting to bother me.

I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt when I opened the birthday present wrapping and unfolded them, gazing upon them in all their homemade knitted glory. Given the types of clothes she's given me before, I immediately knew they'd tear at the seams after a few days of wearing them, and that they'd itch all through the night.

I wasn't wrong. I press down on the pause button on my phone to fidget with the fabric. I don't really like them very much, but it's not like I let my aunt know I didn't like them. That would've been plain rude. The edges of my mouth still hurt from my forceful beaming, even though that was hours ago. I'd prefer it if I didn't have to lie to her - or anyone, for that matter - but I'd also hate to be the cause of any disappointment too.

The rest of the house is asleep, so I have to be careful not to have the sound on too loud. The youtube video I'm watching is one of my favourite creators, Markiplier, and with all the screaming he does at the horror aspects of the video game being played, at some points I have to mute the audio intirely until it quietens down again. Maybe I'm not the most witty of people, but I've watched him for years now - I know how to go about this.

Actually, this particular video is a brand new one, uploaded almost an hour ago. It's a collaboration with three other popular youtubers I also like: Jacksepticeye, Natewantstobattle and Matpat. While Mark has done collabs with some of them before, it's the first time, I think, that all four of them have gathered together for a regular video.

And I'm tired - of course I'm tired, with the day I've had. Being surrounded by so many people at once gets overwhelming after a while. And, being the baby of the family, I tend to get treated exactly like one - even as they were just lighting fifteen candles on my birthday cake earlier.

I still feel bad about telling my friends they couldn't come over for my birthday. I hate having to do things like that - I had to keep reminding myself I'd rather turn them down than have them come and almost immediately make the party about themselves. I'm not great with peer pressure.

As I raise my hand up from underneath the covers to click play, my eyes flicker to the numbers present at the top of the screen. The time reads 11:43.

Geez, I can't help but think to myself. When did it get so late?

But there's only around five minutes left of the video, so I decide to keep watching. But as I do so, a wave of tiredness suddenly hits me in the face. My blinks become slower and my breaths become more steady.

At one point I'm actually shook awake by a jumpscare on the video. The time is 11:45. A sigh escapes from my lips, breaking the silence in the dark bedroom. I screenshot the time on the video so that I know where to go to when I continue with it, probably tommorow. However, I'm strangely slow at doing it. It makes sense that my movements would be sluggish, due to exhaustion. But this feeling was weirder.

It was as though the rest of the world slowed down as well. The duvet felt heavier, weighing me down under the covers. I blink, and for a second, I'm glowing. Litrally. Golden, glittering shimmers of light are circulating around my skin. It tickles. I blink again, this time in disbelief rather than an attempt to stay awake. The sparkles are gone.

Okay. I'm definitely a lot, lot, lot more tired than I thought I was.

So tired, in fact, that I barely get a chance to switch my phone off before my head collides with the pillow and my eyes shut for good.

But the tranquility doesn't last nearly as I long as I hoped.