I'm Tired
The five Guardians of the Neverhood all had beds in one room, and at least half of them thought it rather sucked.“You were snoring last night,” Ruze jabbed his finger at Gome, who was climbing onto his bunk.
“Sorry. How many hours did you get?” the Guardian asked with no small sympathy.
“Four.”
“That’s about the average, isn’t it?”
“Humph.”
“I heard you snoring, too,” Usha chipped in from the opposite bunk. “It sounded like you were gurgling.”
“It sounded like you were drowning in your sleep,” Ruze clarified. “Could you please get water out of your windpipe before going to sleep?”
Tucking himself meticulously under the blanket, Gome stuck his tongue out at him. “Could you get air out of your windpipe?”
“Air is actually supposed to be there, it’s called a windpipe, not a water hose.”
“I’m renaming my windpipe to water hose,” Gome shrugged, settling on his back. “Done. I’ll try not to gurgle tonight.”
“Much obliged,” Ruze mumbled.
They lay in silence for ten minutes, the three of them. Then, Usha spoke up.
“I can hear you aren’t sleeping…”
“Where’s Arig?” Gome lifted his head. “And Dake? I can’t fall asleep without them.”
“Arig is probably in his Garden,” Ruze mumbled. “Dake is… I don’t know where Dake is. Any guesses?”
“Uh… I think he said something about scented candles,” Usha said, unsure.
“In the Castle, then,” Ruze concluded, “playing with Hoborg’s wax tub. Not knowing it’s gotten dark yet.”
“Arig should be here by now,” Gome complained. “I don’t like it when he sleeps in the Garden.”
“Me neither,” Usha agreed. “Ruze, you’re the leader, could you talk to him about it?”
The leader sighed. “It’s his choice guys. I can talk to him but I won’t order him to do it.”
“You just want one less person to snore here,” Gome accused him, pouting.
“No, I just know he sometimes doesn’t feel like taking the trip.”
“It’s one minute from the Garden to here! If I climb up our ladder, I can see the spiral!”
“It’s no good that he’s cutting himself off,” Usha frowned. “He sees Hoodians so little that he startles when someone talks to him.”
“Like,” Gome propped himself up on the elbow, “does he hate people that much?”
The entrance to the underground bedroom opened with a low scrape. A pair of green legs appeared on the top of the ladder, and soon an entire Guardian followed.
“Hey bro,” Gome greeted Arig enthusiastically. “How was your day?”
“It was okay,” Arig yawned. He lay down under Usha without saying anything else.
“That’s it?” Gome asked, a little disappointed. “I haven’t seen you all day… I wanna know what you did…”
Arig yawned again. “Can it wait?”
“But you’ll be off in the morning before I wake up…”
“I’m tired.”
Gome sighed.
Arig was sleeping by the time Dake entered the bedroom five minutes later. “Heyy,” he greeted before he was shushed. “Oh,” he whispered. “Someone’s asleep? Okay okay… I had so much to tell you guys but I guess it’s fine…” He pulled his boots off and crawled into his bed. “Anyone mind a scented candle?”
Nobody protested, so Dake lit his candle and set it on the floor next to his bed.
“Good night,” Usha mumbled. Everyone but Arig replied in kind.
The smoke smelled of chamomile and dreams that waste away.
The Guardians slept.
