Awake

Night 2

6/10/16

It had been a fun day.

When his aunt first invited him to come over and stay for a couple weeks before summer ended, Anri was reluctant to come.

Even so, he'd found a basketball court not far away, Mon had brought his soccer ball along to play in a field nearby, and Charles had happily sat down with his face glued to his phone.

When they'd settled in for bed late that night, the strange occurrence a few nights ago was the last thing on Anri's mind. He had told them, and of course they had laughed and joked about it despite the mild disbelief.

As per usual, he was the last one asleep again. He was watching the pale moon, not unlike a boat, sail across the vast dark ocean when he heard the same shuffling from a few nights ago.

He immediately turned to see Mon awake again, and his time he was messing with the mosquito dome's zipper; they'd placed and zipped up a thin veil that surrounded the bed to protect from the annoying pests as they slept.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Mon mumbled something not looking at him and glaring at the wall.

"No-what-why? Stickers?" Anri asked, pretending not to have heard.

Mon mumbled again, and his youthful voice was husky, shrouded with a sort of obsession.

"What?" Anri said again, searching with his eyes through the dark and spotting their slippers on the floor. He removed Mon's fingers from the zipper, and pushed him back to the bed. "Go to sleep dude."

He didn't expect any resistance from his scrawny friend, and as soon as Mon's head met the pillow, Mon as sleeping again.

Anri sighed, running a hand through his hair before settling down himself.

Charles snored obliviously beside them.