36. Julia

I woke up.

I’ve been doing that a lot. Waking up. From sleep, from dreams, from fairytales, from illusions, to reality.

And all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. Shut out everything.

Headache. I groaned at the sledgehammer pounding in my head.

It was morning. And I was in my bedroom, safe and sound, Julia sprawled next to me, deep asleep, white lines of dried saliva on her cheek.

The hammering in my head grew more and more severe, forcing me to squeeze my eyes shut, riding it out. I needed aspirins. Preferably the PM ones that’ll send me right back to sleep.

Sluggishly, I got out of bed and zombie-walked out to the living area.

Two heads swung around and four eyes looked at me.

"Oh, thank goodness, you’re awake," Jane said, letting out a relieved sigh. She was in Hello Kitty pajamas, cradling a large, black mug.

Her older brother, Tommy, was sitting next to her on the couch, looking equally worried.

Tommy was a nice hunk of a guy. Tall, dark and handsome; the typical. And he was on