LAIKEN DIDN’T SLEEP long. She never did. There was always that nagging pull of dread that speared her brain every time she managed to sleep. Terrors haunted her, whether it was seeing the blood-red splattered across the wall and the dead body on the floor or the whisk of pain she was met with at the shatter of her knee cap. It always seemed to settle right there at the forefront of her disjointed brain - sleep was supposed to be an escape, but it instead became a prison worse than death.
So, she laid there. Staring up to the minuscule crevices engraved in the ceiling above her, she began counting them as her thin fingers laced themselves through Appa’s long hair. His gentle purrs on her chest relaxed her, or at least as much as she could be. Laiken could hear her friends rummaging through the kitchen, but she couldn’t bring herself to sit up. Her mind replayed her memories of last night on repeat - she couldn’t help but wonder how Corpse slept. She couldn’t remember falling asleep - she just hoped that he got some sleep. Even if it was a few hours.
“Oh my god!” Grayson’s voice sounded out from outside her door, causing Laiken to flinch at the sudden sound. Appa jerked himself awake, staring hatefully at the door. A soft smile crossed the brunette’s face as she watched her cat’s expression. Then, Laiken’s bedroom door swung open. The sudden movement caused Laiken to flinch again with a soft whine escaping her mouth as she ripped her blankets up as if to protect her face. She knew that it was just Grayson, but it was reflex now. Appa hissed before darting out of the room. Damn. Laiken wished she could run that fast. “Have you checked Twitter?”
Laiken groaned. “No, Gray. I haven’t,” she rasped, rubbing her eyes harshly in an attempt to get rid of some of the tiredness in her eyes. It didn’t work. Grayson shoved their phone into Laiken’s hands.
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Her eyes widened, snatching the phone from Grayson’s hands. Her fingers lingered as she scrolled through the thousands of comments - most of them were positive, but there were always the few negatives thrown into the midst. “And look at this,” Grayson whispered as they took their phone from Laiken’s hands, clicking on the Trending and turning it back for Laiken to see. Right there, trending number one was #gravehusband and number three was #sadboihours.
Laiken quickly snatched her phone from the charger, wasting no time to message Corpse to look on Twitter. Not a lot happened after that, other than Laiken forcing herself to eat something, for the sake of not hearing her roommates lecture her, and taking her meds. Both Maddox and Grayson had early class, which left Laiken, once again, alone in their house. So, she sat in her recording room, editing a few of her videos together so she could post at her regular times.
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Five hours, a package of sweet-tart ropes and three monsters later, Laiken found herself blaring music through her speakers and skipping around her house cheerfully. Although her hands were red from the endless scrubbing she ensued to distract herself from the thoughts forming inside her head, she scrubbed the house until practically sparkled under the beaming sunlight shining in from the glass door that led out to their small backyard. She always enjoyed going outside to sit in her hammock, relishing in the beautiful serenity that she should have been entitled to. After everything she’d been through, she wanted to be happy. As much as the universe seemed to taunt her into thinking that she was destined to be alone, she forced herself to be cheerful. Sometimes, it tricked her brain into thinking that she actually was, at least until the solidarity hit.
