Resist Me

Chapter 10

West

“Hello darkness, my old friend,” I sang softly as I stared at my closet door. My room was dark save for the moonlight filtering in through the blinds. It cast strange shapes along the walls that seemed to threaten me.

A car passed by, its headlights illuminating the room more fully for a moment. Every time I got close to falling asleep, that happened. If it wasn’t the light, it was the upstairs neighbors. I didn’t know why they needed to walk around so much at night, but apparently, they did. Maybe they had the tiniest bladder imaginable. Whatever the case, I was annoyed.

One would think that living in the dorm would get me accustomed to noise and other distractions at night. It was surprisingly quiet there, though. The walls weren’t as thin and security passed through every once in a while. Even the more problematic students generally weren’t dumb enough to risk losing their housing.

The first night, I was exhausted enough that it hadn’t been that difficult to fall asleep. I’d woken up a few times but managed to knock out again. Yesterday, I got a couple hours, which left me in a pretty bad spot for class. Tonight, even if I fell asleep now, I would only get three.

I wondered if Kai and Sen were having as much trouble. Probably not. If I had someone to snuggle up with, I’d no doubt sleep a lot better. Maybe I needed to get one of those body pillows. An anime girl one might be weird, but it was my room, so the haters could just keep hating.

Maybe I could find a giant football pillow. Or a football player.

That thought made me roll onto my back. The ugly texture on the ceiling gave my eyes something to focus on while I delved deeper into my head. Me and Kai used to sleep together sometimes. Just sleep. There was nothing weird about it, but a man-shaped pillow was a bit much.

I wondered if there was a salamander pillow. For some reason, that sounded really cool.

Something moved on the ceiling, forcing me back to a salamander-less reality. It was too dark to tell if I’d actually seen anything at all. It could’ve been a figment of my imagination. It was pretty overactive on the best of days.

No, there was a spot that was definitely darker than the rest. I was torn between staying completely still and running out of the room. It could be a demon. Or a spider. A demon spider. I wasn’t an arachnophobe, but I didn’t want the thing rappelling down from the ceiling directly into my mouth.

Headlights illuminated the room just in time for me to see the fat, brown, ugly monster directly above my head. As if on cue or startled by the light, it detached from the ceiling. The scream that tore from my throat was not fitting for a six foot five quarterback with abs of steel, but I would not apologize. Anybody would make that sound if a roach came hurtling toward their face.

I’d never contemplated death so much as I did the moment it hit my forehead with a solid thud. I sat up so quickly that I didn’t know which direction I flung it in with the motion. My legs got tangled in the blankets, making me fall out of the bed onto the floor. I kicked and shoved at them, twisted and screamed some more.

Finally, I freed myself from my prison and scrambled to my feet. I flung the door open and collided with a bare, solid chest. Kai grabbed my shoulders and spun me, slamming me against the wall .

“What the hell is going on?” he demanded.

“It tried to face suck me,” I gasped, pointing into the room.

He looked at me like I’d lost my mind. If he’d been through that trauma, he’d be a little crazed too.

Sen came stumbling out of their room, bleary eyed and confused. “What’s happening?”

“There’s a face sucker in West’s room,” Kai said.

“What? West, are you high?”

“No,” I growled, pulling away from Kai. “A roach fell on my goddamn face and I don’t know where it is now. And since I don’t have a big, strong man to cuddle with, I’m obviously not getting any more sleep tonight.”

I marched over to my dresser and grabbed some clothes, being mindful of every step I took. Having another gut-tastrophe on my hands- or foot- was not on my agenda for the day.

“Where are you going?” Kai asked. He stepped into my path as I made my way toward the bathroom.

“Gym.”

“It’s three in the morning.”

“That makes sense. It’s the devil’s hour and he sent his evil minion to drag me down to hell.”

“That’s dramatic.”

When I pushed past him, he made a frustrated sound and followed me. He caught the door before I could close it.

“You need to sleep. You have classes.”

“I’m aware of that,” I replied. I didn’t mean to flood it with so much snark, but I wasn’t in complete control of my mood right now.

“Wanna sleep with us?” Sen offered. I couldn’t tell if he was joking, but I shook my head regardless.

