“Hey sleepy head,” He could hear Dee’s smile without having to see it. Her voice was sweet and chirpy, like a songbird starting out it’s day. She closed the door to his bedroom and jumped onto his bed.

“Hey,” he replied, burying his head underneath his pillow. He wasn’t in the mood for her energy.

“What’s got you so down this morning?” She asked poking his cheek with her index finger.

“I don’t feel well,” He answered honestly. She would be the only one to know how he truly felt.

There was a short pause and then more poking from Dee. “Well… If you wake up now, I can steal some extra blood capsules from my dad’s office and put them in some pancake batter.”

“Will you be making the pancakes?” He asked in a raspy voice. He stretched out his hand and fumbled for some water. It wouldn’t completely ease his thirst, but it was better than nothing.

“Obviously.”

He dropped his hand and slid it back into the covers. “Then, I’m good.”

Dee took his pillow and whacked him with it. He peeked one eye open to see her gaping in surprise at him. He grinned as she said with feigned anger. “Rude!”

~*.*~

When the sun made its way through the cracks of his curtains, Maddy, grabbed his comforter and rolled into it, forming a sloppy burrito, where his toes stuck out. He probably slept two, maybe three, hours tops. Groaning, he couldn’t decide what hurt more, his splitting headache or his burning hand.

Then without any warning, Nanabo’s haunting gray eyes slashed through his groggy thoughts. He buried his face into his pillow, his fingers digging into the fabric ruining its shape.

His bloodshot eyes snapped open.

He was in his bed. He. Was. In. His. Bed. He unraveled out of his blanket and found himself falling to the ground, ignoring the throbbing of his aching muscles, and frantically looked around.

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“Dee?! Are you here?” He shouted in a vacant apartment small enough to see every corner of the room. “Did you put me to bed?”

Maddy waited patiently in the middle of his room, cradling his hurt hand and convinced his best friend would pop out from behind a cabinet or jump down from the loft. But when she didn’t, and the silence of the room made his own thoughts, too loud, he pursed his lips together and picked up his phone from the floor, where he left it the night before.

He convinced himself that Dee must have come to tuck him in and then headed to her first class, terrified her father would actually fail her this time if she didn’t show up. He looked down at his phone, found that it had died, and plugged it in before getting ready to find Dee because he knew if he didn’t find her soon, he would start craving.

He chewed on his toothbrush as he combed a hand through his shaggy brown hair. He spit into the sink and ran to his closet to find something to throw on, settling on a collared shirt and a pair of dark jeans. He was so used to getting called into work right after classes that it just became easier to wear work clothes all the time.

Slipping his sneakers on and shoving his apron in his backpack, he took a glance at his appearance in the mirror by his closet. Aside from a faintly visible scar on his cheek, Maddy believed his features were nothing to rave about. On good days, he stood at five-foot-eleven inches. He wasn’t fit, but the runs Dee forced him to go on with her, helped to keep his muscles from atrophying.

Today wasn’t a good day, however, his hair, still wet, clung to his forehead and dripped down the nape of his neck in drops as thick as runny egg whites. He shivered at the thought. His face, usually lightly tanned and wearing a blush, was almost as green as his eyes and he felt barely five-foot-ten.

He gave his reflection a shrug and a crooked smile, there were days where he looked less human. He ran out the door and cursed as the crisp Autumn air bit at shocked his system. With a click of his tongue, he tightened his backpack straps and started running toward the bus stop.

“Have any of you seen Dee?” He asked as he entered the student lounge. Their local campus only had one large building, but hadn’t seen Dee at the cafeteria or the library. Those in the room who knew her- which was over a half dozen- shook their heads. He nodded thanks and reached for his phone in his pocket, only to remember he left it charging in his apartment.

With a frustrated sigh he looked at large clock hanging on the back wall of the student lounge. There was still an hour in her anthropology class, maybe she really had gone after all. Maddy placed his good hand in his pocket just as his stomach rumbled softly, like the coming of an impending storm. But he chalked it up to a lack of eating last night and this morning, and not because he was craving. He headed toward his Bio class.

He was fine, a little achy but fine. He could handle this. He'll see Dee afterward.