Insomnia

Chapter 5: We Assemble

Waking up after a night in Megan's dreams—no, of actual sleep and my own dreams—was an incredible thing. I tried to hold on to pieces of the experience, the strange images floating through my own fragmented dreams. Finn had been there, and I think Addie and my parents. We were by an ocean. I wanted to tuck every detail away somewhere safe where no one could ever take them from me again. 

It'd been so long since my brain had slept that I couldn't remember any of my dreams from before I became a Watcher. Now I knew what I'd been missing. Every part of my body felt rested and alive instead of dragging with the exhaustion I'd become accustomed to. I didn't understand it, but Megan had somehow made this possible. 

I lay on my bed, reveling in the refreshed feeling and dreamy oblivion. Sleeping was good. I loved sleep. Best. Thing. Ever. 

Stretched out against my dark blue sheets, I didn't want to get up. I didn't want to ever move again. It was nearly impossible to think about doing anything except going back to sleep. 

Thud. Thud. Thud. 

"Parker!" Mom's shout shattered my happy haze like a bazooka. "Your alarm went off thirty minutes ago. You up yet?" 

I bolted out of bed, fully alert for the first time in months— probably years. "I'm up." A small grin crept across my face. I'd slept through my alarm? How . . . normal. 

Tugging a gray long-sleeved shirt and jeans out of the closet, I was through the door, past my Mom, and into the shower in under a minute. I would be late for school, but the sudden urgency that filled me had nothing to do with that. 

It was Megan. I had to find her and make eye contact again. I had to find out if all her dreams were like the one last night. 

My brain whirred as it sorted the information: her approximate age, where I'd seen her, what direction she was heading in and why. She didn't seem older than me, but I knew I'd never seen her before. That meant she could be new in town. She was old enough to drive, so chances were fifty/fifty she'd be attending my high school. I would find her. 

Doubt flooded me as I stepped out of the shower. I forced aside nagging thoughts that maybe it wouldn't be that easy, maybe she was only passing through town. Maybe I'd never see her again. No matter what it took, though, I had to find her. I had to get answers. 

Why could I sleep in her dream? Could I do it again? 

For a moment, the whirring in my mind stopped and my stomach clenched. What was I planning to do? Hunt her down? Force her to make eye contact with me? It felt wrong. But something else inside me spoke, something deep-rooted and instinctual. This was a possible means of survival. It could mean a real life for me. 

I had to find out, but I'd need to be careful. 

* * *

I ran through the front doors of Oakville High School. Fifteen minutes late wasn't too bad. Everything seemed oddly hushed, though. I peered in the classrooms as I jogged down the hall, but they were all empty. 

By the time I got to my locker, I wondered if it was some kind of holiday I'd forgotten about. My heart pounded and I racked my brain for what holiday it could possibly be. It was Monday, the first week of October. Why would there be no school? 

I closed my locker and turned around, leaning against it to think. A mirror lined the back of the trophy case on the opposite wall, but my reflection looked nothing like me. There was color in my cheeks I hadn't seen in a year or more; my dark hair glistened. I looked almost healthy.