"Ugh, they better not complain tonight. Not that the shower didn't help with my sore back," I mutter to myself as I walk back into my room.
"One things for sure, once I'm in bed, I'm not getting out 'til mornin. Though that's only 'cause I have school,"

   When I walk in my room, I immediately notice that my favourite pyjamas are laid out on my bed, and that the bed is made. I don't question it, having a feeling that Dart and Scratch had something to do with it.

'Huh, must have been bored or something.'

Once dressed, I flop down face first on my bed. After getting in a comfortable position, I close my eyes and settle down for the night.

   Sadly, the two borrowers in my room had other plans for me. Just as I was drifting off, I feel Dart and Scratch climb onto my back and start walking around. At first I just ignore them and try to sleep, but after a few minutes I give in. I let out a sigh of frustration, and groan as I open my eyes. At once they stop what they're doing and start walking towards my head,

"You know, I could just roll over and you'd be stuck 'till I get up?" I say, closing my eyes again.

"Yeah we know, but we know that you wouldn't do that." Scratch responded,

"Oh really? Well then, how's this for not doing it!" I say, then carefully rolling onto my back. I feel them trying to climb across my back to avoid getting squashed, but all that did was tickle me.

Which in there position, wasn't a good thing. What were originally careful moments, turned into fast, unpredictable motions.

"Guys stop it before you get hurt," I managed to get out in between quiet laughs. They immediately let go of my shirt and the tickling stopped.

I calm my breathing and I roll back onto my front, "never do that again, understand?" I say, feeling them climbing back onto my back.

"Yeah, ok. You got to admit, that was fun!" I hear Dart say.

I chuckle quietly, "if that's what you want to call it. Anyways, what were you doing? You don't usually bug me at this hour. You're usually exploring the walls or asleep already." I say closing my eyes and relaxing.

"We were checking for any injuries on your back from the fall earlier. It's very unlikely that you walked away from that without some sort of injury. You mind if we keep looking?" Scratch says,

I let out a sigh. "Yeah go ahead, just make sure if I fall asleep while you're back there, you get off immediately. Ok?"

"Yes sir! By the way, there any spots that really hurt? Might help speed this up a bit if you tell us where it hurts,"

"Um..... yeah, lower shoulder blades on both sides and lower back. But it's probably just bruises," I say.

"Alright, we'll see if anythings really bad. Just relax and try not to move to much. Also, if you don't mind, could you take your shirt off? It'll make it easier to check for injuries," I hear Scratch ask.

"Sure, but you need to get off my back." I mumble tiredly, not really wanting to get up but finding it pointless to argue.

Besides I was getting a little hot anyways.

  I feel them slide off then I sit up in bed and carefully work my shirt over my head and throw it on a nearby chair. I hear a tiny gasp from behind me and something tells me that it's bad.

"That bad huh?" I ask over my shoulder as I lay back down on my front, getting comfortable, before reaching my one hand back for them to climb on.

  I don't get a response right away. But when they reach my shoulder, I hear Dart whisper, "oh bad doesn't begin to describe it," into my ear.

  I feel them continue further down my back, one walking down to my lower back, the other stoping in between my shoulder blades. I feel one of their tiny hand run along my lower back and I cringe a bit from the small amount of pain that shoots up. They pause what they're doing when they feel this,

"you alright dude, did that hurt?" I hear Dart ask, probably the one that's down there.

"Yeah a bit, keep going I'll be fine. Just go gentle on that spots, k?" I say, looking over my shoulder,

"You sure? If it hurts we don't want to agitate it, or keep you up to long."

"I'll be fine, just get it over with." I say, annoyance lacing my voice.

"Alright, just tell us if you want us to stop." I don't respond past I tired grunt.

   I feel them continue their observation of my back so I relax and try to get to sleep, yeah much harder then you think with tiny people crawling on your back. At one point I was tempted to roll onto my back, but I restrained and just shifted my position a bit. After ten minutes, I'm just about asleep when I feel something tapping on my ear. I give a quiet grunt of acknowledgement.

"It seems your whole back is bruised, not as bad as your lower back. That seemed to have taken the worst of it, but still pretty bad. The shower probably did you good, but you might wanna be careful not to fall back in your chair or fall on your bed like usual." I vaguely hear Scratch say.

I just grunt again, not having the energy at the moment to form words.

"Well, we'll let you get some sleep. You probably need it after today," Dart says.

   This wakes me up a bit, well, enough to form a sentence. "Guys, you can stay up here if you want. I . . . uh . . . I could use the company, you don't have to, but if you want-"

"it's fine Rob, we were gonna stay up here anyways. We were just gonna get off your back is all," Scratch says.

   I calm down and softly smile as I close my eyes. I feel them walking back up towards my head, hopping on the pillow while I move the blanket up over my back. Once comfortable again, I sink into my bed with Dart and Scratch leaning against the crook of my arm. Enjoying the heat my body is putting off. "Thanks you two, for everything." Are the last words I utter before falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.

To be continued...

Squirt out🤠