Watching and Listening - An Empires SMP AU

Remember

           Jimena had a strange dream that day. She dreamt of waking up in her tower, surrounded by hermits that faded away the more she tried to focus on them, mingled the blue-robed figure reaching out to her, urgently telling her to remember. And then there were flashes of other things. Eavesdropping on the hermits. Princess Gem was acting odd. False. Something about False. Something important. Everything was important. Remember, remember, remember...

           She woke up drenched in cold sweat. What was she dreaming about? She couldn't remember. Jimena, exhausted, closed her eyes and groped around on her bedside table for her beloved copper watch to check the time and decide whether she could go back to sleep. The sunlight streaming in through the window was dim and orange, so the sun must just be coming up.

          But then she could find her watch, no matter how far she reached. Annoyed, Jimena opened her eyes and glanced around for it. But she couldn't see it on the table. It must've fallen to the floor. Grumbling, Jimena got out of bed and peeked under her bed. But the watch wasn't here either.

           Please don't tell me I've lost my watch, Jimena thought. She loved that watch. It was a gift from False, too, and she didn't want to tell her that she'd lost it. And then she felt a familiar prickle on her wrist and saw the copper watch she'd just been looking for strapped on it. Why didn't I take it off last night?

           It was so confusing. Jimena wasn't even sure she could remember what had last night, let alone whether she'd taken her watch off before hitting the hay. But she just glanced at the time and found out it was four thirty two. Guess I can go back to sleep. Except Jimena was now fully awake and couldn't get even the slightest bit drowsy.

          So she just lay there in bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting for a proper time to get up. She waited to see the sun's morning rays filter in through her window and pull her out of bed. But then something odd happened. The room's shadows grew longer, and the sunlight that streamed inside were dimming rather than growing brighter. The occasional mountain songbird slowly stopped singing, and Jimena's ears were full of the chirping of crickets and bats. She quickly got out of bed and stared out the window at the rising moon. It was nighttime.

           "What?!" Jimena exclaimed, shocked enough to say it aloud. "It's nighttime?!" Hadn't she just woken up? Had she just pulled a False and slept the whole day straight? She couldn't be doing that. She was the only one who kept False from starving to death while she was trapped in endless dreams. If both of them continued to sleep like this... Jimena didn't want to think about it. 

           Jimena practically ran next door to False's house and woke her up. "False, wake up!" She almost screamed. Then she blinked. Why does that sound so familiar? A memory flitted across her mind; False lying down with her eyes closed, Jimena shaking her to wake up. And then it was gone again. "What?!" False shot out of bed so vigorously it took Jimena by surprise. "False, calm down," Jimena said quickly, touching her gently on the shoulder. She drank up all of False's conflicting emotions and soon False was relaxed and Jimena was full. 

           "We both slept the whole day," Jimena explained. "And there's no dinner." "Ah," False said. "Um... I think we have potatoes we can boil." Jimena made a face. "I don't think I want dinner anymore," She said. She ended up eating more of False's emotions than the potatoes that looked like weird brains. False didn't find her own cooking that appetizing either. 

           They retired to bed early, despite having apparently slept for twenty four hours. For some reason both were oddly exhausted and a little sore. Maybe that was just a thing that happened when you stayed in bed all day. Jimena was out like a light as soon as her head hit the pillow, and her last conscious thought was to wonder why it hadn't happened earlier.