3

                                    

                                          
Taylor
Soft sounds of papers rustling flittered through the air as I read over some of the documents that I couldn't comprehend last night. From time to time I would glance behind me to see if the two boys on the bed were still sleeping and not being woken up by me shuffling through the endless papers. It was rare for me to wake before Elijah and Holden but I couldn't find sleep no matter how much I tried to cuddle back into both boy's arms. 
So I find myself sitting in the living room surrounded by papers with a stack of sticky notes with small notes of information that stood out with each witness statement and alibi given. Organizing and separating the documents into piles that best match similar details. At first, it seemed like things were going to continue as it was by getting basically nowhere but soon enough things started to pop out that we didn't see before. I started to see pieces of information that didn't quite belong with the others and that stack was a lot smaller than the others. 
I was startled slightly when a hand was placed on my shoulder breaking my concentration on sorting the papers. Turning my head I couldn't help the light smile that appeared at the sight of Holden behind me; sleep still present in his eyes with a hint of confusion mixed in. His voice was raspy and low from just waking up as he sat on the floor beside me "Are you alright Tay? I was worried when you weren't with Eli and I"
Leaning into his embrace, the green-eyed teen wrapped his arm around my waist pulling me closer with his head laying on top of mine, I let a sigh of contentment and relaxed further in his hold. "I'm alright bub. I just couldn't fall back to sleep and thought I would be productive"
His hand gently rubbed my back as if feeling the slight tension from sitting up at a weird angle for a few hours. Prying the paper out of my hand and putting it back in the pile that hadn't be sorted yet, he turned my body to face him more clearly. "How about you take a shower to help ease the tension from your headache and back while I start making breakfast? Elijah is bound to be up in the next few minutes with a pout for neither of us being with him when he woke up"
A light laugh fell out into the open as I got off the ground. Holden was usually the light sleeper of the trio, his protective instincts like him to be ready to fight in case someone broke into the house. He was the person who always slept on the side of the bed closest to the door. 
I was a mix of a light and deep sleeper. While normal noises don't tend to wake me up, I sometimes become more aware when my body jolts awake in the sense of something being wrong. There are nights where no one is able to wake me no matter how hard they try and there are others where I just have a sense that something is off and will be in such a light sleep anything will wake me. 
Elijah on the other hand was the deep sleeper but also the insomniac. He runs on adrenaline to the point where he will pass out from exhaustion though that is something Holden and I are helping him work on. Thankfully the insomnia isn't as bad anymore and it only happens once in a blue moon but there are times when he has too many thoughts keeping him awake and it takes forever for him to get back to normal. When the boy is asleep though it truly means he is knocked out and dead to the world. 
Softly sneaking back into the room to grab a change of clothes to go exploring later,  I placed a gentle kiss on Eli's cheek before entering the bathroom to shower. Said boy smiled in his sleep at the kiss before burrowing deeper in the blanket around him only to stir awake a few minutes later at the realization that Holden and I weren't right beside him. 
---
"Are you sure this is the right place?"
"This is where the GPS told us to go so either the navigation system programmed to help guide an individual to their destination is wrong or the address is wrong"