ODE TO SLEEP

「007. play by the rules」

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"MADDOX, is Isaiah perched in here?"

Valerie strode through the open door, her hands planted firmly on her hips. She heaved out a deep, exasperated sigh. Emerson and Marshall followed after her. Emerson had her arms crossed over her chest, and Marshall looked like he didn't want to be there.

"He's resting," Maddox replied, his chair creaking as he rocked in it. "Why? What do you need with him?"

"Marshall is going to apologize," Emerson said. "What he said to Isaiah isn't okay and he needs to apologize to him."

"Does Marshall want to apologize, or are you forcing him to?" Maddox quirked a brow.

"Both," She replied. "Right, Marshall?"

"I may have taken it too far," He mumbled. "But the guy's a grown adult. I don't see why he needs a whole band of people around him to babysit."

"Try sixteen,"

They all turned to face the cabinets, where I resided, my leg swinging back and forth over the edge. From the way the sun was shining, a shadow was cast over my face, concealing it from their visions. My hands rested on my stomach.

"Sixteen?" Marshall echoed.

"Isaiah is the youngest Blackstorm we've had," Maddox further explained. "But now that Emerson is here, she's the youngest. Isaiah and she are only a few months apart from being the same age."

"And he doesn't have babysitters," Valerie added. "He has caregivers. Maddox, Marcus, Alejandro, and myself. There's a reason that he is always with one of us. You partially saw it last night."

"He just...randomly attacks people?" Marshall scoffed.

"He's provoked very easily," Maddox said. "You see, your brain and Isaiah's work in two different ways. His emotions can flip like a light switch, and there's nothing that he can do to control it. Valerie tried to warn you last night because he had missed a dosage of his medication, which places the chemicals in his brain at an imbalanced stage. Therefore anything that he does is against his own will."

"You, like everyone else here has, will learn not to mess with Isaiah when he isn't on his medications," Valerie said.

"Worst-case scenario, Isaiah could take someone's life and have no recollection of doing so," Maddox explained. "He says things he doesn't mean and his actions aren't controlled."

"In simple terms," Valerie stated. "The Isaiah you're looking at now isn't the same one you'll eventually go on missions with."

"Speaking of which," Maddox hummed. "Isaiah, why don't you join them in training some?"

"Is that a request?" I deadpanned. "Or an order?"

"Will you do it if it was a request?"

"We all know the answer to that."

"Then it's an order."

My chest rose and fell with a deep exhale. I slipped from the tops of the cabinets, my feet hitting the ground silently. I shoved my hands into my pocket and walked out of the door. Valerie followed after me, Marshall, and Emerson behind her.

"Let's do hand-to-hand to start," Valerie announced once we reached the training room. "Isaiah is the best at it, so Marshall, you'll go against him first."

I kicked my shoes off, slid my hoodie over my head, and tossed it to the side. I walked onto the mats, my hands slipping back into my pockets. I rolled my neck around, wincing as it cracked loudly.