Unsleep (2)

Oxy woke up. She sat up and stretched her stiff body, but she felt very satisfied. The drowsiness and tiredness had disappeared. She blinked, still a bit sleepy but thinking she should wake up now.

She was still in the principal's office, on the sofa. She did not find the principal who sat in the chair in front of the desk before.

"Sir?" She called. She got up from the sofa. Her leg stumbled on her backpack which was on the floor, leaning against the side of the sofa. She quickly took it and slung it over her shoulder.

"Mr. Dome, are you here?"

The room was very quiet. She was alone in this room.

And that wasn't the only thing that surprised her. She looked at the clock on the wall and found that now was around three pm. Even though she remembered very well when she entered the office was still in the morning.

The red light streamed in through the large office windows. That clock was not a lie. It was evening.

She immediately rushed out of the principal's office. She walked into an empty corridor streamed by the reddish light of evening.

She heard her cell phone ringing from inside her bag. She immediately took out her cell phone.

"Where are you?" it was Darren's voice.

"Eh, I... at school?" Oxy replied while looking around her.

"Don't lie! Stop joking!"

"No, I'm really at school. I... I'll be home soon."

"Wait for me at the gate!" Darren ordered.

"But..."

"Wait there, or if I don't see you there, I'll ruin your life!" Darren threatened her, and the phone ended.

Oxy was getting more and more nervous. It was unusual for her to hear Darren in such a panic. She continued walking while reading some of the messages sent to her today. It was all from her adoptive mother. Grace must be worried. And that's very bad to make her worried.

Oxy reached the gate. She tried to calm herself because she was walking too fast. Darren was still not here. She wanted to walk home now, but Darren had threatened her to wait here.

"Hi."

Oxy looked up in surprise. For a moment she was afraid of the person who called her, but then she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Argen who was the one who called her.

"Oh, hi..." Oxy replied nervously. This was the first time she greeted Argen.

"It's late, why you are still at school?" Argen asked, looking surprised.

"Eh, yeah. I was... at the library."

"Oh. Looks like you left behind," said Argen.

Oxy couldn't lie if she was so happy to see Argen here. Argen is unbelievably dazzling from this close. Argen was so handsome, he had baby blue eyes and blonde hair, the boy was truly an idol in their school.

Argen took a step closer to Oxy, then said in a friendly tone. "You look confused?"

"Uh, yeah. I just woke up. I fell asleep in the library." said Oxy.

"You? Asleep?" Argen's eyes turned worried. "Be careful, you don't know what's in the news today, do you?"

"What?" asked Oxy not understanding.

"People die in sleep."

Oxy widened her eyes.

"They... die?"

"Yes," Argen nodded. "Two persons."

"What... two persons?" Oxy was getting more and more surprised.

"School is starting to close. So you don't have to worry about your unfinished homework," said Argen, smiling friendly. "Where's your house? Want me to drop you off?"

Oxy would have loved to be driven home by Argen, but Darren had appeared, riding his bike.

"Damn it, here you are!" Darren exclaimed, he looked holding back his anger.

"Hi, Darren," said Argen, apparently he didn't expect to meet Darren.

"Oh, Argen, are you still here?" Darren suddenly became awkward seeing Argen standing beside Oxy.

"Yeah, I'm cleaning up the clubroom," replied Argen. "Because we don't know how long they will close the school."

"You should have told us to help you," Darren said, looking uneasy.

"No problem. It was just my initiative. Why do you come back here?" asked Argen.

"I want to pick up... this girl," Darren answered, glancing at Oxy.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Argen guessed.

"No!" Darren snapped, looking offended.

"Oh yeah? Then why are you must pick her up?" asked Argen, looking confused. He must have never seen Oxy at school.

"She ... this girl ... She is an adopted child in my family," Darren had to admit it, uneasy.

"Oh, so she is your sister. Thank goodness your brother picked you up," Argen said kindly back to Oxy.

"I'm not her brother," Darren evaded exasperatedly.

"What's her name?" asked Argen. But he immediately turned to Oxy. "What's your name?" he asked Oxy directly.

"Oxy," replied Oxy immediately. She felt her cheeks heat up. She was very lucky to be able to talk with Argen, forget about how Darren was glaring at her now. "I am Oxy Jane."

