The Children of Erebus

VIII

I snorted.

"What does he want?" I grumbled as I snatched the sheets off me and started to get up. Dragonfly caught my wrist.

"You don't have to go right now." He said, which I must admit was quite tempting.

"I kind of must, before he does something utterly stupid." I reminded him. He didn't let me go.

"Let him suffer!" He hissed under his breath. "You need rest!" I rolled my eyes, and with the shades off I knew he could tell.

"I already rested... thanks to your "sleep serum"." I passed him an aggravated look, his cheeks modelled with colour.

"It didn't last as long as I thought it would. Hell, you barely slept four hours!" I raised a questioning eyebrow at him: the blush on his cheeks ventured further, covering most of his face. "Okay..." He muttered after a minute of staring him down. "Maybe it was five hours and a half, but still! It's the unholy hours of the early damned morning! No creature is supposed to be awake!" I arched both brows and he, much to my dismay, jerked me to him: locking me in a death-grip with the both of us sprawled on the bed.

"Dragon!" I playfully growled at him. The voices of the silhouetted people grew eye-piercingly loud, but I ignored them. Ever since the afternoon, they've been back with a vengeance. I knew I was doing something to piss them off, but I didn't know what it was. Not that it mattered, I figured I could just keep doing what I did and hope it pissed them off. I tried to break out of his hold, but it was pointless and so I gave up: surrendering my entire weight to him. He scowled down at me, whilst I looked up bemused. It was always like that with him. I could be in the worst mood possible and he'd find some roundabout way to turn it around.

"I swear you weigh less than Grace!"

"And I bet you can't even lift me!" Dragon's eyes gleamed and before I knew it he had me upside down, hanging by the legs: his arms around my waist. "Let me down!" I hissed. He laughed delighting in my torture. He shook me up, jumping up and down on the bed.

"What's the magic phrase?!" He teased.

"Please." I groaned.

"That's not a phrase." I rolled my eyes.

"Fine! Fine! I love you! There!"

"Say it like you mean it!" He ordered. I groaned louder, a smile on my lips.

"I love you, you deranged fucking bastard!" I told him, he loosened his hold on me, lowering me onto the mattress again a wide smile on his face: from ear to ear.

"Love you, too, pain in my ass." He laid down beside me and took out a book: a children's book we used to read for each other every night the two of us and... We kept the tradition every night: on links if we were apart.

"Who's turn is it?" I asked.

"Mine." He took out the old book and opened the night light. I grimaced slightly at the intense light, he gave me a sympathetic smile. "Sorry, not all of us are mutants that can see in the dark."

It was an ancient children books that some believed outdated the 21st century itself. The title was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

She loved it. I thought to myself. But she is not around anymore. She is gone. She left. Yet, she remains. I ignored the treacherous thoughts in my head and closed my eyes listening for Dragon's deep baritone as he read from the ancient book that we all but memorized out by heart.

""Oh, you can't help that," said the cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."" Dragon read in a false note. He faked a higher pitch when he read Alice's response. ""How do you know I'm mad?" Said Alice. "You must be," said the Cat, "or you would not have come here." The sheer irony of that strikes every time. The fact that madness is accepted in wonderland as a part of society. It is not questioned. None of the characters in the book tries to change their behaviour to make it more "normal". It is just recognized and that's the end of it. There is no need to explain misplaced actions or behaviour: waste breath to explain your point of view to someone else who does not really care to know. The reality of the world is that people do mad things for mad reasons or none. Life itself is mad and chaotic. As such, why must we live up to some virtual expectations of normality?