Back in New York, wWhile Kris gathers crowbars and Jason accedes to LAW3 and Dax’s demands to shut down the internet in California, while Marin slowly makes her way toward Florida on the Seaking, back in New York, Joe… sleeps. [edited 1.4.10]
When Joe woke up next, it was dark out.
This wouldn’t have been too unusual, given that he was used to waking up in the dark of his cubicle at five in the morning, but he wasn’t in his cubicle, and besides, he wasn’t on the night shift anymore.
Joe blinked, groped around in the darkness of his attic apartment, and pulled his curtains further apart. It must be the middle of the night, he figured. And he couldn’t see any stars out his window. Nor the moon. He shivered. Thick cloud cover. Fog wasn’t unknown to the city, after all. No big deal.
As he lay back down, he noticed that his alarm clock’s display was blank. Or rather, that he couldn’t see his alarm clock anywhere. That would make checking the time a pain; he would have to resort to his wrist watch, and that was lying on an end table all the way across the room, and if it was really still nighttime, anyway, he’d be better off sleeping. No need to worry about the time. The sun will rise.
So thinking, Joe flopped back down onto his bed and buried his face in his pillow. It was strange how well-rested he felt, how un-tired, but what else was he going to do in his tiny room in the dark aside from sleep?
His only computer was at work… his apartment was just a place to come back to for sleep.
So sleep it was.
He dreamed of being late to work, which was all kinds of funny, since it had never happened a single time. Always in a rush to get to the office, bored of the solitude in his apartment and excited to play some Rapunzel’s Escape, Joe had never been tardy. He’d also rarely stuck around longer than he needed at work. There was the occasional surprise nap at 3 a.m. that would last past the end of his shift, and he sometimes got caught up arguing with Meow’s moderators, but usually by the time 5:30 a.m. rolled around he was bored of being at work and ready once more for the solitude and sleep.
Joe laughed snorted laughter in his sleep as he imagined himself being late to work. How hilarious.
