Selected

I couldn't sleep. I hadn't slept since Koontz's death which was two days ago. His execution was announced over the news just yesterday. Vox laid next to me snoring softly. I wished I could sleep like that. My thoughts were consumed with Koontz. I could have done more. I should have done more. Instead I sat around this plush castle, wallowing about his problems instead of taking action. That's who I was. I wasn't a person of action. Not even in the slightest. Maybe if I was, I could have saved him.

I got out of bed slowly as to not shake the bed and wake Vox. I slipped out the door and down the hallway. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew I couldn't just lay around with my mind running like it was. I would imagine that someone who hasn't slept in two days would collapse from exhaustions, but I was wide awake. I made my way down the stairs and saw a light coming from the kitchen. I followed it, curious as to who was up this late.

I swung the door open to reveal Hal standing in front of a plate of fruit. "Hal?"

She looked up, "Hey. Couldn't sleep either? I woke up with this insane craving for strawberries. Thank God we had them. I think I would have gone ballistic." I smiled and nodded politely. Food cravings weren't what was keeping me up. "What one?"

I shook my head, "No thank you."

"Vox says you haven't been sleeping?"

I sighed and sat down on the bar stool next to her. "How would he know? He sleeps like a baby."

At that moment the kitchen door swung open. Addeck came shuffling through. "Addeck, you couldn't sleep either?"

He shook his head, "Nope."

Hal gestured to the bar stools on the other side of the island, "Come join us. Strawberry?" She offered him her plate, but he just waved it off. "Tell us, Addeck, what is troubling you?"

He looked up. His brown hair hung low and covered the tops of his eyes that reflected sorrow. "Nothing." He paused for a brief moment, "How are you, Hal? Everything going okay?"

She nodded, "Of course." Her eyes quickly glanced to me before returning to Addeck. I wasn't sure if that signal was for me or him. "Please don't avoid my question."

He sighed and stared down at his hands. "Just the same dream I always have."

That answer seemed to satisfy Hal. But it didn't satisfy me. I didn't know whether it was the sleep deprivation or just the curiosity that overwhelmed me but I pried, "What dream?"

Hal gave me a warning look, "Addeck, you don't have to-."

"That's okay, I will." Addeck looked at me, his green eyes were filled with darkness and despair. They shifted out of focus as if he was reliving his dream again. "The one where I see Yale standing in front of me on a rain soaked bridge. She yells at me that she can't stand her life anymore. I move toward her, reaching out, trying to save her, but it's too late. And I watch as her body falls toward the river. I always wake up right when her body makes a splash."

A shiver ran through me. I didn't expect that. The way he told it made my skin crawl. "I'm so sorry." At least I wasn't dreaming of Koontz's death every night.

He shook his head but didn't say anything. Silence hung in the air. Hal stared at her plate of strawberries as she stood quietly. She then announced that she was going to bed.

Addeck and I sat in heavy silence. I could tell he was still being haunted by the same scene over and over again as if it was permanently seared in his brain. I couldn't imagine witnessing that. I couldn't imagine the pain and the sorrow that accompanied that memory. He stood and without at word left me alone in the kitchen.