"Oh, hello, Oxy Jane. My name is Argen." Argen introduced himself suddenly. He was very a nice person, wasn't he?

Oxy nodded, a bit shy.

"That's enough. Come on, you, girl. And you, Argen. Just go home. Your parents must be looking for you." said Darren to Argen.

Argen nodded. "Everyone's scared huh?" he said. "But there's nowhere to hide. Wherever nightmares can find us."

Oxy and Darren fell silent hearing Argen's weird words

"Well, see you later. Hopefully, this mess ends soon and we can get back to school." Argen nodded his head to both of them, then turned to leave.

"He's crazy sometimes," said Darren, clearly not liking Argen. "Wonder how he can be so popular."

"Of course, he's popular, because he's amazing." Oxy protested, defending Argen as fan girls.

"Tch, what a stupid." snorted Darren. "Come up!" he ordered Oxy.

"Don't tell me you're going to ride me," said Oxy because he knew Darren was always disgusted with her.

"Well, I want to leave you here. But Mama and Papa are anxiously waiting for you. So hurry up before I change my mind!" Darren ordered impatiently.

Oxy rolled her eyes. She also didn't want to be carried by Darren, but she had no other choice because both of Darren's parents seemed to be panicking waiting for her. She forced herself to sit on the back of Darren at his bike.

--

"Thank goodness you're okay, Oxy!" Grace hugged Oxy tightly, almost choking Oxy.

Bill was finally at home and he looked a bit unwell. He felt so relieved too seeing Oxy back home safely.

"Come on, you haven't had lunch yet, have you?" Grace immediately led Oxy to the dining table. "Bill just arrived too, and he has to eat." She patted her husband's shoulder who seemed to have lost weight in an instant.

"What happened?" Oxy whispered to Bill while Grace was preparing a meal for the two of them.

"Bad, kid," said Bill. "Two people died today, it was because of the Brain Fog Effect."

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Oxy desperately wanted to tell Bill about the Cerebra and Uron the monsters. But she was scared if Bill didn't believe her.

"I don't know. We've done everything we can by spreading warnings to anyone with insomnia and tiredness from lack of rest. Then the hospital became a mess because people came asking for sleeping pills and stuff."

"Then what are you going to do?" asked Oxy.

"Stop discussing anything about death in here, Bill." interrupted Grace, looking so annoyed.

"Oh, sorry, honey. I didn't mean to." Bill nodded nervously at Grace.

"Can't you just stay at home, Bill? You don't have to join the scientists and work on this strange death phenomenon. I'm afraid something will happen to you." said Grace, who seemed unable to let Bill go any more than last night.

"If not us, who will do, honey? Scientists are trying to figure out why. Please don't worry because we'll be fine." Bill immediately stood up and hugged his wife.

--

Oxy was unhappy to let Bill go, just like Grace and Darren. Grace was crying in her son's arms. Oxy watched Bill leave. This was the first time Skeleta had had such a disaster. So it made Bill, as one of the brilliant scientists, join back his unit at the laboratory of government.

Darren had just come out of his parents' room after bringing his mother inside. Grace was really sad because Bill left.

"What will you do?" Darren asked.

Darren seemed to be able to see Oxy's strange behavior.

"Don't do things that make my parents worry," Darren warned Oxy.

"I won't," Oxy was forced to stop halfway up the stairs. "I just want to sleep."

"Sleep? So soon?" Darren looked surprised. "Whatever, sleepyhead. Just don't let me find you dead with a rotting head."

"Yeah, you too, Darren," Oxy replied. "Tell me if you have nightmares about being chased by a big-scary-black creature."

Darren rolled his eyes. "Don't try to scare me!"

"Hey, I'm serious," Oxy said from the stairs. "Just tell me if you dream about that. And please tell your mother too, okay?"

"Whatever," Darren went into the living room.

Oxy was still standing where she was, not satisfied to warn Darren. But she decided to go straight, back to her room. She entered and closed the door. She sat on the edge of the bed. She didn't expect that today there would be two people who died because of the Brain Fog effect. She had to tell Helio.

Oxy laid down on the bed. She closed her eyes, trying to get sleep.[]