13

"It's become our plague. So many of us have broken families, abuse, instability, addictions, and other ingredients to the anxiety/depression disorder recipe. It's alarming. Too many of us fighting our own brains to cope with normal life stresses like a sane human being, too many of us struggling to simply function, even to the point where the most primitive functions of eating and sleeping are disturbed.

So, please, come near. With this story, I hope to give you a little warmth. In this ice age, I hope to give you what I so desperately need."

I didn't sleep. Rather, I closed my sleepy eyes and let my sleepy body lay there, but my brain never really shut down. Even in the spans where I thought in images, I never got to the point where I could say I was asleep.

Around one in the morning, I sat up, wondering if I could dig up some benedryll from the professor or something. Maybe get some more of that tangy, but calming tea he kept giving me.

Unafraid of the darkness, I padded down the stairs to the first floor towards the glow of the monitors.

To my surprise, however, it wasn't the prof or Lin that sat on night watch, but Takigawa.

"Huh," I said.

Takigawa looked over his shoulder, then grinned. "A night time visit, Mai? You look cute in that shirt."

I just rolled my eyes. I was wearing boxer like girl briefs anyways, and my shirt went mid-thigh. And it wasn't like he could see much in this darkness.

"Do you know if we have any benedryll?' I asked.

"Can't sleep?"

"Yeah. Maybe it's those clairvoyant senses of mine acting up."

"I didn't bring any, and I don't know what the professor brought." He paused. "I was going to tease you about going up and asking him, but on second thought I'd rather you didn't. Why don't you come hang out with me? It'll be like watching horror movies late into the night."

The thought, though appealing in its own way, made me uncomfortable. What if Takigawa tried something? I'd never even had to deal with something of that level before.

"Let me ask the prof. If he doesn't, I might as well."

He beamed. "Excellent. This just became ten degrees less boring."

I returned his smile, though not nearly as exuberant, and begun my trek up the stairs.

And for the first time, I actually felt discomforted in the darkness. I was taking back to when I was young and alone in the dark, running from the bathroom because of the idea of something following me and diving into bed. Of the corners hiding secrets and limbs.

And Takigawa had seen something. There was something in this house. Secrets.

Shuddering, I padded my way down to the professor's door, to find it open just a crack and a light from the bathroom painting a faint line of light onto the darkwood floor.

Maybe he had just headed to bed? "Professor Davis?"

I spoke quietly, not wanting to disturb him, and already wondering if I should just go back downstairs to Takigawa.

I pushed very lightly on the door and peeked inside. The bed was mussed up, and the bathroom door was open. I could see the lines of his shadow stretched out on the bed. Though the shadow didn't move, so I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

I heard a click.

Something hot and familiar rushed through me, and a voice whispered Naru's hurt.

I dove into the room, across the carpet, and swerved into the bathroom.

To find the professor with a gun to his head, and the trigger half-pulled.