“I got enough sleep. Besides, I have to keep myself in shape for next season. I have massive shoes to fill.”

Kai looked like he wanted to argue, but he stepped back. I flipped on the light switch and shut the door. As soon as I turned around, I saw something dark scurry behind the toilet.

This was my hell.

*****

“What do you mean you’re in-between pest control companies? ”

The bored-looking guy at the desk steepled his fingers underneath his chin. “I assure you that we’re doing everything we can to get a new contract as soon as possible.”

“Well, how long have you been ‘in-between contracts?’”

He blinked a few times, which didn’t reassure me. “We’ll get someone in there as soon as we can.”

“Look, dude.” I pulled out the chair and sat down. Leaning my elbows on the desk, I tried to look nicer than I felt right now. “A cockroach fell on my face. My face. Does this not concern you?”

“Of course it does, Mr. Densmore. I’m going to pass along your complaint to the manager when she gets in.”

I checked my phone with a frown. “It’s eleven.”

“She’s on lunch,” he replied with a tight-lipped smile.

“Right. Cool, cool, cool.” I got to my feet and stroked my chin. “What do you expect me to do in the meantime?”

“Maybe get some roach motels.”

“What the hell is a roach motel? I want them to leave, not check in for the weekend!”

When he continued to give me that disinterested stare, I threw my arms up and marched out the door. This was day three of no god damn sleep. My last class ended at eleven on Wednesdays, so I took time to go down to the leasing office and demand some pest control, which was apparently too goddamn much to ask for.

I took a breath of fresh air, wishing it could actually ease my frustration. Aside from my lack of sleep and general disgust when it came to the roaches, I didn’t want this to be what Willow walked into. She’d probably make a flamethrower out of hairspray and a torch to ward them off. We’d very likely end up burned alive.

Maybe I was being overdramatic. It got worse when I was stressed. What was the best way to decompress? The gym. I was tired, but maybe I just needed to get my blood pumping. If I wore myself out even more, I’d probably sleep through an atomic bomb.

As I loaded my gym bag, I was acutely aware of the weariness in my body. Sleep and food weren’t just essential to life; they were two of my main sources of happiness. Because I was so tired, I felt nauseous, so I hadn’t eaten since… I didn’t really know. Yesterday, probably .

On my way out the door, I grabbed a protein bar. I ate it quickly as I made my way to campus. It was only a mile walk, but it felt like a hundred. It didn’t help that my side ached with every step. With all the ibuprofen I’d been munching on, I wouldn’t be surprised if my liver failed before the week ended.

Once I reached the campus gym, I pulled my lifting gloves out of the bag and strapped them on. As I went through a few exercises and began breathing heavier, my ribs felt even worse. It was like they were straining at my skin, trying to claw their way out. First, a face sucker tried to eat me and now I was on some chest bursting shit. I never would’ve expected my life to become the plot of Alien.

Leaning my hands on a bench, I tried to take shallow breaths. I looked around the gym to distract myself from the pain and spotted a few of the football players. One nodded at me and I put on my bravest face. The guy he was spotting sat up from the bench press and I immediately recognized his curly hair. When he stood and turned around, he met my eyes.

I didn’t know why I held Lincoln’s gaze. He held mine just the same. Over the weekend, we’d actually interacted with each other and I’d only felt the urge to punch him a couple of times. Truthfully, it wasn’t a bad time. And holy shit, the guy could sing. That really came out of left field.

My vision blurred and I swayed a little. Gripping the bench more tightly, I swallowed against the nausea that rose in my throat.

Maybe working out hadn’t been such a great idea. Instead of sticking around to find out if today was the day I’d blow chunks all over the floor in front of a hundred guys, I re-racked the weights and headed for the door. When I was outside, I didn’t feel any better. My gaze honed in on a bench in the courtyard and right now, it looked as comfortable as a king-sized bed.

I dropped onto it with a groan, then kept lowering myself until I was lying down completely. Nothing had ever felt this good. Not eating, not sex, not even football. I didn’t have a single care in the world as I closed my eyes. All that mattered was shutting down my brain for a while. They said if you turned it off and back on again, it would be as good as new.