Chapter 62

• The house was covered in the stillness of early morning, the kind that clung to the air like a thick haze, wrapping the rooms in an overwhelming hush. Haven sat on the edge of their bed, his shoulders drooped forward, his head held in his hands. The black out light inching in through the splits of the drawn shades scarcely touched him. He hadn’t rested much again, and the weight of weariness pulled at his movements. Bad dreams had clung to him like a moment's skin ever since that day. No matter how difficult he tried to shake them off, they continuously found their way back into his mind, inching into his dreams and turning them into unending, choking circles of fear.
• Behind him, Alexis mixed, her eyes shuddering open. She comes to her impulses, her hand brushing against the empty space adjacent to her. The coldness there made her scowl, and she sat up, her look settling on Haven’s slouched figure. She observed him for a minute, taking in the way his shoulders trembled with each shallow breath. A throb of stress turned her heart. “Haven?” Alexis called softly, her voice still thick with rest. She scooted closer to him, her fingers delicately touching his back. “You’re up early again.”
• Haven jumped at her touch, a reflexive twitch that he couldn’t control. He rapidly fixed up, driving a grin that didn’t very reach his eyes. “Yeah, just… couldn’t sleep,” he muttered, running a hand over his face as if attempting to wipe away the leftovers of his disturbed contemplations.