Sleeping With The CEO-Chapter 308: Blackout

Ever since his arrival in Joy, Derek had become a bit of a sloth. When he was not out and about in town. He was usually at the motel, doing absolutely nothing.

Derek did not even need to sleep, courtesy of his insomnia.

But most days if anybody knew where he was, and were to check on him they would find him laying in bed. Sometimes, alright, most of the time, he would be on his phone. But while he spent hours on end staring at the screen. Derek was not reading the worried text messages from his mother.

He was also not going through the news trying to figure out the situation at Haven Group.

Derek did not want to face such things. But what he was doing on his phone was barely any better. In fact, if Derek had still had it in him to care, he would have been ashamed of how pitiful he was being.

Instead of doing something productive since arriving at the motel. Something that could lift his mood. Derek was spending hours on end staring at the only picture he had of himself and Emily as a couple.

It did not matter how many times Derek looked at the picture that Edna had taken at the fair.

He just could never seem to get enough. On his first day at the motel, he had thought that the sight of it would bore him soon enough, but he had been wrong.

Every time he blinked and his eyes settled on it once again. His gaze would be drawn to Emily, and that would be it. He would just be stuck staring at her until he finally could not anymore. Either having to stop because he had tears in his eyes.

Or because they hurt from keeping them open for too long.

But even after putting his phone away, things did not get better. In fact, some would even say that they got worse. Derek, no longer able to stare at the screen, would often pull out the last puzzle piece of the picture. The very one that he’d just known he would be looking at excessively when he had first pulled it out at the motel.

He had been supposed to give it to Emily on the night that his mother had decided to just rip his happiness away from him.

Holding it hurt. Like his heart had been torn to pieces and he was gripping a tiny shard, that he had been able to rescue.

Since arriving at Joy, he had barely been able to put it away. In fact Derek was staring at it, at that very moment.

Flipping the puzzle piece over and over in his hands. The phone on his chest where he had dropped it a few minutes earlier.

Would she have returned his feelings, Derek wondered. Had he gotten a chance to tell her how he felt, would Emily have said, I love you too?

That was what really bothered him about the whole thing.

The fact that he would never know. Letting go of the puzzle with one hand to wipe a tear, Derek blinked and when he did he found himself staring into nothing but darkness.

What?! A blackout!

He opened and closed his eyes several times.

Then he waited a few moments just to be sure. The darkness persisted and Derek let out a sigh. Putting the puzzle piece in his pocket, he grabbed his phone and turned on the flashlight.

Even as a heartbroken mess, he could never stand not knowing what was going on.

Rolling off the bed, and putting his shoes on. Derek opened the door, and began making his way to the reception.

Thanks to all of the work that had been done on it. The place was no longer as creepy as it used to be. Derek moved through the darkness with ease. His steps sure, not at all worried that he would step on the wrong place and go through the floor.

He made it to the reception in what seemed like no time at all. And once there, his plan to find out what was happening hit a snag. The old man was not at the front desk. "Hello," Derek called. And there was only silence. "Hello!"He called out again.

Still no one answered. And Derek found himself regretting the fact that he did not know the old man’s name. But in his defense, the old man did not wear a name tag. And during the first meeting, Derek had been far too unnerved and tired to ask.

And since then, it had seemed like it would be rude to inquire. So Derek had just gone with calling him old man in his head. Now that did not seem like a very smart thing to do, he really should have asked for the old man’s name. Yelling out ’Old man, old man!’in the dark was not likely to earn Derek any favors.

And with an approach like that, he could be certain that the man would not even answer him when he asked what was going on. So Derek called out a few more hellos, hoping to get a response.

But the old man was nowhere to be found.

Realizing that he was just wasting his time.

Derek stared at the empty chair in defeat, and then turned to go back to his room.

Seconds later, his phone’s flashlight landed on what appeared to be a floating head. Derek let out a manly scream( for real, if anyone heard a squeal, then they were imagining things).

He stumbled back, lost his grip on his phone. Barely managed to catch it before it hit the ground. Then had to force himself to swallow down any other subsequent screams when he realized what he was looking at. It was not a floating head as he had thought, but rather it was the old man.

"Yes?" He rasped, and Derek swallowed audibly.

How had he not heard him approach? The way the man’s joints creaked and groaned, should have given him away. If not that, then the slight wheezing to his breath should have done the trick. Taking a few breaths to get his heart rate under control.

Derek tried to brush it all aside and carry on like nothing had happened.

"Did you need anything?" The old man asked. And Derek suddenly recalled why he was out of his room.

"About this power cut. . . "

"It is nothing major, and I will have it resolved soon," The old man interrupted before Derek could continue. He nodded slowly at Derek. A loud cracking sound coming from the action. Like a joint was dislocating and then slipping back into place. It made Derek want to call an ambulance, but the old man seemed unbothered.

"All will be well," The old man wheezed, and Derek had to marvel at how he managed to make such simple words sound both creepy and threatening. "Do you need any help or can I just head back to my room?" Derek asked, looking at the state of the old man.

It seemed as though he might keel over at any moment. But Derek figured that if he just took over the whole thing and offered to go see what was happening, he might offend the guy. So he asked first. Again, there was that sympathy-inducing shrug.

"No, I’ve got this," The old man said.

But then he slowly turned his head towards Derek again. "But there is something you can do. Your neighbour, is out in the dark by the tree up front. Can you go get her? She’s probably scared,"

Derek paused at the old man’s request. For all the old man knew Derek could have been a serial killer, and yet he was asking him to go and make sure that another tenant was safe. Had he been back in the city Derek would have refused.

But this was the most excitement that Derek had gotten in a while. It definitely beat being up in his room staring at the picture of himself and Emily, and playing with the puzzle piece. "All right, I’ll do it," He said.

At most it would take just a few minutes of his time, and then he could go back to doing what he had been doing previously, which was absolutely nothing.

Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om