#februardwc2025

[veilosdaigoa]

Daily Writing Challenge February 2025 Day 1 - Hypnotic, Star

Fingertips glided gently along his bare side, the muscles beneath twitching slightly in response to the familiar touch. Without even opening his eyes, he smiled, “Morning, my sunshine.”

The ethereal, feminine voice spoke softly against his cheek before lips pressed to the edge of his own, “Stay asleep, it’s not yet time to wake.”

He did as asked, mind lingering somewhere just before a state of unconsciousness as he pulled her body against his to bask in her perpetual warmth for a few moments longer before the horrid dawn arrived and ruined it all. “The kids..” He mumbled in his somnolent state.

She hummed softly, stroking her fingers through his hair, “They’re fine. Just stay asleep for now, just a little bit longer. I don’t want you to leave just yet.”

“Never. I’m not going anywhere.” Lips greedily met lips and he finally cracked his eyes open only to discover he was alone and had fallen asleep yet again on the pull-out couch in his office at The Shielded Mind.

This had become a habit of his at this point. Working late, deciding he was too tired to go home and instead crashed here where he wouldn’t be surrounded by their personal effects, photographs, and memories of what once was. He recognized it wasn’t terribly healthy, mentally or physically, but everyone dealt with loss in their own ways, and his grief seemed to come and go with the tides.

It had been a particularly difficult couple of months, but the beginning of the year was ripe for seasonal depression after the excitement of the holidays faded away. Then there was the love holiday to deal with, and birthdays of those now long gone - there were worse ways of coping than being avoidant of home.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he sat up and peeked out the window to the darkened street below, pulling on a pair of loose pajama pants before making his way towards the front stoop of the clinic. He lit up a cigarette, another coping mechanism he told his own patients to avoid, yet here he was enjoying the same disgusting, yet calming habit. The hypnotic hum of the nearby streetlamps lulled him into a comfortable state of dissociation, focusing solely on the rhythmic pull and exhale of smoke.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been standing there, staring blankly up towards the stars above, cigarette now long burnt out but still dangling loosely between lips. There was a muted voice somewhere in the back of his mind, but right now all he could hear was that incessant hum growing louder and louder.

“Veilos!”

The exclamation startled him out of his catatonia as he focused on Doctor Xanelen Deh’lorei standing nearby with a concerned expression. He was well put together as always, wearing a nice pair of slacks and a button-up shirt as if he were at work. But it was still the middle of the night, that didn’t seem right.

“...Are you well?”

Veilos took the cigarette butt out from between his lips and glanced over towards the dawning sun with a furrowed brow. Somewhere in there he had lost a few hours. It wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last.  “Hmm? Just a long night is all.”

Xanelen eyed the man over, the worry still evident in his gaze, “Go home, Veil. Take the day off.”

“No no, I’m fine. I have some appointme-”

“GO HOME Doctor Dai’goa. I’ll see to them myself.” It wasn’t a suggestion, it was an order. Even if Xanelen wasn’t technically his boss, he was his Doctor and he knew Veil better than anyone else did given their time in the military spent serving together.

“Yeah. Let me just get my stuff and I’ll go…” He refrained from saying ‘home’, currently uncertain if his path would take him there today or not. He could use a shower and a fresh pair of clothes, at the very least, and then just maybe he could fall back into that wonderful dream.

@daily-writing-challenge @xanelen @theshieldedmind