Chapter 20: Not Sleep, Not Rest
Derek awoke to the sound of a rhythmic tap-tap. He blinked, confused, then the tap-tap sound came again. "Sir, are you awake?" It was one of the maids. Derek normally had no problem telling them apart, even from just their voices(he even knew their likes, dislikes, their partners and all the names of their children), but on that morning, the voice on the other side of the door might as well have been a robot from outer space.
"Sir?" The call came again, and he realized that he had to say something back. It took a bit of time to get his vocal cords to cooperate, finally rasping out a rumbling "Yes," That had the person on the other side leaving.
Getting ready was...strange. He walked barefoot on the tiles, his slippers forgotten. Then once he got to the shower, he stood under the spray for a full minute before he realized that the water was ice cold. Things picked up a bit after he sorted that out, and by the time he got dressed and headed out to the garden for his breakfast, he looked mostly like himself. He found his mother there, but she was not at the table, instead, she was off to the side, doing yoga.
"Morning, darling," She called when she saw him, and took him a moment to realize that he had not greeted her back. Luckily, he handled it before she realized, and took a seat.
With all the lovely food spread out before him, his breakfast ended up being toast...just toast. No butter, no jam, no coffee, no tea. Not even some of the cookies he had inhaled the night before could tempt him.
Just four pieces of toast, eaten one after the other, chewed mechanically and swallowed, he did not even taste them.
"Darling, are you alright?" He looked over at his mother, her brows were furrowed, her lips turned down at the corners.