I don’t go to sleep. I brought out all of my pillows and blankets, but whenever I tried to lay down and relax, I remember how much that nightmare hurt. I end up walking around the pastures, wishing I could just sleep. Wynn and Luna follow me, excited for a nighttime adventure. Almost all the other animals are asleep. Then I walk past Silveny.
LORI! LORI! LORI!
Hey Silveny. You can’t sleep either?
LORI! SLEEP!
I  know I should be sleeping, but-
GO! SLEEP! TELL! SOPHIE!
D- did you just threaten to tell Sophie if I don’t go to sleep?
YES! GO! SLEEP! HELP!
Thanks, but I don’t think I can sleep tonight, even with your help.
TELL! SOPHIE!
Don’t you dare.
SOPHIE! SOPHIE! SOPHIE!
Fine! I’ll  go to sleep, just don’t get Sophie. I don’t need to worry her with this.
SLEEP! LORI! HELP!
Ok, you can try. But I don’t think it will work.
HELP!
Fine. Let’s go. I start walking back towards the Panakes, and Silveny follows. I get comfortable under all my blankets, and the mama alicorn sends me pictures of running through valleys and soaring through skies. But it doesn’t help. Everytime I’m about to fall asleep, I remember how Gethen got me. His cold voice echoing in the dark room. It overpowers the happy, peaceful images Silveny is still trying to send.
HELP?
No, it’s not working. Thanks for trying though.
SOPHIE! SOPHIE!
Sssshhh! Sophie doesn’t need to know.
SOPHIE! KNOW!
She won’t know if you don’t tell her.
TELL! SOPHIE!
We really don’t need to-
SOPHIE! HELP!
I don’t know if she’ll be able to.
TRY!
It’s fine, Silveny. It’s almost time to get up anyways.
NO! SLEEP!
I need to go to school. I’ll be fine. I need you to promise not to tell her.
NO! SLEEP!
Silveny, please.
PROMISE! I can almost hear the eye roll in her voice. I’m surprised I actually got her to agree.
“How’d you sleep?” Sophie asks when she finishes changing.
“Pretty well, actually. Being outside helped.” I lie. I had already put on makeup to cover the bags forming under my eyes. I can’t tell if she believes me, but she doesn’t say anything. Staying awake during orientation is a struggle, but it gets a lot easier when Magnate Leto announces a dance on Friday.
“You’re going with me, and you don’t get a choice in the matter.” I inform him after we get dismissed.
“Let’s be honest here, nobody else would go with me.” He says.
“If anyone here thinks you’re not the best guy in this school, then they’re lying to themselves.” He smiles and laughs.
“I’m lucky you even noticed me. There’s no one I’d rather go to my first dance with than you.”
“Wait, this is your first dance?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, it’s so much fun. We had dances all the time in my old universe. It’s always a blast.”
“I can’t wait.” I hurry on to the U with Sir Jarvin. But the sleep I missed is finally catching up with me.
“Ms. Ruewen, that is the fourth time you’ve fallen asleep today. Do you need to go see Elwin?” He says, gently shaking me awake. I hadn’t actually been asleep, since every time I got close, I just shot up after remembering how Gethen had gotten to me when I was asleep.
“Huh? No, I’m fine. I promise I’ll stay awake now.”
“One more time and I’ll have to give you a detention.”
“Ok.” I do stay awake, though it’s hard. I have a hard time following the conversation at lunch, though it seems like it’s mostly the girls in our group trying to figure out which boy they're going to the dance with. In the end, I’m going with Dex, Sophie with Keefe, Biana decided to give Tam a chance, Linh is taking Wylie, Marella and Fitz are going ‘as friends’, and Stina is going alone. I feel bad for her. She likes Wylie, but it looks like Wylie and Linh like each other, so she’s stuck on her own.
“Lori?” Dex nudges my shoulder, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Hm?”
“I asked if you and Dex want to come dress shopping with us on Wednesday so you can match your outfits.” Biana says. “Everyone else is.”
“Uh, sure. If you want to.” I look at Dex.
“I’m down. But can I talk to you in the hall?”
“Yeah.” I think I know what’s coming.
“Did you get enough sleep last night?”
“No. I just  can’t relax after what Gethen did to me in that horrible nightmare.”
“What did he do to you?”
