Watchers of the Night by Matthew Keith
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Closing the door to Steven’s room, Paul sat down and motioned for Steven to do the same. Having already run through this conversation in his mind dozens of times, Paul realized that he’d never considered where to start. It was all so much, and for Steven to even consider believing what Astralis was really about, he had to first believe that Paul could walk around at night like a ghost.
Should be an easy sell… Paul thought.
“So you’re right,” Paul began. “I’m pretty well screwed. I came here looking for a way to fix my sleeping problem and it turns out the reason I’m really here is to use it.”
Steven blanched. “To use it for what? What are you talking about?”
“You know my problem, right? You know how I can’t wake up at night… I have pictures with no eyebrows to prove it.”
“That was freakin’ hilarious,” Steven laughed.
“Yeah for you and the rest of the school. Prick. Thing is, I…” Paul tried to search for the right words, but couldn’t come up with them.
“You… what? You’re gay? You have a vagina? I already knew that. You have some sort of disease? What?”
“Yes!” Paul exclaimed, finally finding a way to explain it in a way that Steven would believe.
“What? Wait. You’re gay?”
“No! Not yes to that—yes to the disease. Kind of.”
“Oh, dude. Oh man. I’m sorry, I didn’t know, bro. Hey look I didn’t mean—”
“Just… shut up for a minute and listen,” Paul interrupted, the words finally coming out in a rush. “I’m not sick, I’m not dying. I’m perfectly fine. Well, sort of. Actually, yes. Dammit, I don’t know how to say this any other way so I’m just going to say it straight up. When I go to sleep at night I’m not really asleep. Well my body is but I’m able to go anywhere I want and I’m invisible and I can’t get hurt and there’s like ten other people here that can do the same thing and this place works for the government and wants me to work for them too.” He’d said everything so fast, without any pauses, he wondered how much Steven had actually been able to understand.
Sitting on the desk with his hands clasped in his lap, Paul waited for Steven’s reaction, holding his breath. He could see Steven’s wheels turning.
Moments passed.
Finally, in a high-pitched, conciliatory voice, Steven stood up, grabbed his bag and said, “Ok buddy, we’re gettin the hell outta here. I don’t know what they said or what they did to fill your head with this crap, but they ain’t doing it to me. Come on. Come on.”
The last two words had come out almost sounding like Steven had been talking to a child or a timid dog.
Paul sighed. “Sit down, Steven. And listen. I’m not stupid. Nobody has brainwashed me or convinced me of anything that isn’t real. I need you to believe me because I need your help. I need you to stay here at Astralis and watch my back. While I’m asleep, mostly. That’s why you’re here.”
Steven started to speak, but Paul shook his head and continued. “I can prove all of this to you, tonight, and I will. But right now, in the next hour or two, I need you to believe me enough to walk down to that office and tell Dr. Abrams you’ll go through with whatever he asks, for me. They want to saddle me up with someone I don’t know and I don’t want that. They don’t want you to be my protector because they think you’re a screw-up, and they think you won’t even be able to get through their training program. But I know you can, and I know you will, because I need you to.”
Steven just stared, his eyebrows raised in confusion, questions written all over his face.
“So what do you say?” Paul asked. “Will you give this a shot?”
Steven opened his mouth with an audible click. “You’re saying you want me to stay here? Permanently?”
“Yeah.”
“Do I have to go to school?”
“Not unless you want to. This would be for good. Permanent.”
There was a pause, and then Steven grinned. “You should’ve started with that. You would’ve had me at ‘no school’. You complete me, bro.”
Breathing a giant sigh of relief, Paul gave Steven a hug. For the first time since he’d arrived at Astralis, he felt some firm footing.