The Fallen |BxB| ✓

07 | Last Night

↞[Luke]↠

With the third cup of instant coffee drowned into my system, a rancid aftertaste lingering on my tongue, I still wrapped my lips around the brim, trying to savor the last few smears. But not a single drop remained at the foot of the mug. I placed it beside my laptop.

The windows seemed as if they were covered with charcoal. I hadn't bothered to draw the curtains or turn on the lights. Washed out lights from the laptop screen fell on the keyboard and dimly lit the space around me. It was straining my eyes and probably causing the dampened headache. I closed the lid with a sigh, darkness racing soon after, and living room feeling like a massive hall. A familiar cold settled on my skin, raising the hairs of my arm.

The only conclusion I found was that I was harming myself while sleeping. I had somehow managed to string my own neck that night. Nothing else made logical sense. I didn't want to waste my time by stepping on the supernatural side of the story. There is no point. Maybe I should just tell my dad about this. His to-go suggestion would be a therapist, but I needed professional help at this point. It's been a few years since I went to one, and ending up dead from sleeping was not the nicest idea.

A single yawn escaped my lips, eyes stinging with unreleased tears, and I debated falling asleep. Not a good idea. Reclining against the sofa, feet crossing over the coffee table, avoiding the litter on it, I unlocked my phone. Bright screen light making me wince, yet through half-shut eyes, I went back and forth between social media apps. Another yawn.

Maybe I should complete one of the novels we were supposed to read this semester.

Opening the audiobook, I tapped the play button.

"Unimportant. We shall conquer them when it suits us. And if we did not, what difference would it make?"

The narrator's voice fell flat through the speakers on my phone, echoing off the wall. Startled, I jerked the headphone wire from the laptop and plugged it inside my phone, cutting off the voice, and realizing how silent the house was when Dad was away.

Inserting the buds in my ears, I laid down on the couch. It wasn't the most comfortable place that made the site perfect for pulling off an all-nighter. Foam padding was one of the most rigid materials humans used in sofas. Or maybe it was just old. Dad never cared about renovations or buying new furniture.

Refocusing on the narrator's voice, I had no idea which part of the book I was in or what had happened before. I still tried absorbing the words.

"What are the stars? They are bits of fire a few kilometers away. We could reach them if we wanted to. Or we could blot them out. The earth is the center of the universe. The sun and the stars go round it."

My eyelids were heavy, and it required all the muscles around my eyes to keep them from closing. My attention moved back and forth from the book to my headache, and then the painful recollection of all the information I had stuffed in my brain.