Bad News (Coprolalia Part Three)

Chapter Twenty Five

Claire had been putting away her toothbrush when she found the bottle of pills.

She took it off of the shelf that was hidden behind the mirror. Claire couldn't make sense of the name, but she made sense of what was under them. For sleep.

Claire's hands shook. This wasn't hers.

It had to be Ben's.

Claire walked out of the bathroom, pill bottle still in her hand. They weren't prescription, at least.

When she got to the bedroom, without even looking at her, Ben smiled. "Hey Claire."

She didn't respond.

He must have seen what was in her hand, because she saw him shoot up and try to tear it from her hand. "Why do you have that?" He asked angrily.

"I found it in the bathroom." She said flatly.

"Why were you looking through my stuff?"

"So it is yours." Claire snapped, glaring up at him.

"I..." He looked defeated. "Yes, they're mine." He finally said, falling back onto the bed with an exhausted sigh.

Claire could barely keep her hands still. "How long have you been taking sleeping pills?"

He looked her straight in the eyes. "How long have I been taking them or how long have I needed them?"

She didn't know how to respond to that.

Ben sighed. "I've been taking them for less than a week, I've needed them since I was diagnosed with insomnia when I was twelve."

That made her blood boil. "You've been hiding this from me since I've know you?!"

He nodded.

"Why?" She asked through clenched teeth.

"We always had bigger things to worry about than 'Ben is physically incapable of sleeping'." He stood up. "And it's only been really bad since the nightmares started."

"Nightmares." Claire repeated.

He nodded again. "Ever since I woke up from that fugue thing all the bad things that have happened to us are on constant replay. The pills are so that I don't have dreams." He moved to touch her.

Claire took a step back, unable to keep herself from shaking anymore.

"Claire, this isn't a huge deal." Ben tried to console her. "It's because of my dad, not you."