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Friday was gone. Saturday was coming up with the sun, and Ryan had still not been asleep. His acute insomnia was expected after he travelled. Triggered by past traumas. Any variance in his life could bring on his curse of no bedtime, sometimes it’s a week before he feels any sign of tiredness. It’s three days into his house swap, one of those life variances that was suggested by his sister, Laura. She has been telling him forever how it would be a good idea for her brother to get away for an extended period of time. To see and to get to experience another part of the country. A difference in atmosphere could be exactly what Ryan needed. An opportunity to leave that place behind for a bit. It’s been long enough with those bad memories. It’s time to heal.

Well, we’re home. This is me. 

Hey, sweetie. You awake? 

Oh, right. Of course, you’re not. You had that last drink now, didn’t you? With a little something extra from me. I knew you couldn’t say no. None of you do. My looks are a curse, I swear. Anyway, let’s go in… shall we? 

A man lifts a young woman out of his blue Cadillac and shuffles her half-limp body along with the weight of his own toward the front door of his house. She is wearing a short black dress that sparkled each time a streetlight caught her sequins a certain way. She was semi-conscious. She had no shoes, no purse, no phone, and because her makeup had long melted away you could tell she was half the age of the man she was now draped over. With her petite frame shifting over his shoulder with a step, her head drifts next to his. The man smiles and whispers something into her exposed ear.