Phantom Moon (Nora's part)

Untitled Part 3

"Ander! Freaking HECK! Wake up!"

He doesn't wake up. Of course not. When has he ever done something I told him to?

"Nora, maybe you should just let him sleep."

I glare over my shoulder at Rose.

"Yeah, but what if something happens? What if-"

"Nora, what's going to happen?"

"I don't know! A lot could happen! Sleep isn't necessarily good for Phantom witches! Especially Phantom witches as prone to accidents as freaking Ander!"

"He'll be fine. If you want, you can even sit with him."

"But-"

"It'll be fine!"

"But-"

"Besides, you need sleep, too."

"No! I don't! I need anything but sleep! I'd rather resort to just living on coffee for the rest of my life!"

"Why? What's so bad about sleep?"

"I told you! Sleep sucks!"

"What's going to happen to you in your sleep?"

I flash back to the last time I slept. I think about Hestia, and what she must be going through at that psychopath's hands. I realize that the last thing I said to her was me wishing to leave her. Now, I'd give anything to have her yelling inside my head again. Well, not Ander...

"Nora?"

I look back up at Rose and realize I must have been sitting there for at least three minutes, saying nothing. I quickly look away from her and go back to trying to wake Ander, ignoring her completely.

It gets dark outside. I move us from the bathroom floor to the bed Ander had claimed. As everyone else drifts off to sleep, I continue to sit with Ander, trying to wake him. My voice gets ragged and I'm reduced to whispering his name, over and over. My eyes begin to droop, and I have to pinch myself to keep myself from falling asleep. As I drift closer and closer to oblivion, I hear a voice in my head that chills my blood.

You think this will keep me away? You're torturing yourself for no reason.

Shut the freaking heck up.

You don't tell me what to do, I tell you.

Get out of my head! I never did anything to you!

That's where you're wrong.

What the freaking heck are you talking about?

You really like those two words...

What two words?

Freaking heck. Why don't you just say the real words?

Because unlike you, I still have morals.

Hmm, if you say so.

Is there a point to this conversation, or are you just trying to torment me?

Do I need a reason to torment you?

Well, evidently not.

Oh, I'm just trying to distract you.

Distract me from what?

You're falling asleep...

I immerge in the cemetery, the place of my worst nightmares.

"Ah, it's so good to see your beautiful face again."