Writing Prompt July 3rd: Write about a sleepless night involving some character

[Evangelli 83]

Hello everybody! This is going to be the first prompt for my idea. Please respond to this post with your response to the writing prompt. Remember to be detailed and put a lot of effort in. 

 

The prompt:

 

Write about a sleepless night involving a character (Or your LoTC character if you want)

 

 

[Citrines 20]

Gave it my best go!

—————

Any night Lyra spent alone was a restless one.

 

By herself, even now, all of these years later, intrusive thoughts crept into her mind. With each “good” action she tried to commit, one bad one would spring up in her head that she had done before, her own voice haunting her before she turned the lights out and all the way until morning.

 

She wasn’t in any life-threatening danger anymore. Her life was safe and happy, and she was doing her best to make the right decisions every day. Yet the things she had done herself, and the things she had allowed other people to do would not leave her alone. Every time she learned one small way to better herself, all of the ways she had done the exact opposite in the past tugged and pulled at the cords inside of her chest until she had no choice but to get up and out of bed.

 

This night was one of those. She had gotten a cup of tea, read over one of her favorite books on flora, scrunched her eyes shut: All of those helpful tips that both books and her friends had told her would supposedly help her get some shut-eye. Unfortunately, it simply would not come. Left alone with her own thoughts she rarely did; she had no idea how she got any sleep at all for the years it had just been herself every single night.

 

A part of her didn’t want to fall asleep in the first place. She knew even once she was able to relax fully, the nightmares that plagued her in the night would eventually take her as they always did. Images of fire and blood and violins. The smell of cinder and smoke. Glinting steel and red eyes behind a pair of golden goggles.

 

The air was too warm, and the walls too far away. Isolation even in the smallest of forms filled her with a restless energy that was only soothed by the presence of another...

 

… And Ithrendas wouldn’t be home for awhile yet. But she was trying very hard to not think about that right now, so before the cold chills of dread could set in, bare feet kicked out from the covers as she stretched her arms up above her with a tired yawn. It would be no use to stay in bed by herself for the next few hours, and she wasn’t sure why she tried in the first place if she was being perfectly honest. 

 

The elfess exhaled softly as this typical swirling pattern brought her nowhere yet again, landing gently on the cool hardwood floor of their room in Llyria. Fetching the wood-and-silver flute atop her nightstand, she wandered out of the bedroom door and onto the small bridge which connected two towering homes.

 

When Lyra was still a teenager living with her brother, both sleepless souls would pick up their instruments in the middle of night and play melodies for each other to help get the other back to sleep. If nothing else, it served as good practice for the times it had been impossible find rest. Even now when she played her flute, the soft and comforting noise of the keys of Rhyn’s piano flowed into her mind, the music a perfect distraction and hopeful method of causing her exhaustion to finally wear her into unconsciousness.

 

So standing aloft the darkened city, the woman brought her trusty instrument up to her lips to begin a quiet and familiar song. The slow and tinkling tune of her flute played a simple string of notes which gave enough distraction to allow for more pleasant thoughts to drift into her mind.

 

Seconds flowed by as she lost herself in the time-tried habit, but only after she had lost track of just how long it had been did she finally allow herself a small and easy smile.

 

While she still didn’t sleep that night, the warm and light nostalgia filled her to the brim just enough for her to breathe properly again. Trying very hard to keep from thinking of the troubles she had with herself, and the worries she had for the present.

 

Perhaps she’d sleep tomorrow.

Edited July 9, 2019 by Citrines