In Another Life [Bokuaka]

Part 3

The sky burned a strong, orange glow as the sun set in the distance. Akaashi sat in bed, laptop in his lap, as his fingers scrolled and typed frantically.

FFI.

The page loaded. Akaashi went straight into the reading.

(FFI) is a very rare autosomal dominant inherited prion disease of the brain... Akaashi's eyes scanned the screen. FFI has no known cure and involves progressively worsening insomnia, which leads to hallucinations, delirium, and confusional states like that of dementia...

Thin lips pressed into an even thinner line. His fingers remained stiff for quite some time as his eyes read the introductory paragraph over and over again.

"There is no known cure, huh...?" Akaashi continued to read on. "All the people who've contracted this disease eventually die within a year or less..." This part was read aloud.

He rubbed his face quietly. "Of course they do." Akaashi leaned his head on his hand, chin resting in his palm.

"I wonder if Bokuto knows about all of this." He must have looked it up at some point, right? It was the only normal thing to do, considering how he was the one who was suffering from said disease.

"Insomnia." He thought back to the bags around Bokuto's eyes.

'All I can say is that sleeping doesn't come as easily as it used to.'

Akaashi exhaled quickly through his nose, making a sound that was almost like a laugh. He read up on the symptoms and blinked gently, a hand over his lips. After several minutes, Akaashi closed his laptop and lay back on his bed. He stared at the ceiling.

"Some friend I've made."

There wasn't much else to say.

———

New Text Message!

From: Bokuto (Sent July 29th at 11:56 PM)

[Hey! I hope this isn't a bad time!]

Akaashi lifted his head from his pillow and reached a hand out to grab his phone. The bright light caused him to squint as he read the message. Quietly, he contemplated on whether he wanted to respond or not. He blinked weakly and slid his fingers down the sides of his phone, a sign of weariness that he could not disobey. Akaashi watched as the screen went to black, and it was then that he placed the phone back on his nightstand, choosing to ignore the message.

He couldn't sleep for about an hour after the text, but ultimately slipped off to sleep.

Akaashi never received another message in the remaining hour that he was awake.