The Curse Conduit
Chapter 6

Over the next few days Casta and Simian became increasingly concerned with Derek and Uriah as did many of the crew that worked with them. As they had predicted talk of them had made it onto the band’s website. Fans who had been to the concerts had remarked on their appearance. They both looked exhausted, drawn and strained. They gave all they had on stage but it was obvious that something was wrong. They had a few days off before the next concert and Casta hoped the move to a new city would help but he had his doubts.

The revelation that they were both having the same dreams had so unnerved Uriah and Derek that they had decided the best thing to do was stay awake. Not the thought patterns of a rational person but both men had already started to suffer the effects of sleep deprivation. They joined forces helping each other to stay awake. They talked, watched DVD’s, drank coffee and other caffeine boosted drinks and they did stay awake. No dreams for two days but their health was suffering, their tempers were short and their concentration had been affected so much so that Uriah was making mistakes that he had never made before then blaming others.

At their sound check Simian lost his temper. He’d had enough. “Damn it Uriah give it a rest will you. There is no use blaming the orchestra for your own mistakes.”

Without warning Uriah threw a punch and hit Simian across the face sending him reeling to the ground. Then stood looking down at him unable to comprehend that he had just hit him. Casta shouted at Uriah and went to help Simian while Derek looked on dazed and confused. The stage manager had seen everything from his vantage point down in the first row of seats and bounded up onto the stage pulling Uriah around to look at him. “What the hell was that all about?” He didn’t let Uriah answer. “Get yourself off the stage and get sorted and don’t come back until you are.” He looked over at Derek. “You go with him. Last thing I need is for you to blow your top as well.”

Uriah did not move just watching Simian as he stood holding his cheek with a hurt and sad look on his face.

The stage manager shoved Uriah towards the exit. “Move!”

Uriah did move but just as he was about to leave the stage he turned back to look at Simian. “I’m sorry Simian. I...... I’m sorry.”

With shoulders slumped he and Derek left the stage together.

“Hey buddy where did that come from?”

Uriah looked at Derek. “I can’t think straight anymore Derek. I need to sleep. We can’t keep going on like this. I’ve just hit Sim, for no reason, he’s the last person on the planet I would want to hurt and I just hit him.”

Derek nodded in confirmation and then smiled. “Maybe Bethie, um, Elizabeth was right. We need to take a nanna knap.”

The men headed back to the hotel both knowing they needed to sleep and both hoping that they would not dream.

Derek text Casta to let him know where they were going.

Not long after they had left the stage manager called it quits for the day so Casta and Simian were also headed back to the hotel for a few hours of relaxation before the concert. As they rode in the back of the people mover, Simian looked at Casta’s phone as it beeped. “So what does he have to say for himself them?”

Casta smiled weakly. “It’s from Derek. They are both going to try and get some sleep before tonight.”

Simian sighed. “Finally.”

“You do realise that there is so much more going on than them just not sleeping? You do know that they have been deliberately staying awake don’t you?”

“Yeah, it’s as if they are afraid to go to sleep but I can’t get either one of them to say anything about it.”

Casta looked out the window. “I think it is time we did.”

Back at the hotel Derek and Uriah parted ways, each to his own room, each trying to come to terms with the consequences of what they were about to do. Both men desperately needed to sleep, they needed to sleep but not dream. However they both knew the likelihood of that happening after the last few weeks was very slim. Uriah had reconciled himself to the fact that he was better off dealing with his dreams than hitting his friends in the face and making inexcusable mistakes in his performance.

Derek had come to much the same conclusion. He had only just been able to restrain himself from doing something unthinkable at the sound check when Uriah had hit Simian and as much as it scared him he wanted to get to the bottom of all the weirdness that seemed to have filtered into his life. He wanted to replace out why Declan had shown himself in his mirror but most of all he wanted it to end.