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The yellow turned rusty brown lamp hung above them, casting a faint light that overpowered the moonlight coming from the windows. Aanyr lay still, as he knew even a breath of air could awaken his friend, and the thought felt more apocalyptic than the forecasted tsunami. He could hear the clock ticking, and the pattern of it was slowly pulling at his burning heavy lids - tik tok tik tok.
"Why are your eyes closed ? I told you to keep them open !" is the panicked dialogue Aanyr woke up to, looking up at him was an angry Nuris, tears rolling down his pale face.
"Am I not allowed to sleep ?" he demanded. Why was it always like this ? For no apparent reason, there was a rule he had to follow around Nuris - don't close your eyes for a long period of time, no matter what happened. If he did, Nuris would start yelling at him. He would usually let Nuris have his way, making sure he was asleep first before closing his own eyes along with waking up way before he did. Today though, he had had enough. He had a right to know why he should sacrifice sleep for a boy who wasn't even his best friend.
"I don't want you to die. When people die in movies, their eyes are closed. Don't close your eyes." sobbed Nuris. He looked ever so serious, it was extremely absurd. Had this kid never slept beside a real person before ? Aanyr had seen kids without friends at school - they had lunch alone, sat alone, went home alone. Were they all like this ? If yes, then no wonder they were alone.
"Are you an idiot ? I'm not gonna die, let me sleep. I promise." he assured him even though it sounded absurd. He knew Nuris didn't have parents, maybe he had never seen people sleep before. Despite his attempts to assure him, Nuris still had the most miserable look in his eyes and so eventually Aanyr did as was asked - kept his eyes wide open till Nuris was sound asleep and set an alarm for 6:00 am.