Nook Sleep Systems Novels & Stories

Neither of us said a word. Luna fell asleep about twenty minutes in, slumped sideways against my arm, and I sat there in the blue light of the television with my four-year-old leaning on me and Knox at the far end of the couch and Gerald the stuffed wolf between them, and I thought: this is not how I planned the next sixty days to go. By morning, the security system on my door was biometric. Fingerprint and retinal scan. Top of the line. There was no note. I stared at it for a full thirty seconds.

He ordered their meals and demanded for a female server to deliver it to the room. It was not long before their dinner arrived and there was a kid's meal specifically for Luna. After she delightfully had her meal, she went to the bathroom to put on toothpaste on her toothbrush and brushed her teeth. Then, she went to bed while announcing, "Don't bother me now. I am going to bed." Luna was adamant on sleeping early to ensure that she had her beauty sleep. Nathan prepared a child's bed for her and it even came with a mosquito netting to keep the mosquitoes out. It was also to prevent her from falling off the bed while ensuring that it was also soundproof.

Nathan made it look effortless. “I’m having an issue syncing the accounts. A few customers also complained of system glitches, and I think we will need to upgrade the system.” “Alright.–” He had entered business mode. “I have a software developer who does the system management for my company. I will have him have a look at yours, and we can see what we can fix and upgrade. The house sounded unusually quiet. I spun around and found all three kids asleep on the sofa. They looked so adorable. I didn't even notice when they nodded off. I was already so used to their noise-making that I had learned to block it out at this point.

We all know Mikey, and we know that it’s not that easy to make him fall asleep unless he’s sleeping with me. “Yes that fast,” Nikki retorted, “He was tired so he fell asleep right after I gave him a bath.” Nori was skeptical and Nikki glared at him as she retrieve the baby monitor from her pocket and placed it on the center table. We all listen to the sound of Mikey's soft breathing. “Now that’s settled,” Nikki said and looked at her brother, “Spit out what you all did this time and make sure to not leave out any details or even try to make it sound less absurd as it already is.”

Nick lay there a second longer, counting her breaths like a prayer. In. Out. In. Out. No black water. No screaming. Just the soft hiss of the old split-system and the slow click of the cooling house. He wiped his face with the heel of his hand. His skin felt grainy, like he’d slept on sandpaper. The sheets were damp under him, clinging. He glanced at the bedside clock—4:37 a.m.—and slid out from under the doona as gently as he could.

“One is for the bed.” Nick’s eyebrows arched again. “Really? Which one?” He could feel her smile against his chest. “The white one is for the bed.” Nick reached over and picked up the white control. “It vibrates the bed?” “Yes . . . and . . .” She trailed off. “And?” he asked with intrigue. “Rotates it,” she admitted. Nick chuckled and placed the remote back on the nightstand. “Does this room have any other . . . amenities I should know about?”

Inside each case sat external solid-state drives, spare connection cables, a compact wireless router, and a portable satellite transceiver. He picked up a short black cable, coiled it neatly around two fingers, and tucked it into a dedicated slot in the smallest case. On the far side of the room, Noah shifted under the heavy white duvet on the king-sized bed. The blankets pulled tight around his shoulders as he turned onto his side, facing the desk. His eyes were half-closed, heavy with sleep, his dark hair messy against the white pillowcase. "Cass," Noah mumbled, his voice thick and gravelly from sleep. "What time is it?"

Looked at the ceiling. The room was quiet. Down the corridor Noah was asleep in the specific total way he slept, the way he had slept since he was small, completely and without reservation, as if sleeping were something he had decided to commit to fully and anything less was not worth doing. I could hear the particular quality of silence that meant he was in it deeply and the morning had not reached him yet. I picked the phone back up. Read the rest of it.

~Winter~ Alone in bed, I awoke with a jolt, momentarily disoriented by the unfamiliar surroundings of the alphas' duplex. Panic set in until the realisation dawned on me. I scanned the room, seeking Noah, but the space next to me was vacant and chilled, indicating he had either left hours ago or never occupied that bed. Glancing at the clock, which read five in the morning, memories of the previous night flooded my mind, and the consequences of my actions with Noah became painfully clear—I had made a regrettable mistake.

Griffin had fallen asleep hours ago, exhausted from what he believed had been an exciting adventure, not understanding the genuine danger that had precipitated it. The penthouse was quiet, the city lights twinkling beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. James' security team had swept the apartment twice, finding nothing. The overnight detail was stationed at both elevators and the emergency stairwell. Griffin was sleeping soundly in his room, the advanced security system monitoring his vitals through sensors in his specialized mattress—a technology Lane International had developed originally for elder care, repurposed for my peace of mind. I should have felt safe. Instead, the prickling at the