The past is real[Nort]

[maxy]

Max tossed and turned. It was late and her mind was reeling. Nightmares were haunting her. They started to fade away when she met Aiden, but now they were back at full force. Max stood in her family yard. Her father stood across from her, screaming. She was about 7 years old. 'Throw it!' her father shouted. She was crying. 'I can't.' Her father's eyes grew tighter. 'Do it. NOW!' she was scared. She closed her eyes and threw the small dagger in her hand at the apple sitting upon her 'father's head. She kept her eyes closed as his screams of rage echoed in the forest surrounding their house. She felt him grasp her around the neck and opened her eyes to see the dagger sticking out from his shoulder and his fist raised above her--

Max woke up in a cold sweat. The sheets were wrapped around her so tightly it took her a few moments to untangle herself. Once she did so, she sat up. It was late in the night. She had only went to bed hours before. She sighed. This wasn't the first time she had woken up late at night. Many nights of sleep had been wasted because of her nightmares.

Max pulled herself out of bed and walked to her chest. She flipped the lid and pulled out her notebook, quill, assorted inks and a small backpack to hold it all in. She threw everything into the bag carefully and swung it onto her back. She quietly slipped through the dorms and out the common room door. She stepped barefoot onto the dungeon floors.

Max travelled her practiced path out of the dungeons and to the stairs. Once she got to the ground floor, she travelled up the grand staircases and to a wooden door. She pulled it open and climbed the winding staircase all the way to the top where another wooden door stood. She swung it open. The room was chilly. There was a large window at the other side of the tower. She walked over to it. It was about 4 feet from the ground. She set her bag on the sill and swung herself up. She pulled open her bag and pulled everything out and opened her notebook to a clean page. She got herself emersed in her writing.

[flowers]

If wasn’t he couldn’t tell you, if seen you possibly couldn’t explain and when he thought about it he really didn’t understand but he was up. He was wide awake and walking alone the corridors of the castle trying not to think about why he wasn’t in the common room or boys dorm.

Its in my nature…right? he wonders to himself glancing down at the Miheal insignia upon his school jumper, which he’d neglected to take off after school. He felt no need to parade in his pajamas around the common room like the others but he was not like them. Although he made sure, like every other day that at least one piece of his clothing, upon his person had some type of picture of a unicorn on it. Today it was his undies. Nort never felt rightly part of any group yet and fair enough, he was only new.

It was his curiosity that caught his eye, stairs….Where did they lead? and soon was upon the cold silent spiraled case ascending into mystery. It was here that he found he was not totally alone or would be for that matter. A girl, bare feet and pj’s sat against the window with a note pad. Nort watched her from the dark, thinking if she’d rather be alone or if perhaps was awaiting the company. Nort had never been up hear yet and was not what was expected when one came across another. Was one supposed to say hello? Or leave?

Nort coughed as he stepped out from the darkened shadows of the tall tower, “Hello,” he said meeting her eyes, “Bit late for drawing don’t you think?” although it was never too late in Nort’s mind for would and could draw into the early hours of the morning. [/size]

[maxy]

Max was deep into her work. She was so caught up that she didn't even hear the boy open the door, nor his footsteps echoing around the room. It wasn't until the boy spoke up when she finally realized he was there. She looked up quick, though she kept her balance on the window sill. He didn't look familiar and she wondered who he was. She thought over this a moment, and decided that he had to be a student from a different year and house.

It took Max a few moments to realize that she still hadn't answered the boy. She turned her head to him and noticed how he looked at met her eyes, which is something no first year she had ever met had done. "Hi." she said, turning and swinging her feet over the edge on the interior of the tower. She laughed when he asked why she was drawing so late. "Actually, I'm not drawing." she said. "I'm writing." she looked down at her notebook for a brief moment. "To be honest, my stick figures actually scare small children." she said. The small child in question was her little sister, who screamed and ran every time she would try to show Michelle-little sister- her drawings.

Max remembered that she forgot to introduce herself. "I'm Max by the way. Max Gaydge." she spoke steadiliy, something she learned to do after living with her 'father'. She had to speak loudly to carry her voice to the other side of the tower. "Do you want to join me over here?" she asked, scooting over until her shoulder was touching the wall. She pulled her stuff out of the way. "It's a lot easier than it looks." she smiled. She looked down out of habit. The drop was a few stories down, but the sill was at least a foot across and pretty safe to sit on. "Besides, it's been getting kind of lonely up here lately." she said. Most nights she would sit up in the tower all alone. It was peaceful, but lonely. She didn't like the lonely part.

