Iris felt her eyelids droop. Her hand slackened. Oh how inviting the the darkness looked… If only she could only rest for a minute… NO! She banged he head on the desk to wake herself up, blinking back the tears of pain as she looked down at her half-finished piece of homework. She Had to get this done.
f(x) is equal to 2x to the second power minus… What did that say? Iris rubbed her blurry eyes… 4? 9? She sighed and looked at the clock. 1:04 am. She felt her eyes start to well up and put a hand to her forehead. She had to get this done.
f(x) is equal to 2x to the second power minus 4x plus 5… 5… Her eyelids drooped… “NO!” she righted herself. This was impossible , there was no way she was going to stay awake! She couldn’t even read the numbers! She felt a tear slide down her cheek. Perhaps I should take a break, she thought.
Rubbing her eyes, she pushed her seat back and got up from her desk. She stumbled to the kitchen, accidentally walking into the wall before realizing that the doorway was a little bit more to the right. Eventually, she found her way to the kitchen and started to make herself a cup of hot chocolate. She stood with her eyes closed, listening to the lulling drone of the microwave, struggling to stay conscious. She was starting to slip into sleep… BEEP BEEP BEEP.
She jolted awake and fumbled for the steaming measuring cup. She welcomed the sting of it burning her flesh, trusting it to keep her anchored to consciousness. She finished making it, then sat down at the kitchen table. She sat there for a second, staring at the marshmallows, and letting the mug warm her hands. Then she took a sip. Instantly, she felt her sleepiness begin to fade a little. She felt her eyelids slowly become lighter . She felt slightly better, but her brain still had the fuzzy cloud of exhaustion and blurriness still remained in her vision.
She let her mind wander as she continued to drain her cup, letting her eyes lightly scan the dark kitchen.
Her eyes glided over the sides of the kitchen and rested on the dark open space in front of her. She stared through the hole in the wall that acted as a sort of window between the kitchen and the living room. She suppressed a shiver. She never liked the living room at night. It always looked creepy and old to her. The furniture was antique and the room hosted a very old piano and old black and white family photos. She always thought it was ironic how it was called the living room, when she believed it surely should belong as a place for ghosts. She hated having to look at in while in the kitchen.
Light from the kitchen illuminated the edges of the window, casting strange and creepy shadows in the space behind.
She let her eyes look wearily through, watching the shadows and the dark space beyond. Her eyes started to form vague blurry white shapes in the darkness… A strange humanoid shape, a thin girl… she watched these figures with curiosity, her brain barely registering their strangeness.
She watched as a fox slowly began to form from the smoky substance of her brain’s creativity. It stepped forward, and seemed to sniff something on the ground, its luxurious tail curling behind it. It turned towards her, its smoky white shape solidifying, and tilted its head to the side, its features etched with curiosity as it looked into Iris’ startled eyes. Iris held her breath as they studied each other’s souls. She felt her heart flutter as the fox jumped down to the kitchen tile; she blinked.
The fox was gone! Then her mind started to register and fear kicked in.
The fox wasn’t real… she was imagining things. Iris felt her hands start to shake.
Iris tore her eyes away from the blackness and gulped down the last of her cocoa. She dropped her mug in the sink, turned the light off, and dashed to her room (shutting and locking the door behind her).
Iris pressed her back and arms against the door, heart racing and breathing hard. She stood there, breathing deeply, trying to harness the ocean of panic she felt. She let the reassuring darkness of her closed eyelids wash over her. She stayed there a few seconds, then urged her eyelids to open. The dark curtain of sleep washed over her before she could.
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