InsaneJournal

Let’s Rest Awhile Inside the Cave
Who: Sean & Karin.
What: With Fiona at work, Karin seeks out company.
Where: 105.
When: 2 October, 1:29 a.m.
Warnings: None yet.

Karin woke to the sound of her own choked cry.

Her heart beat a violent tattoo against her ribs, her tongue swollen and dry in her faintly open mouth. She could not quite recall the nightmare, though she felt the echo of its touch on every part of her sweat-drenched skin. She remembered water, and earth, and an emptiness so deep she could not truly fathom it. It was too much.

Slowly she unclenched her hand from the sheets, realizing just as sluggishly that she had in her terror reached out for her sister, like a child unable to care for herself. Shame flushed hot upon her cheeks. Fiona was at work, as was right and good; already Karin had set Fiona too far back, had imposed too much upon her social calendar, her work schedule, her very enjoyment of her own home’s comforts. Fee had sacrificed enough. Knowing this, Karin had foolishly convinced herself she could make it on her own, that the restful nights her sister had spent by her side had helped her enough that for one brief night she would not need such coddling. She had, of course, been wrong.

The thought of attempting sleep again drove her mad. The bed was too big, too cold, too lonely to be welcoming. Shadows danced in the corners of her vision, taunting her with their constant evasion. In the unlit bathroom she washed her face, the frigid water rousing herself at least to some degree. Her mind raced, but she could think of only one place to go now, only one person who might set her at her ease.

And so a quarter of an hour later she found herself staring at the quite familiar door beside her own, her tired eyes tracing the lines that read 105. She hated herself for seriously considering waking him at this hour. She wondered what she would say, what she could say, were he to be angry or put out by her familiarity, her thoughtlessness. But desperation drove her on, and she gave a quiet, rapping knock.

“Sean?” she said, her voice a stadium whisper. “Sean, it’s Karin.” She knocked again, gritting her teeth, swallowing her humiliation. “Please be awake...”