Chapter 44

His eyes snapped open before dawn from a long restlessness. He had fought for too many hours to stay dreaming, and he knew there was nothing left to do but get up. He got up, turned off his alarm to spare his sleeping sound, and stumbled into the living room, where he stood in front of the window for several minutes, scratching his bare belly. He went outside. The cold wasn't the biting but the slow seeping kind. He wished he had brought his slippers but didn't want to return to his room to get them. He felt he was doing something important, surveying the land, taking in something he saw only a few times per year: the darkness before dawn. The feeling of restlessness, the deaths of his parents, who he was, and who he became. His consciences started to bother him. Maybe his dad was not that bad after all, all he had was a sister, and now they were sharing a place with Nicole, so much had changed, he had left his phone in his room, that dream had woke him from his deep sleep, conscien