21. Midnight talks chase away nightmares

“Grant, please, let's sleep in the other room.”

I froze on the threshold, clutching the pillow in my hands, no chain could drag me back into the bedroom.

“Siri, I told you, let's try this. I don't want to change the bed, it's my favourite.”

“I've also mentioned before that I can't sleep in the same place more than once in a row...”

I didn't even get a chance to finish the sentence, the guy just threw the chain on the floor, turned around and fell back on the bed, wrapped up in the blanket.

“I don't care. Either you sleep in this room or you don't sleep at all,” he said in a low voice.

The lights went out and I was still standing at the door. The moon made a white trail across the floor. The wind blew outside the window, the trees rustled, but the house was silent, just the sound of Circul’s breathing barely touching my ears.

I crumpled in place, my legs feeling stiff. Finally I sighed and jogged to my side of the bed. The sheets were cold, but I tucked the blanket under my back. The chill from the hordes of goosebumps quickly passed.

I looked at the black top of Grant's head, at the ear poking out from under his hair. Crawled closer and blew lightly on his lobe. The boy stirred, mumbled something incoherent, and unconsciously raised his hand as if to swat away a mosquito.

I laughed silently and returned to my side, encouraged by my little prank.

Just like that, with a smile on my face, I closed my eyes and breathed out.

And woke up choking on tears.

“Siri, get back to reality!” Grant whipped the corner of the blanket across my face.

I threw my palm forward, stopping the guy, and only then was I able to open my swollen eyelids. My lungs lumped, the oxygen in my blood rebelled, and instead of words, wheezes came out of my mouth.

“I need to get out of here...” I finally managed to whisper with naughty lips and pointed my finger at the door.

The guy realised immediately, scooped me up in his arms and pulled me off the bed. I felt better in the corridor, and I sank to the floor, leaning against the wall, my body still shaking from the nightmare.

“Thank you,” after five minutes I turned my head towards Circul, who was sitting next to me, his forehead resting on his knees.

He looked up at me with eyes as red from allergies as mine.

“Does this happen to you a lot?”

I shrugged uncertainly, at a loss for an answer myself. “Only when I sleep more than once in the same place?”

“Okay, let's find another bed,” Grant stood up and held out his hand to help me up. “And by the way, that doesn't count,” he nodded at the touch.”

“Exactly. In emergencies, rules can be waived,” I smiled slightly, still reeling from the bad dream.”

We walked a short distance down the corridor to the spare bedroom. We took clean sheets from the cupboard and put them on, the hardest part was the duvet. I refused to go back for our old ones because any reminder of Grant's bedroom made me breathless again, so we had to accept that we'd have to sleep under the same blanket.

“Can you leave the lights on?”

Circul's hand froze in mid-air, not touching the switch. The guy came back to the bed, fluffed up his pillow and turned towards me, half lying down with his arm bent at the elbow and his head resting on it.

“How long have you had it?”

“It started some time after my mum died.”

“Sorry for your loss.”

I shook my head, I had been told these words so many times that they had lost all meaning and value to me.

“You've never slept in the same place since?”

“Yes. I usually rented hotel rooms or took a sleeping bag and slept on any flat surface in the house.”

“Well, I don't envy you...” he smiled sadly

My heart had already calmed down; I relaxed, leaned back on the pillows and was able to laugh at my fate again.

“You know, sometimes I even liked this life. Usually people can't sleep in a new place, but I can. Besides, I recently found a place where I could sleep as much as I wanted without leaving the house.”

“Umm? What kind of place?” Grant's sleep seemed to have left him too, so he didn't mind chatting.

“Virtul. I used to go to bed in the gazebo in our garden, put on my lenses and log into the game. Di and I would pick a place on the map and go there. That way we saw new places every day, travelled around and I could sleep well. I don't know how it worked, but my consciousness was deceived, so there were no more problems.”

“Di?”

I smiled for real now, so happy to be able to tell someone about my little girl. “My daughter in the game. My husband and I once rescued a girl in the mountains. She had an unusual appearance, ears like those of a Neko, but she acted like a normal three-year-old child. It was only a few days later that I realised she was an NPC. We adopted her and she lived with us ever since…”

I talked for a long time and Grant listened almost without interruption. Sometimes he asked questions, and a few times he even told me funny stories from his virtual life.

And as the birds sang outside the window, heralding the dawn, we decided to get at least some sleep. I lay on my back, staring at the wall, watching the morning rays break through the lace of the curtains, playing with shadow and light on the wallpaper.

The talk of my beloved world made my heart pound and it could not calm, for the first time in the last few days my blood buzzed with joy, preventing my consciousness from falling asleep.

“Grant?” I called softly, afraid to wake him if he was sleeping.

“What?” he replied, half asleep.

“Can you please... use your magic on me?”

I was understood without explaining myself. A cool calm flowed through my veins, the smile on my lips faded a little, but didn't disappear completely, and I yawned. There was no second yawn.