Overwritten

51 : Sleepless

Waking up from a dream, the day was already shrouded in a sense of displacement.

Everything felt off, as if the world was just slightly out of place. I found myself feeling as though I was living someone else's life. Getting ready through the eyes of another. I found myself staring at the mirror for a minute, hardly able to realize that the girl meeting my eyes was my own reflection.

Every step I took, I felt like it was the first I had ever taken a step in this body. As if I were just getting used to how my limbs functioned, how to move my legs and arms in order to move. I even managed to forget how to tie my shoelaces, holding onto the ends of the laces, staring blankly ahead as I waited for the muscle memory to kick in.

But eventually, the feeling faded. A sense of disorder drifting off into nothingness.

As I stepped into the hallway, I was hit with the strong smell of disinfectant, far more potent than usual. I assumed they must have cleaned the hallway at night, as it was also matched with a polished appearance of the hallway. As I stepped past other apartments, I tried to ignore the fragments of the out of place feeling.

The elevator doors opened, and I stepped on beside Scott. It also smelled strongly of disinfectant, and the metal appeared clean. Scott looked tired, bags under his eyes and a gaze that seemed distant, not too different from how I had felt earlier.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked, although just from looking at him it was an empty question with an obvious answer. He looked to me, processing the words I had said. It appeared to take him longer than usual before he gently shook his head.

"No sleep..." he mumbled, letting out a sigh before pulling his jacket tighter around him. His glasses began to drift down his nose, and as he pushed them up, it appeared to take an extreme amount of effort just to lift his hand. I found myself curious, but knew that Scott wasn't in the mood to socialize.

On the train ride, we didn't speak much, although that wasn't exactly out of the ordinary. We never spoke much in the mornings, and today of all days didn't seem like an exception. I did find myself growing nervous, dreading seeing Noah as seconds ticked by.

I wondered if Noah had told Evan, or perhaps even a guard. There might even be some guards waiting for us at the train station to take us away. Or, had Scott gone too far? Perhaps he had gone so far that Noah would be beyond broken, a mess of a man incapable of forming a coherent sentence.

And in truth, I wasn't sure which scenario I was more afraid of.

But when I looked over to Scott, I didn't see a man who could ruin another's mental state. I saw a tired boy, his arm barely propping up his head as he closed his eyes, leaning against the glass window. Despite the loud and chaotic surroundings, he had managed to fall asleep.

I sighed, looking out the window. I didn't want to pry, but I couldn't help but feel curious about why he was so tired. Had something happened? I decided to push it aside, not wanting to make myself even more paranoid than I already was.

As the train passed over the tunnel, I saw that there was no lady with her umbrella and briefcase. The school children appeared to take a different route, and the streets seemed barren. The only faces seemed to be the reflections of commuters, and the heavily edited models on billboards.

As we stopped at a station, it seemed the faces blurred together. Instead, I drew my attention to an advertisement that had been placed directly in front of the train window. People had become so desensitized to it, that nobody even gave it so much as a glance.

It had bright colors, a neon orange that transitioned into a neon yellow. It appeared to be selling something tropical, although it was near impossible to tell what the product actually did. There were fruits dancing around the woman's face, although it didn't appear to be something edible.