Sleep Apnea

by missymaggie12

Kaoru was diagnosed with sleep apnea when he was very young. He had a lot of breathing problems and constant panic attacks. After he got his tonsils removed, the breathing seemed to get better, and he slept without his night terrors. Everything seemed to be looking up, until their mother said they would have separate bedrooms.

1. Prologue

Hikaru thought Kaoru's sleep apnea was strange and unsettling

Being awoke several times during the night was never pleasant. But above all, it was the nightmares that concerned him the most. Kaoru would have them consistently. The most troubling one being the reacurring one, that portrayed Kaoru being ripped away from Hikaru's arms by a black, clouded figure, and being dragged into a pit of darkness. That one would force Kaoru awake, screaming and thrashing. Those nights, Kaoru clung to Hikaru a little tighter, maybe hoping for a blanket from the clouded figure.

It was for this reason that they were never separated into different beds.

Their mother believed it would be unhealthy to let Kaoru go at his fears alone, seeing as Hikaru was there to console him whether or not he was awake. So they slept, wound up with each other in a tangle of sheets and warmth beneath the thick covers.

Kaoru had been to the hospital for his sleep study when he was only ten years old, accompanied by only their mother (an adult was needed, but no other children were allowed) who slept on a cot next to the bed. He remembered the doctors attaching wires into his scalp, kept on by a weird sticky substance. And his head wrapped in gauze to keep the wires even more secure. When the lights were switched off, the doctors voice could be heard on the intercom, telling Kaoru to close his eyes, and move them back and forth.

He needed Hikaru to keep him safe that night.

Ever since then, Kaoru would have bags under his eyes, and would repeatedly be asked to be more alert in class. He found himself having a hard time breathing often. Having several panic attacks in a day, calling out for his brother in all of his times of distress.

The doctors decided that his tonsils were definitely choking him at night. But he was 16 then. Old enough to feel much more pain than a 5 or 8 year old.

The surgery was inevitable, however. Kaoru could not go on without getting his tonsils out. Hikaru would stay by his side the whole day of the surgery, and skip school just to take care of him during his recovery

Once the tonsils were gone, sleeping was a lot easier for the younger twin. He had less restless nights, and the nightmares went away. Everything was good.

Until the day their mother told them they could have separate bedrooms