Gift, part 7

It felt like having his friends around made him stronger.
Majority from the "circle". Some newcomers. But they were there.
–Check.
–Your turn.
He looked at his adversary's eyes. Most of the time he did that was a gigantic effort of not showing he had a good set of cards or bluffing. It was hard to keep the same face, specially because staring at someone's eyes was something so rare and so awkward. Sometimes he would just use a barely drunk behavior in order to not feel dminished by other players, playing as if it didn't matter anyway.
And yet, this night he felt so much better.
–Check.
He stared silently at the man over the other side of the table. It felt strange to have such a control over the situation. Or at least to feel as if there was actually any control over the game.
Another card was turned.
–Check.
That was said with a little more of thought. As if this foe had thought about going testing him.
–All in.
The speed with which those two words came out staggered everyone in the room who knew his extremely tight play style. In fact, he didn't even think much about that. He just decided to shoot and see what could happen. But the confidence he felt with that move was amazing. Some people looked at the player's cards on every side of the table.
Two minutes later cards were folded.
He felt a strange urge to stare into those eyes, as if that allowed him to devour the energy that lied within that person right in front of him. It was a strange experience he was slightly conscious of. It was better to just let it go on than to analyze it. And so it followed.
He folded some hands.
His opponent folded some more.
It was a heads up with little to no change in chip amounts.
But it could go on for hours, he didn't sleep much anyway, and this time it felt like the need of sleep could be postponed for days.
Moreover, there was no alcohol on his side. Slowly but surely, he would crumble. Falling all around without no more will to go on. It was just a matter of time.
–All in.
And there it was. Time had come.
He gazed numbly at the two cards, they gave him a measly pair with the three that were already turned at the table. A curious smile started to creep in his face.
–Call.
Those around who rooted for him were shocked. Why would he accept that? The pot wasn't even that big to accept such a risk. And they observed nervously when the disastrous cards were shown. There were two more cards to come, but the game was pretty much set.
Three of a kind versus one lower pair.
He smiled at his foe.
For the first time it was a lost fight but he didn't feel nervous, or sad.
And thus, as if some part of him knew it, the game became a battle of full houses.
Though he had the upper hand when that time came.


–You can't sleep, right?
–More than right.
–Well...
–Hm?
–I do not know what to do.
–Just stay there.
–Okay.
–It's pretty late and there's not much we can do anyway. The sun will be coming up in a few hours. At least tomorrow (or today, depending on the point of view) I won't have to wake up early.
–That is good. Do you have any idea why that happens?
–What do you mean?
–Why you get so many sleepless nights.
–I don't know for sure. But I have a lot of guesses. The one holding the most probability is simply summing up the facts that I tend to think too much and worry too much, and that I don't exercise too much. I mean, my body doesn't get tired, so there's no need to sleep on that part.
–But your friends don't exercise at all, I mean, they are at the same level. And they get to sleep more.
–Well... I don't know, I guess that changes from body to body. I only got some clues. Maybe that is irrelevant and I'm just saying rubbish. It doesn't matter anyway, ri...
He stopped.
She looked at him, with a curious face.
He moved up in order to remain sit at the couch, clumsily. His eyes were now barely at the same height of hers. One eyebrow arched and eyes as inquisitive as he could.
–What happened?
–How do you know that about my friends?
–I... heard things...
–Really?! Or are you just fooling me?!
The confused appearance made her scarred smile look even more uncomforting. But he did not care about that. She would have to speak.
–I just...
–Just what?! Did Daven keep some tabs on everyone?
–No! And who is Daven?!
–You know who he is!
–I do not.
–He brought you here.
–Oh... Daven, right?
–What do you mean? He said his name was Daven!
–I do not know it by that name. We do not need to name everything, perhaps he just gave you that name because you were curious about what could it be called. You need to have a name for everything, don't you?
–The heck if I do or don't! Just tell me, what do you know about them?
–Not much, I don't keep on stalking you, nor your friends.
–But who told you, then?!
–I...
Her face was distressed.
–We can speak later, when... it gets clearer.
–No! You are going to tell me that now! Nothing is going to get clearer until then!
–You did not understand, did you...?
–What's there to understand?! You didn't say anything!
Her hands grabbed his face.
It felt soft, though not very warm.
She moved a bit closer. Still holding him.
Turning his head a bit to the side, her mouth moved closer.
–I thought you would understand the need for light.
She whispered on his ear.
Though a bit baffled by all the situation, he came to realize what she meant.
Silence reigned thereafter.
She moved a bit away, still sitting at the sofa.
He felt a little bit ridiculous. Couldn't sleep and now didn't know what to say. Looking down and wondering what to do wouldn't help anyway.
Perhaps it was a situation that could not be fixed. Like many others he had already passed through.
Having a glimpse of what he was presented to earlier on those days, he just acted. Had his past self watched that, he would be so proud, it was such a bold move, considering how shy and stupid he behaved. Or at least he believed.
He slept lying in her lap. Not many more words were said that night. He just stood there while she played with his hair. It felt fantastic.
Out there, in the darkness that swallowed the room, two eyes watched.
Lidless.
Relentlessly.
A face smiled from the branches ahead of the third floor.


–Did you call any friends last night?
–No... why?
–I thought I heard your voice last night, talking to someone.
–Really?
–Yes, are you sure no one came over?
–Sure. Oh, I was... playing a little. Online games.
–Ah, I see!
–So, we were chatting on the microphones while we played.
–Like you did back then, I remember that.
–Yep.
–Just don't speak so loud when you do that.
He felt strange after talking to his mother that morning.
Now he had two things to think about.
Watching out for the trees.
And his friends.
Darkness couldn't go after his friends, could it?
He went back to bedroom. Forcing his eyes shut. Trying to think something that could perhaps call its attention.
But to no avail.
Coming to think of it, it did not show up much recently. Where could it be?
He spent the entire day wondering. At the end, that had just been another useless day without any productive activity. It angered him but there were more important things to focus than just feeling like wasting time.
One characteristic from such bad days, was that he mostly got to sleep after some time thinking in bed. But sleeping at unusual times, like six after noon made him wake up grumpy and sleep even worse at night. A strange thought of a voice whispering "elevator" rolled on his mind.
In the wee hours, he would just stay in the elevator, going up and down. There was no camera inside it and pretty much no one would go there that late.
Up and down.
Up and down.
What for?