𝐀𝐧𝐲 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬? (𝐁𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐠𝐨𝐮 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫)

62

It was late, long past the time since you'd been told to go to bed, but you found yourself unable to sleep. A trickling sense of unease had continued to pool inside of your body until you could no longer stand being alone in your room anymore.

Removing the soft, red blanket from yourself, you slid over the side of the bed, the coolness of the tile contrasting with the heat of your bare skin.

The air inside of your house was always kept at a comfortable temperature that kept you from getting too hot while you slept, something that had happened often when you were a child. But, tonight, it did nothing to keep the sweat from appearing over your skin.

You'd been trying to fall asleep for nearly three hours now, and yet your mind refused to shut off. Your nerves were as awake as ever, for some unfathomable reason.

Silently, you pushed open your door and took a few steps across the hall, stopping in front of Kyron's room. 

Your brother would occasionally stay up late, sometimes he would be studying, other times reading one of the many books that were spread across the shelves in his room. You knew he only did those things because they were his only options, his only things to do on the late nights when sleep evaded him as it was doing to you now.

He'd asked, no- begged, your parents on multiple occasions for a phone or a computer that he could use. He wanted to be able to get in touch with his friends from school, wanted to play games and do what most normal teenage boys did on nights like these, but it hadn't been allowed.

There was almost no communication technology within the small house that your family resided in. The place was so far from any civilization that there wasn't often any service anyway. The only devices that were allowed were the phone that your stepmom used for work, and the singular home-phone attached to the wall in the kitchen, which was strictly forbidden.

You peered inside of your brothers room, searching for signs of the small-flashlight he often used while reading under the covers in an attempt to keep your parents from discovering the fact that he was still awake, but there was no sign of it. It seemed that tonight he'd managed to go to bed on-time.

Stepping back into the hallway, you looked back in the direction of your room. Maybe, tonight would just be one of those nights. You'd just have to crawl back into your bed and hope that you'd fall asleep eventually.

Your stomach, on the other hand, had a different idea. The growl it let out startled you a bit, and then the thought occurred to you that maybe you were just hungry, the weird sensations you'd been having could've been a result of the fact that you'd been unable to finish all of your dinner. 

Your stepmom had just done her bi-weekly shopping trip too, meaning that there was a good chance that your chocolate stash had been replenished.

With an excited grin, you turned and began walking to the end of the hallway, toward the kitchen, but slowed a little when you heard the sound of your moms voice.

It was odd for her to be up at such a late-hour, and who on earth could she be talking to? Your stepmom woke up to go to work incredibly early every day so there was no way that she'd still be awake right now. You'd just seen Kyron snoozing away in his room, so she had to be talking to... herself, maybe?

Walking closer, you softly called out "mom?"

Something slammed against the wall and when you turned the corner your mom was standing there, a smile on her lips even though you could spot the remnants of tears staining the skin of  her cheeks and the fear in her eyes as she looked at you. "Hi, my love. Everything ok? What are you doing up so late?"