Host of Sheets (shyan)

Chp 6. Ripples

Ryan blinked in slow motion, staring at his living room ceiling for nearly a full minute as the world swam back into focus in fits and starts. He'd fallen asleep...? The TV was still on, the blank screen throwing blue light over his features. He sat up, his hoodie sliding off- it'd been lain over him like a blanket.

He fumbled for his cellphone; was it really 3am already? A message blinked on the screen. Shane.

12:42 am
Showed myself out. You fell asleep. Gotta remember to take care of yourself too.

Ryan sighed and stood, rubbing at his eyes. Shane wasn't wrong. It'd been a long hard couple of days, running on fumes. He hadn't realized he was that worn out, but he guessed it wasn't that surprising; he hadn't really been sleeping. Working too hard, staying too late in the office- worrying about Shane.

But Shane had seemed better tonight, right? He'd agreed to the exorcism, anyway. That said a lot. Ryan almost felt silly putting him through that, but... not silly enough not to do it. He'd email Father Thomas tomorrow for advice.

Shane'd put up with the exorcism, and after that, everything could go back to normal. Hanging out with Shane tonight made him realize that he missed Shane's grin, the way he lit up when he was about to say something stupid. Their banter was the same, Ryan knew that; Shane had a witty retort to all Ryan's jokes, dissolving them both into dumb giggles.

It was Shane's smile that just wasn't the same. There was obviously something distracting him. And maybe no one else was seeing it, but Ryan could.

He went upstairs to his room, trudging slowly up each step. He still felt sleepy, oddly withdrawn.

He'd accidentally spent the night after the party- last night? It felt like a week ago- searching through everything he could find on demon possession, until it was nearly dawn. It all... sounded like Shane. He'd prepped his entire apartment. Salt lining the doors, sage burning in the air, purifying the rooms as well as he was able.

Shane hadn't even blinked. He'd walked right on through, with a sardonic smile the whole time.

Ryan pursed his lips as he stepped into his bedroom. It was so cold- had he left the window open? He went through to his bathroom and got ready for bed, showering quickly, brushing his teeth and drying off. He had work early tomorrow. Too early, his heavy eyes and limbs reminded him.

As he rinsed his toothbrush, he smiled at the mirror; Shane had drawn another ghost there. Although... this was his master bathroom. Shane had used the guest bath downstairs. When had he had time to do it? It wasn't there yesterday. Weird that he would come up here while Ryan was sleeping on the couch...

'Boo' was written underneath in familiar, blocky letters.

Ryan leaned in to study it, just in time to see something move behind him in the reflection of the mirror. He jumped, toothbrush ricocheting off the shower wall with a loud clatter- he hadn't even noticed throwing it.

There was nothing there.

He took a deep, ragged breath. Fuck. He was going insane, wasn't he? They both were. Maybe there was...mold or something in that mine. They should get checked out. Shane liked those mold theories.

He went to retrieve his toothbrush, sad and abandoned at the bottom on his shower. The pipes in the walls rattled, and he jumped. Fuck, why did he live alone?? He snatched the toothbrush in a quick dart. He was imagining things. That was all. It'd been a weird couple of days, and he was just....tired.

His shower made another juddering noise and started to back up, brackish water rushing up from the drains, filling the tub, soaking through his socks before he could move. He made a noise of disgust, hopping out. Aw hell, was his shower broken?