5:00 A.M.

The fact it was five in the morning was just now registering to RJ.

He had been drifting in and out of slumber for the past hour or so, all while sitting against the tree. Heck, with the effort he was making to stay awake, it might as well have felt like double. No, triple that.

And yet, Hammy was still wide awake and terrified out of his mind.

Thankfully, Hammy hadn't gone over to the log to ask for any advice and thus, try and wake up the others. Doing so would mean that no one else would get nearly enough sleep for the heist, and of course there would be some cranky critters he had to contend with. Then again, it was Hammy, he literally could outrun a laser, so really there was no chance he would be getting any sort of comeuppance.

Actually, RJ was now wondering that. How was Hammy that fast? He's seen many squirrels before, but they were never as fast as Hammy. Was Hammy just a special breed that went fast? Was he just born to be fast? Honestly, these were the types of questions that RJ would usually ponder with Heather during late-night boredom, but right now, he was alone and barely awake.

"How does he not get tired, he's just running around all crazy." RJ thought to himself.

Wait.

RJ could swear he's getting something. Something that he had before. It wasn't just a thought, no, it was something different. Something that could solve the conundrum he was in.

Lightning Bug Moment.

RJ sat up, knowing what could be done. This had to work for sure, otherwise, the world was going to end. The water levels were going to rise, the earth's orbit would shift, planets would collide into each other, starting with Pluto.

Okay, yeah, now he knows he's delirious from lack of sleep, because even he knew that Pluto was a dwarf planet.

"Hamster, come with me, we're just going to do a little heist run-down." RJ spoke to the squirrel. Once he got his attention, all fear seemed to evaporate out of him, and while that would be a sign to pretty much pass out right there, RJ couldn't take any chances.

Hammy had to sleep now.

"Oooh, what do you need me to do?" Hammy asked.

"I'm just doing a check-up, make sure you're in shape and all that, and in order to do so, I'm going to race you around." RJ replied. "Three-TEN laps, around the hedge, and the winner gets a cookie."

There was no way that Hammy was going to get tired from three laps. Ten laps, maybe, especially when it involved the length of the hedge. Anything had to work at this point.

"On your mark…get set…go!"

Hammy immediately left RJ in the dust. Even if RJ wasn't as tired as a dog, there was no way he was going to catch Hammy. To his credit, he tried to run a little bit, but by the time he made it to the other side of the clearing, Hammy was on the third lap.

As RJ fell to a kneeling position, he was just hoping that Hammy was going to pass out soon, because he had pretty much used up all the energy he had. Sure enough, as he looked over, he saw Hammy start to slow down around the ninth lap.

Surely, this had to work, it just needed to. Hammy had to fall asleep right here, right now. Otherwise, RJ was completely stumped.

"RJ…I…" Hammy started to speak, before suddenly thumping to the ground. RJ would've been cheering right now, as Hammy was likely asleep by now. However, he was just looking over at the log.

Everyone was still asleep, from Verne, to Heather, to even Tiger. Hammy literally was up all night, pretty much making a racket, and yet not once did he bother anyone else.

As he closed his eyes, he mentally cursed himself for not realizing this whole plot could've been avoided.

6:00 A.M.

Tiger was the first one awake this time around, a rarity when it came to the group. Usually, he was the last one to wake up, and no one could wake him from his slumber. Heck, not even Stella could, and she could wake up a corpse with her ruckus.

However, that thought went away fast as he realized he had a dulling pain in his head, and looking down he saw what likely caused it; the Nokia phone that he had fallen on in his attempt to knock Hammy out so they could all get some sleep. A noble idea, at least in his tired mind, but now that he was awake, he was just surprised he didn't get beat up by Verne and RJ.

Maybe it was because they were also tired, and they weren't going to go head-to-head with him.

Looking over, he noticed that Hammy was sleeping soundly in what seemed to be a makeshift bed. Well, actually that was wrong. Hammy was curled up in a dishrag, while half of his body was hanging on the plywood bed. Tiger would wonder how that was comfortable in any other circumstance, but then again, it was Hammy. He's seen how he slept.

As he got his bearings about him, he noticed one other figure nearby, leaning against a tree.

RJ was passed out, leaning against said tree in probably one of the most uncomfortable positions he's seen him sleep in. The raccoon was leaning against the tree on his belly, with only a second dish rag on his back to keep him somewhat warm, and a piece of bark to sort of serve as a pillow.

He swore, RJ was going to give himself back problems one of these days.

Regardless, it was time for RJ to get up. They needed to do a heist after all, they needed the food. Plus, it wasn't like RJ hadn't spent all night trying to get Hammy to bed, he thought, as he batted RJ on the head with his paw. The raccoon stirred for a bit, turning over to finally get out of that uncomfortable position.

"RJ, we have to do the heist." Tiger spoke. "Get up."

"Heist delayed." Was the only response RJ gave, before pulling the dish rag over his face and going right back to sleep.

And that was why horror movies are now super banned from the hedge.

Well, we're finally done. Hammy has gone to sleep, only at the cost of the heist and RJ's sleeping schedule. Poor schmuck.

Anyways, yeah, after this story I'm going to be taking a break from writing up until the next year or so. I've been writing pretty much non-stop for over a year now, and I think I've deserved a bit of a rest.

To the next year, and happy Thanksgiving and Holidays!