sleep was a natural state for the body, a means to offer rest, to reset one’s thoughts at the end of a day and heal from its natural processes. michael crew currently found that respite halfway through an early edition of arbatel de magia veterum and a quiet table of a sprawling lancaster library he hardly cared to check the name of.
it wasn’t a practice he tried to make habit of - neither lingering to read, in the places he bought or rented his books, nor sleeping in them, but something about the vast space, surrounded and sheltered amid countless rows of tomes had been some strange form of comfort. as if he didn’t know better. how many days had it been since he’d last tried to catch his breath, now? three? four? had he ever really stopped?
when he sat up, it was sudden, heart battering his chest like the frantic beating of wings, something caught and swallowed in his throat before it could fracture the sleepy silence of the repository. there was someone close by, perhaps waiting on the table themselves. somewhere else, a bulb was buzzing a little too loudly.
“excuse me,” is the only thing he offers, quiet and abrupt, pulling his scarf back into place and making to gather the varying scraps of translated latin haphazardly spilled about the table. this was better done elsewhere. / @somnisea