storm ◇ jasper hale ◇

chapter twenty-two ; life

"Why can't I sleep? Why, oh, why can't I sleep?" Madej half-sang as he looked up at his ceiling. He had some headphones on over his hearing aids, listening to what was supposed to be calming noises that ended up annoying him more than anything.

This was happening more and more. He couldn't sleep, and his appetite was few and far between. But he'd eat anyway, even if it left him feeling bloated and gross. He'd been a little bit worried with the amount of times the food had returned once he'd eaten it. He had yet to tell his mom and brother, too consumed with other important things to tell them something was wrong.

"Sleeeeeep. Come to meeeee." He looked over at his bedside table, at his sleep medication that hadn't worked in months.

Madej knew the several reasons. Ezekiel's anniversary had just passed, and he didn't know what to do. He'd been feeling numb. One whole year without his twin brother. Just thinking about him brought unbridled pain. Sometimes Madej just wished he had someone else who wasn't a witch and wasn't Jessica being there for him. He appreciated the others, but it just wasn't the same. Even Bella was distant, but she was too busy being catatonic, mourning over the loss of Edward in her life.

It still hurt. Bella hadn't even acknowledged his lack of presence on the anniversary. He'd gotten messages from the others, asking how he had been, but nothing from Bella. Madej had reached out to her, and she just sent him a thumbs up and didn't bother to reply to him whenever he messaged her since.

"I wanna sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep. I came to dig, dig, dig, dig - stop it. No parodies." Madej shook his head, pulling off the headphones, turning the weird sounds off. He sighed, sitting up in bed, feeling the mess of his hair go down his back.

He looked around, then looked under his bed and grabbed his laptop. He scrolled through some social media, looking at what his friends were up to back home. They seemed to be living the life. One of them had posted a tribute to Zeke, and they had set up a donation page to stop house fires. That had been what they'd told everyone when the house had burned from Madej's powers.

God, he could remember saying goodbye to them, and it broke his heart because it felt like another piece of Zeke had been lost on him.

LameBoy5000:
insomnia?

Madej looked at the popup. That was Oscar. The damn boy was up again at stupid hours

of course, Madej replied. how is things

LameBoy5000:
mom's being weird as per. dad is
out of the picture again. the others
miss you.

Madej smiled sadly, looking at the message from his friend. missing u guys too. want me to stab ur dad?

LameBoy5000:
stab away. we should meet up at
some point

After xmas obvs.

"After Christmas, obvs," Madej mimicked. He rested his head on his hand, scrolling up to look at past conversations. He typed out his reply: when would be good for u n the othres?

LameBoy5000:
idk. will have to skype or discord it
we can talk more in morning or smth.

i know everyone is free this sunday. we
can talk then if you want?

Madej sighed a little, feeling the tears prickling at his eyes. God, he missed his friends. They had been a saving grace. They'd known Dominic wasn't the best. They had known about him knocking Madej and his family around. Madej and Zeke hadn't lied to their friends when they asked about bruises or scabs. The two had been honest with their friends.