Free The Energy Room (The Elementum Trilogy) by Styna Lane Page B

releasing my entire body from the tight, internal chains of anxiety. Lakin was right, I was paranoid and obsessed with the unlikely.

CHAPTER EIGHT
Wardrobe Malfunction
     
     
    It had been approximately seventy-two hours since I last slept. I kept myself locked up in my apartment, avoiding everyone in the real world as well as in my dreams. I stared at myself in the mirror, prodding at the dark shadows that had taken up residency beneath my eyes. The first thirty-six hours weren’t too bad, but not long after, a sense of surrealism had begun to consume me. I lived on coffee, even though it seemed to have lost its influence around hour-forty. I spent the majority of my time as a zombie, sitting on the couch watching old British sitcoms, and laughing at jokes I didn’t really understand.
    I was terrified at the thought of confronting Lakin about the incident with Eric. I hadn’t spoken to Mr. Smoochy-Face since he stormed out of Caf 1. The last time I could remember having a fight with him, I was around eight years old. He wouldn’t let me play with his new scooter, so I punched him in the face; we didn’t talk for an entire four hours. Our most recent conflict seemed significantly worse.
    In the epitome of my forced insomnia, I imagined possibility after possibility of how Lakin could react when I told him about what had happened between me and Eric. The imaginings started with simple, heated arguments, but as my lack of sleep progressed, I began picturing fantastical things. I visualized Lakin willing a dragon into the Room to eat my face. I imagined him with a greasy, pointed mustache, villainously tying me up to a train track. I pictured him force-feeding me spoonful after spoonful of sauerkraut. I shuddered.
    I was brought back from my imagination by a few loud raps at the front door. I wasn’t entirely aware of how my body was still functioning, but my feet managed to carry me through the living room. I glanced quickly to the microwave; four o’clock. I looked at my hologram-window to determine whether it was morning or afternoon. Little, chirping birds told me that I did not have a mysterious, late-night visitor.
    I slowly pulled the door open to Al’s annoyingly cheerful face. It probably wasn’t actually annoying, but everything is irritating when you haven’t slept for a billion years. Al’s smile subsided when he noticed how horrendous I looked.
    “ Are you okay? I haven’t seen you in a few days ago. You look awful!” Al observed, following me to the sofa.
    “ Thanks,” I said sarcastically, burying my face in a mug of coffee that had gone cold.
    “ I’m serious. Are you sick?” he asked, pressing the back of his warm hand to my forehead.
    “ No, I just haven’t been sleeping well. Or at all,” I said, shoving his hand away from my face.
    Al’s expression was unreadable, possibly because I was sleep-deprived.
    “Well, you can tell me all about it in our first session,” Al said cheerfully, pulling a shiny new notebook out of his worn messenger bag.
    “ Now?” I groaned, eyeing the notebook wearily.
    “ Yes, now,” Al said, mocking my tone, “Why haven’t you been sleeping?”
    I stopped to think for a moment, trying to decide on a good reason for my insomnia. My delay could have easily been attributed to my sleeplessness, but I was surprised to find that Al saw right through me.
    “You’re trying to think of a good lie to tell me, aren’t you?” he said, still smiling as his frosty eyes pierced my soul.
    “ No,” I lied, “Eric and I had a fight.”
    Inwardly, I nodded to myself with satisfaction. It wasn’t technically a lie, and it was kind of the reason I didn’t want to sleep; I didn’t want to confront Lakin about it.
    Al took to his notebook with a pen, shaking his head with a grin of disbelief. Even though I could tell he wasn’t buying into my story, he went along with it.
    “What did you fight about?” he asked sincerely.
    “ I don’t think that’s really any