“It was almost like inflicting. It hurt… so bad.” Come on, Lori. Don’t cry. It’s over.
“It must have been so bad for you. When he did it to all of us, the pain was distributed between all of us, so it wasn’t that bad. But if it was only you… I’m sorry.” I wrap him in a hug, resting my head against his chest. “You need to go to Elwin to get a-”
“No sedatives.”
“If you’re not sleeping, you’ll need to take one.”
“But-”
“No buts. We’re going to see him now.”
“Dex-”
“If you won’t walk, I’ll carry you.”
“Fine.” I walk next to him all the way down to the healing center.
“What’s going on with you today?” Elwin asks me.
“Nothing.” I say.
“She hasn’t slept in two days.”
“TWO DAYS?! What have you been doing at night?” He leads me to sit on a cot, and Dex sits next to me.
“Uh… attempting to recover from the mental trauma of having Gethen invade my head and hold me captive while inflicting a ton of pain on me and telling me that the Neverseen are currently raiding my house.” Everyone is quiet for a moment.
“You need some time off.”
“That’s not really an option. Especially since if they don’t like me taking time off, they’ll just pop into my dreams and traumatize me all over again.”
“I will find a way to make it an option.”
“It’s really not that big of a deal-”
“You were three seconds away from face planting into your lunch.” Dex says.
“Ok, but I definitely don’t-”
“If you’re about to complain about taking a sedative, you should ask the bags under your eyes what they think about you missing all this sleep.” Elwin adds.
“But-”
“No buts.” They say in unison.
“Is everyone just going to team up against me?”
“Until you get some sleep, yes.” Elwin says. “Ask any one of your friends, and they will tell you to go to sleep. Now you have two options. Sleep here, and I’ll wake you up before school tomorrow, or hail Edaline and tell her that you have to come home early.” I sigh and pull out my imparter.
“What’s going on?” Edaline asks.
“I need to come home, apparently.”
“Why?”
“Extreme sleep deprivation.” Elwin says. “Apparently, she hasn’t slept in two days.”
“What? Why?”
“Nightmares.” I respond. She sighs.
“Well, I’ll be waiting for you.” I hang up my imparter.
“We’ll leave in a few minutes. I have to grab a few things. And Dex, you aren’t coming.” Elwin says.
“But-” Dex starts.
“No buts. You need to go to class.” 
“Fine. But I’m staying here until you leave.”
“Deal.” I rest my head on mis shoulder, and close my eyes. Don't sleep! Gethen will get you again! Part of my brain screams. My eyes shoot open and I sit upright. “What’s going on?” Dex asks, startled by the sudden movement.
“I physically cannot fall asleep.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. It just means I’ll have to take a sedative.”
“You need sleep, so iif that’s what it takes…”
“Then I’ll have to take one.” I finish for him.
“I just want you to be ok.”
“And I will be. Once we get rid of the Neverseen.”
“Alright, Lori. Time to go. Dex, there’s a few minutes until you need to get to your next class.”
“Ok. Hail me if you need anything.” He gently kisses me, then I walk over to Elwin.
“Tell Sophie why I’m leaving.” I say before we leap away.
“There you are.” Edaline says.
“Sorry, I had to grab a few things. Let’s get to your room.” Elwin says. I change in the bathroom, purposefully taking longer than necessary so I can postpone having to take the sedative.
“You ready?” Edaline asks when I get out.
“Do I really have to take a sedative?” I ask.
“Unless you can lay down and go to sleep right now, then yes.” Elwin says. I try laying down and relaxing, but when I get close to sleep, I shoot upright again. “You’re taking the sedative.”
“Fine. Just give it to me.” I take the vial from Elwin, but I can’t make myself swallow it, knowing that it will knock me out. I try one last time to swallow it, but I end up gagging and spitting it out into a cup. “I’m sorry, I just can’t take this. After everything…”
“It’s ok.” Edaline says, sitting next to me. “What do you think we should do to make it easier?”
“I don’t know.”
“How about we try mixing it with some lushberry juice? I think we have a few bottles downstairs.”
“We can try.” She conjures a bottle up, and Elwin pours another bottle of sedative into it.
“Don’t think about the sedative. This is just a regular old bottle of lushberry juice.” I manage to drink it without gagging, and finally, I drift off into a nice, dreamless, sleep.