Nocturne of Nightmares: A Retelling

Chapter Five

WE SPENT TIME trying to put the pieces of The Nightmare together, and before we knew it, it was 8p.m. Although I knew I had to stay vigilant, I couldn't stop myself from yawning as I stretched my arms wide. It felt too early to be this tired, but, if we were awake during the day and explored the nightmare world at night, did we ever get to rest? Thoma noticed me.

"Hold up, you're sleepy already? I thought we were gonna stay up all night." That was the plan, but... "If you're the only one to fall asleep, won't you get pulled into the nightmare world alone?" His words slapped me awake; I was terrified of falling asleep now.

Out of nowhere, Ray set four capsules on the coffee table. "I thought this might help."

"Adderall?" asked Thoma.

"Oh, I've heard of this," I said. "It's a stimulant, right?"

Subaru leaned forward from the couch. "Don't you need a prescription for that?"

"Perks of being a med student," smiled Ray. At first, I was a little hesitant, but then we all decided to take the medicine.

"I hope this actually works."

"Of course it will," he told me confidently. But it's impossible to stay awake forever. At some point... Ray found his way around the table to sit beside me.

After some time, I began to feel strange. I looked at the others' faces; no doubt they all realised it but weren't saying anything. Thoma was the first to break the silence.

"Dang, I feel so wired!" He jumped up and headed towards the kitchen.

"Sit down!" Ray called after him, looking annoyed all of a sudden. "Why can't you just keep quiet?"

Thoma came back with a vibrant chuckle as he set down a glass of juice for each of us. That's kind of sweet of him.

"I'm just feeling it, you know?" he told Ray. "Didn't you say we could get high from this drug?"

Subaru frowned. "You make it sound so illicit," he appeared with a book in his hand. I hadn't even noticed him fetching it from the shelf. He held it up and turned to Ray. "Do you mind if I borrow this?"

"Go ahead," he shrugged. "We all need something to keep us awake."

Thoma looked sadly in the direction of the kitchen. "I wish we had coffee, though."

"Well, it's not on the menu."

"What if we get nightmares while we're awake?" asked Thoma, gasping.

I got worried. "Is that even possible?"

"That would be more like hallucinating," said Ray.

Thoma clapped his hands together loudly. He then looked at all of us and started clapping faster. All I could do was grin wryly while Ray asked him to stop. Naturally, Thoma ignored Ray's words and started clapping even more. Was he trying to keep us all awake or was this an effort to irritate Ray even more?

"I need to go to the bathroom," I announced, standing up. Ray told me where to go. Maybe I shouldn't have drunk the juice so fast.

On my way back from the bathroom, I felt a cold breeze. It was so refreshing I couldn't help but lean on the window. As I turned my head, I found Ray standing by himself outside on the balcony. I wondered what he was doing all alone as I propped my head on my arm, watching him. He looked up to the sky, gazing at the stars as he exhaled a breath.

Why does he look so lonely?

I felt like if I left him to himself like this, he'd go off somewhere far away. Before I knew it, I was headed towards the balcony. He didn't notice me walking up behind him. Without thinking, I held onto the hem of his shirt.