[flowers]

font]Unsure if the girl would respond or not, Nort, reaching up to scratch his head hoped to keep an open mind. She spoke to him, nice as he’d hoped and asked him to sit next to her. “ok,” he agreed without hesitation and took a seat next to Max. “Max? not your ordinary name for a girl, cool!” and shrugged.

“I’m Nort, Nort Flowers, Mihael Sleep walker” and held out a hand to shake as his shoulders touched hers on the small ledge. Surprised how comforting the ledge could actually be, Nort could not help but look down at the bottom. He swallowed hard and tried not to think of falling. “What’s a lot easier?” he questioned looking back to Max and meeting her eyes, not surprised how it could become quirt lonely up here alone.

[maxy]

Max smiled as the boy grinned. He seemed to be afraid of her reaction to his appearance. It was odd how people always expected her to be cruel. She was only cruel to people who deserved it and this boy certainly did not deserve it. At least, not so far. Her thoughts lingered on his reaction no more because he began to speak. She laughed as he talked about her name. "Yeah, it's a bit of a peculiar name for a girl." she said. She was pretty used to people getting confused about her name. Every time a person heard her name, they would question it. It was just a name. Shakespeare was right when he said that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Max smiled. "Nice to meet you Nort. You've got quite a unique name yourself." she said. "Sleepwalker, huh? Sounds fun!" she said. She held out her own hand to shake as Nort's appeared. When he asked what was easier, she shook her head, but not in a bad way. "Sorry, my mouth tends to override my mind. I was meaning that it's a lot easier to sit up here than it looks." she said. She watched him gulp as he peered down. "Although, the height can be quite intimidating." she said. It was obvious that the seat upon which Max was sitting on was very unnerving, and that was the exact reason she did so. To do the undesirable. In her mind, a phrase echoed that always pushed her to try everything. That phrase was why not?

Max turned to look back at Nort. "So, is sleepwalking the only reason for your appearance on this lonely night, or did you come up here for other reasons?" she asked. She was quite curious about him and why he was up there. She rarely saw people up in the tower, since she was there most every night and the only other person that appeared when she was around was Aiden and she hadn't seen hide nor hair of him in a few days, which made his girlfriend -Max- worry.

[flowers]

The more she spoke the easier Nort began to feel about the height for she was after all the one closet to the edge and if anyone as going to fall it would be her. Nort wondered if she were to faulted on the edge, would she reach out to grab him? Would he flinch and run away or would he take her hand and fall like an idiot to his death? Most possibly…

“I…” thinking of an answer that made sense more then just to him, “I was …board… felt like exploring, not sleepy nor was I ready for the sun to go down. Still feels like 2pm in the afternoon to be honest” he shrugged, folding his knees to his chest and resting his arms upon them. “And you Max? What’s bothered you so to be up in one of the tallest towers scripting away?” Nort peeking over his arm to glance at her note pad, “Novel of the heart? Or just venting?”[/size]

[maxy]

Max watched Nort as they sat up on the ledge. She could sense his heart slowing down which meant that he was relaxing. He was quiet for a few minutes, and she wondered what he was thinking. If there was one other power she could have, reading minds would be one of them. She could sense things about people, sure, but that doesn't mean that she could see into other people's minds. She felt greedy thinking that thought. She had powers muggles could only dream about, and even powers that other magical people wished to have and there she was wishing she had something more. She smiled to herself. Her thoughts could really roam.

Max turned to Nort as he spoke. "I know the feeling." she said. "Although it feels like midnight to me," well it is midnight, she thought to herself. "The afternoon is just too packed with people for me." she shrugged. Just then, Nort asked her a question not easily answered. She thought carefully about her reply. "To be honest, I like being awake at night." she said. She looked out the window. "It's very peaceful and people are usually more themselves at night." she said. When Nort asked about her writing, she smiled once more. "It's a bit of both, I guess." she said. "I usually write when I'm up here, and I never really know what I"m writing until I've written it." she said. She thought about what she was writing just then. It was a cross between a story and a Journal entry. She decided the explanation was better than the actual writing in the end. "Well, I don't exactly get much sleep. I have an insomnia problem." she explained.