The Altercations with 24

Bruised, Beaten, and Dead

Casey woke up and felt a pressure on her chest. She opened her eyes and was relieved to see that the pressure came from a man with no hair. She thought of the office man's greasy brown hair and would have shuddered if she didn't have someone on her. She assumed it was Hedwig because he had a habit of sleeping with her. Plus, she couldn't see Dennis or Patricia snuggling up next to her.

She tried to look down, but Hedwig's head was right under her chin. She could only make out grey sweatpants on a tall figure. Casey freed her left hand from under his body as quickly as she could, as to not wake him up. She didn't know what time it was, but she could see light coming in from behind the dark curtains. She raised her hand and rested it in Hedwig's head.

She had an urge to stroke the sleeping boy's head, but decided against it. She closed her eyes to go back to sleep, but her thoughts kept her awake. What where they doing here? Dennis said they had a specific place in mind to go, but was that place here? This is the only hotel they stopped at along the way, so were they close to their destination? She thought of the surrounding cities she could remember that where close by until she fell asleep.

When Casey woke up she noticed that Hedwig hadn't moved. Her hand was still on his head, so she decided to stroke her thumb in a straight line up and down. "Hey, sleepyhead," She whispered. "You awake?" Hedwig nestled his head under her and flung his left arm across her body.

"No." He answered sleepily. Casey smiled and continued stroking his head.

"Okay. Go back to sleep."

It took over an hour(Casey guessed) for Hedwig to wake up. He didn't move from his position, he just poked at her collarbone. "I'm awake now." He stated. Casey rubbed his head.

"Hey. You want to move off me now?" She asked, hoping he would say yes.

"Hmmmmmm," Hedwig thought. "No, I'm okay." As much as she wanted to move him off her, she didn't.

"Okay. You do know that the bed next to mine is yours." She told him. He didn't budge.

"I know. But I like laying down with you. Excetera! Don't you like laying down with me?" He asked in such a hurt tone. It made Casey want to tear up a bit.

"Of course I like laying down with you. I take up quite a bit of the bed, so I thought you might want to stretch out." She came up with the lie on the spot. Luckily, he didn't seem to notice. 

"Mr. Dennis said I could come into the light to lay down with you. He said he didn't want to sleep in the same room with you. Want to know why?"

Hedwig's cheery voice frightened Casey a bit. He sounded like when he told her about the Beast. Casey really didn't want to know why, but was afraid of hurting his feelings if she answered no.

"I would like to know why." She answered, preparing herself for whatever he had to say.

"He says you're annoying." Casey did not expect that.

"What?" She asked, taken aback.

"He says you moan in your sleep and that annoys him. He spends all day in a car with you and didn't want to spend all night with you too."

Casey thought this through and decided she wasn't insulted by this fact.

"Well, I don't want to spend all night with Dennis either. He's very grumpy." Hedwig laughed at that. Casey's body vibrated with his and this caused her to laugh along.