1. The Plan

A nice thought : 'When you can't sleep at night, you're probably awake in someone else's dreams.'

He lacked sleep.  It was a perfectly good reason for Jake Franklin to close his eyes in the middle of a conversation.  Though he still refrained himself from doing so, only because he it knew it was rude.

 

“Dude, are you still listening?”   But then again, although his eyes can see, his mind refused to process anything.

 

Jake blinked twice.  “Sorry Marc, I wasn’t able to sleep ‘til 2 a.m.  I think I’m on the brink of being brain-dead.”

 

His friend patted him on the back.  “This is getting serious, man.  You need sleep.  You can’t continue on doing this to yourself and not expect to be dead within the next few days.  It’s just suicidal.”

 

“I’m not doing this to myself, okay?  I just can’t sleep at night, even if I wanted to.”  He rubbed his temples as if it hurt.

 

“Maybe you have that insomnia thing,” Marc suggested.  “You know, my grandmother has that and the doctor prescribes him these pills that knock her out within five minutes of taking it.”

 

Jake shrugged and placed his chin over his right hand.  “I’d rather drink myself to sleep than take medicine.  And besides, I don’t like going to the doctor.”  It was more than just insomnia, for some unknown reason, he knew, and that going to the doctor would only be a waste of time – that aside from putting him to sleep, it wouldn’t really solve anything.  It wouldn’t put him at ease.  He wouldn’t really say it, but the reason why he was sleepless for two days now, except for the occasional nap he managed to have in between classes, was because of an unexplained restlessness.

 

“Hey you guys, what are you talking about?”  A Chinese-American girl took the seat in front of Jake and turned to face them.  She flashed them an innocent smile.

 

“Jake here can’t sleep at night,” Marc answered for them.  “Hey, Lynn, maybe you can give him a Chinese herb or something.”

 

She stared at him.  “I don’t think it would help.”  She suddenly sounded serious.

 

Marc arched an eyebrow.  “You sound so sure.”

 

She simply shrugged and smiled, her eyes still affixed.  “You know,” she hesitated for a moment but decided to continue.  “There’s this saying that when you can’t sleep, you’re awake in someone else’s dream.”

 

They both laughed.  Jake’s drowsiness even subsided for a second to be able to do so.

 

“Don’t go all romantic on me.  I resent that.”  Jake grinned.

 

“I didn’t say it was supposed to be romantic.”

 

Jake was about to retort when the bell rang and the teacher entered the classroom, making Lynn face front.  He thought, for a second, that she must be on to something, but then dismissed it as quickly as it had come.

 

OO.OO.OO.OO

 

It was lunch time and it was noisy, to say the least.  Of course, it wouldn’t be called a cafeteria if it wasn’t.  It would defy normality.

 

Jake sat across Marc and another classmate.  He watched them gobble up their lunch while his remained untouched.  He wasn’t really hungry enough to eat anything, and his mind is preoccupied with a thought he desperately tried to push aside since morning.

 

“… when you can’t sleep, you’re awake in someone else’s dream.”  He can see Lynn’s serious face when she said it.  “I didn’t say it was supposed to be romantic.”

 

He stared at the fresh-looking apple sitting on the table in front of him and sighed.  ‘I can’t believe I’m actually considering this.’  He casually ran a hand through his honey-colored hair.  Looking up, he caught the stare of a girl sitting alone in the table across theirs.

 

Her long, dark hair was layered and stopped just before her waist.  It contrasted her pale complexion and framed her heart-shaped face perfectly.  Her small lips formed a thin line and her unusual, deep green eyes were almost like slits.  She wasn’t just looking at him.  She was glaring.

 

Jake dared not to break contact despite the fact that she was starting to creep him out.  There was something in the way she was glaring at him.  As if she’s trying to send an unspoken message – a warning.

 

“What are you staring at, man?”  Marc followed his line of sight before he managed to avert them.  “Whoa!  I didn’t know you have a thing for Weiss.”

 

He turned to him, curious.  “You know her?”

 

“Cassandra Weiss.  She was my classmate last year.  She’s cute, but a little creepy.”  He took a sip of his soda.  “I don’t think I can help you get a date with her, though.”

 

Jake rolled his eyes.  “I don’t have a crush on her.”  He decided not to tell him anything about how she was glaring at him for no reason.

 

The blonde guy beside Marc stirred and decided to join the conversation.  “But you know, despite being creepy, her family’s stinking rich.”

 

“Oh yeah, she lives at that mansion near the cemetery.  I wonder why she goes to a public school if she can afford one of those expensive private high schools.”

 

‘Maybe so she can scare the hell out of people like me.’  Jake kept the comment to himself.  He turned to look at the table again, prepared to enter another glaring contest, only to find it empty except for a tray of untouched food.  He finally opened his soda and took a sip, but still didn’t touch his lunch.  If he wasn’t hungry enough to eat a moment ago, now, he’s not feeling hungry at all.

 

“So how about it, are you in?”

 

Jake stared at Marc.  “In where?”  He was spacing out after seeing the table empty and didn’t pay attention to a single word his friends said.

 

“Bryan asked if you wanted to join us tonight,” Marc replied, referring to the blonde guy as Bryan.  “We’re going inside the mansion.  Look around… maybe even steal something worth millions and sell it on eBay.”

 

“Sure.”

 

OO.OO.OO.OO

 

Jake didn’t pay attention to any of his classes after lunch.  He simply stared at Lynn’s back or at his notebook, scribbling nonsense on it every now and then.  Only the thought of that night’s plans filled his mind.  It wasn’t the things Marc and the Bryan guy wanted to steal and make millions off that made him say yes.  It was just his sheer curiosity.  And although he knows that it was curiosity that killed the cat, he didn’t care.  He expects to be dead after a week or so if he continues on not sleeping anyway.  Besides, something tells him he was going to have sleep-full nights after tonight.

Reviews

[Gandré]

I enjoyed your chapter, looking forward to read more. Welcome in WC.