Yu knew these clocks. They were a tairan invention. To see one here terribly reminded him of home. He wanted to go home. He would take Tria over this suffocating nothingness, any day. At least Tria let him sleep at night.

Were they kidding? From now until the Witching Hour, he had like — what? An hour, maybe? 
Just over one hour of sleep? 
One single hour. 
One fucking hour. 
One gigantic joke.

Yu let himself collapse onto the bed. 
He did not care to clean h
imself up, nor did he undress. 
He started to wr
ap himself in the blanket, but gave up halfway, 
    because eve
n that was too much of a bother.

What if he just stayed here, through the Witching Hour and all? He could just stay and sleep, come what may. Yes, they would try to wake him, but then, eventually, they would leave him be. In the end, Yu did not matter and he was not needed, not really, with how useless he was, and insignificant.

There would be consequences, but that would be another day. It would be the next day. Tomorrow. But right now, he could just sleep. If he could just sleep through this night, he would face them when the time came. He would face whatever came next, whatever punishmenthey had. Let them be angry, let them kick him out, let them kill him. But for God’s sake, let him sleep first. If Yu died then, he at least would have had the peace of a good rest. Maybe he could just die in his sleep. Then he would have all of the good, with none of the bad 

       Maybe that was the plan.
            Maybe that had been the plan all along.

                          There. He had finally figured it out.

                                They wanted to kill him by working him to death.

  Maybe that was the plan.
       Maybe that had been
            the
plan all along.
                 There.
                   He had finally
                       figured it out.

They wanted 
to kill him   
by w
orking him to death

If you did the math, it did not sound like much, did it?
   Yu had been awake for about twelve hours or so,
     but it felt like an eternity
of nonstop shit work.
  Were there not laws against that kind of
exploitation?
People cou
ld die from exhaustion, could they not?

    If you did the math,
 it did not sound like much,
        did it?
   Yu had been awake
for about twelve hours
                   or so,
                but it felt like
                   an eternity
                         
of nonstop
                           shit work.
     Were there not laws
           against that kind
   of
exploitation?
     People cou
ld die 
                 from exhaustion,
                   could they not?

                                Why … was he not?

                        Why was he not dead yet?

    Why was he still alive?

           Oh God.   There it was again.      
                                  It was back.

Why … was he not?

Why was he not dead yet?

Why was he still alive?

Oh God.
          There it was again.
             It was back. 

The QUESTION was back.

Pages: