Sleepless Nights

Brandon Crooms

At first, it’s like any other day. I awakened, showered, brewed my morning cup of joe, and that is when I first saw…outside, there was nothing…no moonlight, stars, or anything! It was like an endless black void of space. My mind was racing; Where was I…What is going on…Why is this happening? I caught myself and thought that maybe it is just extremely dark outside because the lights are not working.
Standing there in front of the window, I carefully sipped my coffee…cautious not to burn my tongue. I paused, patiently, to try to see if the lights will come back on, or that I will see some shred of moonlight in the nighttime sky. “Maybe I should just go and lay back down.”, I thought to myself. Turning around to leave, I noticed that all of my furniture has disappeared. “Where did all of my stuff go.”, I said worryingly. The hallway seemed to go dimmer by the second, as if the lights were running out of power. I could feel my heartbeat grow more rapidly, like a composer ordering an accelerando for an explosive ending.

I froze…listening in to every sound and echo, expecting to catch an unfamiliar noise. But, I hear absolutely nothing, and after ten minutes, I gave up hope. Starting to calm down, I attempted to guide my way back to my bedroom to try to catch some shut-eye. I ignored the non-existent furniture, and wished that it wasn’t the same case for my bed, and made my way back. It was almost halfway, when I heard a loud crash that came from outside. The sound made me jump out of my skin! Though curiosity got the best of me, and I opened my front door to see what fell.

I almost FAINTED because what I saw was…a normal spring day. The fresh air seeped into my lungs, clearing my head, and the sounds of the singing birds drilled its way into my ears. I gazed behind me, then forward, and then behind again…confused. I decided to walk around my house and check each window…to see if there was something blocking the light. Each window was clear, and I could see inside with ease, and to my amazement…my furniture as well. I ran back inside to see if I could get the same results. The front door slammed shut behind me, and the room went pitch black.

Struggling to find my way, I walked around hoping to bump into my couch…but I didn’t. In fact, I never bumped into anything at all. It seemed like all of my furniture was gone again! “Did I just teleport into a black hole?” There was no sound, light, or objects. I couldn’t even hear myself think…I don’t know if I was panicking, or what! There was a sound behind me, like a door opening, and a glimmer of light shown through. I walked towards the blinding light…and I started to hear voices. The farther I walked, the smaller the light became…breaking out into a sprint, the light becomes as tiny as a pinprick but it was still enough for me to see. The voices were growing and growing, until they were shouting in my face! “SOMEBODY…. HELP…. SHE NEEDS…” Then, all was calm.

(Faint voices)
“Doctor, is she going to be okay?”
“Yes…I gave her a heavy dose of anesthesia to help her insomnia. She should be sleeping well at the moment.”
“She gave us quite the scare, didn’t she Doc?”
“Yes…it seems like her nightmares are getting worse. Maybe our only option, right now, is to perform a lobotomy.”
“Oh, my… Are you… (become muffled and fades away)