Deprive a character of sleep for three days and write about how it affects them.
For Sebastian, with Jaime.
FUTURE, YEAR UNKNOWN
He’s seeing people in the trees.
Shadows that move in his periphery. Sticks that crack under a phantom weight in the distance.
Each time his mind plays the trick on him, he flinches back, stumbling into Sebastian’s unsteady frame. They catch each other in a scramble of shaking hands and whispered reassurances.
“It’s okay.”
“It’s just us.”
“We have to keep moving.”
They haven’t slowed down for days. Not for more than a couple of hours at a time. They’ve barely slept. They’ve kept their rations low. They can’t afford to stop for long. Not until they reach—
Another branch breaks in the distance and Jaime lets out a startled cry. Sebastian grabs him by the shoulders and spins him to face him. The green of his eyes are rimmed in a bloodshot white. He blinks hard and presses his forehead against Jaime’s. Jaime presses back, and that brief leaning of weight against each other is almost enough to fall into, to let his muscles finally rest and…
“Look at me,” he whispers, licking his dry lips. Jaime does, even though he feels his eyelids dropping. “We’re so close. We’re so close.”
Jaime nods, the knotted tangle of his overgrown bangs mingling with Sebastian’s.
“We keep moving,” Jaime whispers their mantra.
Sebastian pulls back long enough to place a long, warm kiss against his forehead.
“We keep moving.”
