fictober 10: it's so quiet

vesper opened his eyes, and blinked tiredly. for a moment, he considered the mortifying thought that he’d slept through his alarm and hadn’t been woken up by his wild seven year old. he fumbled blindly in the dark for his phone, knocking off the book she’d started before bed that night before finding it, and squinted in the bright light.

the time on the phone read 3:27 am, and vesper let out a sigh of relief that she could both sleep in more and that there wasn’t a more concerning reason there wasn’t a wild child sprinting around the room. still, something had woken her, so vesper pulled the blankets down and got out of bed. even though it was summer, there was a hint of a chill in the night and vesper shivered. he took his favored scarf off the hook and wrapped it around his neck, pulling on a light sweater as well.

the hall was quiet, and vesper peeked into the room that goldie had claimed, just to make sure she was sleeping well. her animal nightlight added a comforting glow in the room, projecting soft images of all kinds of creatures. goldie herself was contorted on the bed, but she seemed to be sleeping fine and comfortable despite her position, so vesper closed the door softly.

kellyn was the next one to check in, and vesper wasn’t too surprised to see the room empty. kellyn had clearly slept some at least, as the blankets were crumbled, and several of the stuffed animals were still tucked in under the blanket. their slippers were gone however, and so vesper made her way to the kitchen for a brief pitstop. several minutes later and armed with two mugs of cocoa loaded with toppings.

as she expected, kellyn was sat outside on the porch steps, and vesper sat beside them and offered him a mug without saying anything. kellyn took it with a smile, and they spent several moments drinking the cocoa. it was only once their mugs were half empty and they both had mustaches made of whipped cream and chocolate that vesper broke the silence.

“trouble sleeping?”

“not.. really? it’s just.. it’s so quiet. i’ve lived in erydon my whole life, and you know. the city sounds.. i guess i never really thought about them,” kellyn said. vesper nodded in understanding- the houlyr’s lived a long way from the city- even from towns. they practically had miles of land to themself and the sounds of the forest were very different from those of the city.

“was it too quiet? we can get a white noise machine, or something for you to play music on at night,” vesper offered. kellyn shook his head and sipped at the rest of his cocoa for a minute before offering his parent figure a half-smile.

“i think.. i kind of like it though? it’ll probably stop being neat sometime soon, but i just really enjoy the nighttime up here. plus, i can see more of the stars.”

vesper glanced up at the sky and made a sound of agreement at that- the sky was very nice. still, it was three in the morning and vesper had a seven year old to watch in a few hours, so he reluctantly got up.

“you can stay up, bud, just get some sleep sometime, alright? i have to go to bed to make sure i’m vaguely ready for the golden whirlwind,” vesper joked and took kellyn’s empty mug as she started towards the door.

“night, ves.”

“night, kel.”

with the dishes taken care of, vesper shuffled back towards his room, checking in again on goldie before getting in his own bed. just before he laid down, he hesitated and grabbed his phone from where he’d put it back. he opened a shopping site and browsed several night sky books, and beginner constellation books before adding a few to his cart to look at in the morning. with that done, she got comfortable in her bed, appreciative that she still had a few hours of sleep.