Hide (Sequel to RUN)

Chapter 17

"Let me get it for you," was what he told me instead. I leaned back into the couch, surprised. I guess he really did feel bad.

"Thank you." He didn't even glance at me as he left the room.

"Wanna watch some TV?" Maki asked, grabbing the remote. I nodded, snuggling into him. After he had picked a show, the feeling in my gut got to me.

"I shouldn't have brought up the coffee," I admitted.

"Probably not," Maki agreed, pursing his lips. "Not really anything you can do about it now." Lansing walked into the room then, holding two cups of coffee in one hand and one in the other. He handed the single one to me, split the two cups up, and handed one to Maki.

I took a tentative sip out of my mug, testing the temperature. It tasted horribly bitter, but this time it had a different taste behind it as well.

This is not the time to critique Lansing's coffee-making skills. I thought guiltily, taking a huge gulp this time. If I drank it fast enough, I would barely notice the funny taste.

Within the minute of receiving the mug, it was empty. I didn't say anything to Lansing about the weird taste. There wasn't a need to be rude about it.

But instead of perking me up, the coffee seemed to be doing the opposite. Within minutes, I was starting to nod off.

My head jerked up for the fourth time. I had to stay awake. The nightmares would get me if I didn't. The thing was, I didn't really want to stay awake. The thought crossed my mind to get up and move a bit to keep me alert, but I was comfortable on the couch between Lansing and Maki. I didn't really want to keep my eyes open anymore.

I was exhausted.

Finally, I snuggled back up to Maki. I forced my eyes open once more, but they were so heavy they just fell back down again.

That's when the darkness finally took me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lekia's eyes closed once more, and Lansing watched. He was waiting to see if they would open again. They didn't.

He sighed in relief, bringing his hands up to his face.

Maki glanced at him curiously, "You okay, Commander?" Lansing nodded, indicating Lekia with a nod. Maki looked down.

"She's asleep," he breathed excitedly, keeping his voice down so he wouldn't wake her.

"Yeah," Lansing snatched the remote off the table and turned the TV off. "Let's leave her be. She needs to sleep." Lansing stood up, motioning for Maki to do the same. He got up grudgingly, laying Lekia on the couch softly, then followed Lansing into the kitchen.

When Maki entered, he immediately noticed what Lansing had forgotten to put away. The bottle of sleeping pills on the counter.

"You drugged her?!" Maki yelled, grabbing the bottle of pills.

"Be quiet!" Lansing whisper yelled back, snatching the pills out of his hands. "She's sleeping!"

"Because you drugged her!" Maki whisper yelled as well. Lansing ran a hand over his face, looking guilty.

"Look, she hasn't been sleeping. She thinks she's been hiding it from me, but she's also been having some hallucinations. I talked to Tim about it. Four days without sleep causes hallucinations. Just going one night is dangerous."

"How do you know she's been hallucinating?"

"Mostly her talking to people that aren't there. There're other things that I think are part of her PTSD, but they could be worse because of no sleep."