Alternative Tactics

Ch. 3: Motel

"Not awful," I muttered, ignoring his grin. I glanced out the window. It was incredibly weird to think that we were up in the sky. But it was also beautiful, pure, undiluted blue, mixed with scraps of white cloud, more then scraps at times. 

"Here," Cyric said, tapping my arm and tearing my gaze from the sky. In his hand was yet another pill, this one was baby blue. I looked at it warily before putting my hand over my mouth. He gave a low chuckle, obviously amused by my precaution.

"What does it do?" I demanded, my voice only slightly muffled by my hand. 

"It's a sleeping pill," He answered. I shook my head.

"No thanks," His eyebrows rose but he didn't say anything.

That flight seemed to take forever. I didn't sleep, I refused to let myself sleep and because of it, I was exhausted. I'm not sure if Cyric did, I know he had his eyes closed for a while but I have no idea whether he was sleeping or meditating or something like that. But when they announced that the plane was taking it's descent, I started stressing again. I forced myself to take calming breaths. I was fine. I couldn't find anything to calm myself down, although, I admit that when Cyric slipped his hand into mine, I was vaguely reassured. When we had finally landed and gotten into the tiny airport, it was raining. 

"On a scale of one to ten, how awful was that?" Cyric asked me as we got off the plane. I thought.

"Overall, a five," I decided, checking the pocket in my backpack as discreetly as I could to make sure the gun was still there. Thankfully, it was. I rubbed at my eyes, trying to keep them open. 

"Are you tired?" Cyric asked, concerned. 

"No," I replied, stifling a yawn. It was clear he didn't believe me. I didn't really care. We headed out into the rain, staying under the airport's stone awning. Cyric hailed a cab and I let him, too tired to really care. We got in and I didn't even pay attention to where Cyric told the driver to go. 

I was only this tired because I hadn't slept in so long. At H.O., I had been given the same serum that was supposed to give me magical powers but had so far only made me cough and/or vomit up my own blood. I hadn't slept that night, I think I blacked out once or twice, but I never went to sleep. Then, the next day, I had escaped, for better or for worse, with Lara and the help of Adrian, Cyric, and Gwin, Adrian's little sister who left shortly after. After that, I had several awkward, more then awkward, conversations with Cyric and now we're at a bit of a stalemate on the whole relationship thing. I want him around, but, I know I shouldn't for a whole slew of reasons so I refuse to be with him. And that ended with me falling off a cliff into the ocean where I talked to my mom's ghost and then blacked out, and that night I stayed up with Lara and we tried to run, but Cyric and Adrian stopped us and changed our plans which is, of course how I ended up here with Cyric. Overall, I had blacked out a few times, but I hadn't actually slept in two days. It was something of a miracle I was still on my feet. 

When we got to wherever Cyric told the cabbie to take us, he helped me out and then payed the man. After stumbling through the rain, we got into... a motel. The woman, who had badly applied makeup and looked like she hated her job, her life, and herself, looked at us in surprise. It took me a second to realize it was because of the time difference, it must be only like five pm here, but near Australia, where we had been, we'd left at something like two in the afternoon and after a very long flight, it was still on five o'clock here because of the time change. "Can I help you?" The woman asked. 

"Yes, can we have a room?" Cyric asked. I shot him a glare. We could still be out, moving closer to Helena. But secretly, all I wanted to do was lie down. The woman clicked agonizingly slowly through her computer.