Second World

Chapter 33

"Rii, wake up!"

"No..." I whine into the pillow for the second time with my body bouncing on the bed since several kids continue jumping on my bed, yelling for me to get up.

You'd think it'll be annoying, however, the way their jumping is rocking the bed a little and it's kinda nice...

"Hey!" Jade yells right at my ear and I groan out loud, pulling the blanket over my head.

"Go away...Let me sleep, please...I beg you." My muffled voice pleads from under the covers. The exhaustion in my bones is especially heavy today. Last night was the latest I came back to my room and it was actually close to dawn. I barely had enough sleep.

Honestly, I don't know how I've been awake during the day and still have energy when night falls. How have I been doing it?

"It's already 10 in the morning and since it was difficult to wake you up that one time, we brought more reinforcements," Jade claims and by reinforcements, she means the kids that are yelling and screaming while playing and running around my room. These did not include the ones jumping on my bed right now.

"How long do you intend to sleep, Rii?" Ruby pesters me.

"Until I wanna wake up..."

I hear a huff then a suspicious pause. 

"It's kind of strange how you're always so tired in the morning even though you go to bed so early."

I inwardly groan. I want to sleep so badly but I don't want them to find out what goes on besides sleeping during the night. 

"I'm up. I'm up." I slowly rise from my sleeping position. Then, I shoot a glare at the kids in my room. "All of you don't want to know what happens if I get my hands on you."

The children giggle despite my threats and squeal out of the room, running away from me.

"You too." I redirect my glare onto the sisters who merely shrug and laugh at my tone. 

Like a sloth, my body moves slowly to get ready. When I'm very sleep-deprived, I can actually get very cranky. During those days, I have no patience for the ones who deliberately try to hang out with me at school and I'd usually call in sick just to avoid them. Sometimes I even lashed out at the maids back at my home on earth. Not my best moments.

To sum it up, I'm not the nicest person to be around when I'm in this mood.

However, I'll try to tone down a bit since I don't want to accidentally set upon my wrath on the others. It's not their fault that I'm sleep-deprived.

It's Zacturre's.

And I guess, mine.

But mostly him.

I see the dark circles under my eyes when I look into the mirror and I can't seem to stop yawning every couple of minutes.

"Are you alright, Rii?" Zua asks from across the dining table after seeing me my head nod to sleep for the hundredth time and almost falling into the bowl of hot soup in front of me. The soup isn't helping either since it's just making me more sleepy. "You look like you didn't sleep a wink. Are you not getting any good night's rest recently?"

"Huh?" I blink the sleep away from my eyes. "Yes. I mean, no! It's great. Everything's fine..." Another yawn escapes from me.

"Hmm..." She furrows her brow in concern. "I don't think you'll be able to join them for the festival today. Ruby and Jade said they plan to go with you again."

"No, it's alright!" Ruby says, her cheery tone not wavering from the news. "We can go some other time. The festival lasts for at least a month."

"If you're really exhausted, we can stay ho-"