Did it need to make sense? No. Sense was overrated, anyway.

And so as Asphyxia stared up at the cafeteria ceiling, she didn't bother to think about what anyone else would be thinking, if they came in to find her as she was now. Lying on a table in the middle of the room, no other people around. The only light came from the small flashlight she'd brought with her. And she was dressed in what she considered to be pajamas -- pink and white striped boyshorts and a pretty pink camisole layered over a plain white tank top, as well as some soft white legwarmers. Barefoot, of course. Yes, even to sleep she insisted on her odd fashion sense. Not that she was here, in the cafeteria, at 1 a.m. to sleep. More for exactly the opposite reason -- because she couldn't sleep.

But Asphyxia had never been much of a sleeper, a fact that had always disturbed her parents. Even at ages as young as two or three, her parents would find her awake in the middle of the night, playing dolls in the dark or drawing with her crayons. Not sleeping, like any normal kid would be. But of course, Elizabeth had been the kid that slept for exactly the right hours, napped at exactly the right times. Because Elizabeth, the perfect daughter, did everything right. Eating at the right times of day, the right amounts of food, teh right foods themselves.. While Asphyxia would be just getting to lunch at 4 p.m., eating three cupcakes with brightly colored frosting.. and then eating only a couple of bites of salad at the family's six-on-the-dot dinner every night.

With a sigh, she pointed her flashlight up, moving it slowly to draw lines of light across the ceiling. The downside of not sleeping? Other people actually did. Meaning there was little for her to do for all those hours. Not that she needed others to keep her entertained, but sometimes it helped. Also, so many places were locked and closed at night. Anywhere you wanted to go, you had to sneak in. Even in parks, you weren't supposed to be there after a certain hour. Even the cafeteria, she probably wasn't supposed to be in. But she was there anyway, figuring that if anyone showed up it would be another student.

And so she wouldn't get in trouble for being here. Which was good, because trouble was the last thing she needed. Already, Asphyxia had earned detention for the next few weeks. It turns out her history teacher didn't appreciate how her essay on World War II turned into a debate with herself on school dress codes. And when she redid the essay? Well, it only stayed on topic for the first paragraph or two. By the end, she was trying to explain why people tend to dislike anyone too much like them selves. A topic brought on by the fact that Hitler and Stalin absolutely hated each other, although they were so similar. It wasn't on purpose or anything, but he teacher was still convinced that she was doing this just to frustrate him. Her apology to him was taken as being sarcastic. And so she'd given up on trying to make a good impression in that class. Her teacher had made up his mind about her. A zero on the assignment and multiple detentions was supposed to 'teach her a lesson about that sort of behavior'. Right.

Setting the flashlight back down next to her, Asphyxia wondered whether anyone else was awake right now. Someone, somewhere in this school.. had to be. It was only a few minutes after one in the morning. It seemed unlikely that absolutely everyone besides her was sleeping safely in their dorm rooms. And it was incredibly lonely to think that they might be. Some might call Asphyxia a loner, but she didn't like to feel like she was completely alone, the only one here awake.