Who Will Heal the Broken?

Chapter 9

FOUR DAYS

I managed to make it through most of the day without falling asleep. That was largely due to the demon's incessant screaming in my head. The demon did, however, let me fall asleep in the class right before Yukio's and get detention. Thanks, demon. Just what I needed right now.

I walked through the door way to Yukio's classroom and promptly collapsed into my chair and dropped my head onto the desk with a loud thunk.

"Uhh, Rin? Are you okay?" Shiemi asked timidly.

"Mmmmmmm." I moaned, "Yeah, I'm just really tired. I'll be fine once I get some sleep tonight."

"O-okay." she said and turned back to the front of the room.

Yukio had just walked in and given me a sympathetic look.

'Awww wittle bwother's afraid for you,' the demon cooed mockingly.

I started lightly banging my head on the table, but no one said anything. They all knew the situation. Well, sort of. As soon as the class was over, I started walking to detention.

"Oi! Okumura!"

I swiveled my head around to meet eyes with Bon, "Yeah?"

"Where are you going? We have to all stay at the warehouse."

"Yeah I uh sorta got detention last period.... I'll be there in an hour." I said while I rubbed the back of my neck, no longer meeting his eyes.

"You got detention!? Why!?" Bon yelled.

"I fell asleep. It'll- It'll be better after I get some sleep tonight," I said even though I knew that probably wouldn't happen, "I gotta go or I'll be late and then I'll have to stay longer." I said taking off before he could say anything. I heard him sigh and walk the other way.

In detention I ended up falling asleep and getting it extended for another half hour. Great. As I finally left I bolted for the door but the teacher stopped me.

"Rin, is everything okay? I mean, you've fallen asleep in class before but I've never seen you this tired before. Are you getting sleep?"

"Ah- I just stayed up too late watching movies last night, it won't happen again," I chuckled nervously.

He let me go and I bolted to the warehouse. As soon as I walked in the door I was swarmed.

"Where were you!?" Bon said first, "You said an
hour! It's been almost two."

"Heh, yeah.... It was extended for half an hour." I looked down at my feet.

"Please tell me it wasn't because of something stupid," Yukio said.

"No," I spat, "I... fell asleep."

"AFTER getting the detention for falling asleep in the first place!?" Bon yelled.

I was saved from answering when the demon screamed particularly loudly. I flinched back and put the heel of my hand to my forehead.

"...Rin?" Bon asked, immediately cooling down.

"Yeah, yeah, it's fine. I'm just gonna go grab a drink." I said pushing past them all and making a beeline for the kitchen.

'Ha. Pathetic. This is too easy.'

"Shut UP." I spat.

"Rin, who are you talking to?" Yukio asked concerned. I turned around and the whole class was staring at me.

"Nobody it's nothing. Just- I'm going to bed now to get some much needed sleep." I pushed past them once more and sprawled out underneath my blanket.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to fall asleep. I knew it wasn't going to happen but you can't blame me for trying. I decided to get up at 5:00 because it's not like I was sleeping anyways, so I might as well make a good breakfast.

Apparently, I made too much noise getting up because I heard Bon start to stir. I paused to see if he would fall back asleep but he rolled over and looked at me, sleep still evident on his features.

"Rin, why are you up?" Bon whispered so as not to wake anyone else up.

"Go back to sleep, Bon. I'm just making breakfast."

"Well, if you're not going to sleep I'll help," he said starting to get up.

"No, no it's fine just go back to sleep."

"It's alright I won't be able to get back to sleep anyways."

I cringed, "Sorry."

He just shook his head. We made breakfast and as soon as everyone ate it was back to school. I was sure I looked worse than I had yesterday, two days without sleep will do that to a person.

The teacher who gave me detention yesterday took me aside at the end of the class and said, "You still didn't get any sleep last night, did you?"

I shook my head but said, "It's fine it's just a small bout of insomnia. I'm sure it'll go away."

He looked at me doubtfully and said, "Does this happen a lot?"

"No."

"Rin, maybe you should go see a doctor about this."

"No!" I said quickly, "I mean, it's nothing to worry about, I'm sure it will go away."

He let me go, but I was pretty sure this conversation wasn't over. I trudged to Yukio's class and just before I got to the door Bon stopped me.

"I think we need to talk."

"Look, Bon, we're going to be late to Yukio's class. Can we do this later?" I started to tiredly push into the classroom but Bon stopped me again.

"I already talked to your brother. He thinks I should talk to you, too."

I sighed, "Okay." I was really too tired to argue.

"Look, if these visions are getting that bad, you need to talk to us, man. We haven't had the experience with this demon that you have. We don't know as much as you do, and we know that you're not sleeping. What's going on?"

"It's more than just visions now." I told him. I realized they were worrying more than if I had just told them.

'Screw up.'

I lightly flinched. Bon saw it immediately.

"And then there's the random flinching. What is happening besides visions?"

"I'd rather tell you all at the same time. We'll just meet at the warehouse after school." I said tiredly and, just like that, the conversation was over. I pushed into the classroom, dragging my feet the whole way. I laid my head down and groaned. I wasn't looking forward to this conversation and I didn't even know when the next time I would be able to sleep would be.