Bedtime Stories (1)

"Okay." After a long pause, that was all Kesi said.

"That's all?" Gawking, Mu Luming flapped his wide sleeves in the air, almost like an angry little bird. "That's all you have in response to my super inspirational and motivational speech?"

Kesi didn't respond.

"I would like to argue that my message was quite philosophical in some ways as well!"

Kesi still didn't respond.

Mu Luming stomped his feet on the ground as he threw a mild tantrum.

"I'm tired. I'm about to sleep now."

Without much other words, Kesi sat up, watching as the sword loomed every closer to her, barely a hand's length away from the top of her head. Slightly ducking, she slipped out from under the canopy, averting Mu Luming's eyes.

Half dragging herself back to her room and leaving a struck Mu Luming behind, she crawled into her bed, making sure to check that there wasn't a blade above her own head, or any part of her body for that matter.

Although she had been barely able to keep her eyes open earlier, now, she was clearly awake. She didn't know how to word it to Mu Luming, but she didn't want him to become the blade that would draw blood. If anything, she would rather be the sharp dagger that would pierce through their enemies, forging a path of crimson blood in the palace.

More than anything, she wanted to keep him clean. At least, that would be one less person in hell.

But seeing the look of determination on his face, one that somehow did not clash with his soft features but rather added a certain cryptic quality to them, she didn't know how to respond.

And now, as she stared at the ceiling, she searched for the right words. Even more importantly, she urgently planned her next steps.

She had to get as much out of A'Hong as quickly as possible and find out how to save him, preferably before the full moon. She had to make sure that the spy reported only the right information to the Empress. She had to keep the two of them alive here in this cage of bones.

She knew that she should probably care about the sword hanging above Mu Luming's bed, but if they tried to remove it, the spy would immediately report to the Empress. And it wasn't like it was in danger of falling any time soon. And even if it did, if Mu Luming wasn't quick enough to dodge it, perhaps he wouldn't even be worth her time and thoughts.

Groaning, she flipped over, forcing herself to sleep and to turn off these thoughts. She had to sleep. From her current track record of sleepless nights, sleep deprivation was sure to kill her old self off before any Empress ever got to her.

But it was so horribly cold. The little shreds of rags for a blanket could barely cover her shriveled body.

Tick. There was a little sound outside, little animals scampering around under the guide of moonlight.

Squeak. Something thumped against the rotting closet, insects building up a new stronghold.

Creak. The door squeaked open, small footsteps growing ever closer.

Before she knew it, a familiar face loomed above hers.

"Will you let me stay here for the night?" The voice was soft, and a little hand snaked towards hers. "You're terribly cold. If you let me stay, I can be your personal heater!"

"No."

"But I'm scared," he pouted. "Wouldn't you be scared if you had a sword hanging right above you? I could already sense all the nightmares that I'll be getting from it!"

Her smile was icy. "If you stay here, I'll give you even more nightmares."

"Agreed." Without waiting for any other words from her, he climbed over her body as if an agile spider monkey. Careful not to touch her, he tiptoed to get to the other side before bringing his other leg over.

"Excuse me?"

"You said that I can stay in exchange for nightmares." He dragged a little corner of the blanker over his chest. "So here I am."

"That's not what I said!"

He only buried his face into her pillow.

"You wouldn't let me stay on your bed when you were gone. And you wouldn't let me stay in my bed when you were there. So the only logical solution is if I stay with you." His muffled voice came out in a jumble.

There was a brief silence.

"Do you really want to have nightmares?"

Under the dim moonlight, Kesi's face twisted into a strange and haunting smile.

"Imagine a building with lights so bright that they rival the sun. From the outside, it might appear like a heaven or sanctuary, but only the people inside know that it's a slaughterhouse. The lights make it impossible to sleep, so each person knows the familiarity of countless sleepless nights, until the point that they each want to tear their own eyes out."

Mu Luming listened intently, looks of horror flickering on his face.

"There are so many mirrors in there as well. So each time you plunge a knife into someone's heart, you can't miss the blood splattering over your own face reflected in these mirrors. What's more, everywhere you look, you can't avoid the sight in front of you. That is, until the point that your own vision turns a gross hue of red so that you no longer know if it's the spots of blood trickling into your eyes or just that the entire world is stained crimson."

Kesi blinked, the familiar spots of scarlet creeping in the corner of her vision.

"Have you ever worried about closing your eyes?"

Outside, the tree branches rustled from the wind.

"But yet, you're so tired that you couldn't help but let the eyelids slip close. But as soon as they do, you see the face of your victim, so they spring back open."

Slightly choking on her own words, she could taste the make believe yet familiar tang of blood in her mouth.

"Each room always begin with ten people. But only one person makes it out."

Mu Luming tightened the grip on her hands.

"But reaching the point where you no longer see these faces that were slaughtered in cold blood. That is who we call a nightmare."