Insomnia
My eyes open once again. Four thousand seven hundred and twenty-two. Stupid sheep. All they can do is float. Four thousand seven hundred and twenty-three. Four thousand seven hundred and twenty-four. Look at the clock. 2:42. Two… four… two… two twos make four… two fours make… sheep. Lots and lots of sheep. Stupid floating sheep.
I wonder when I will fall. Sitting on the ceiling gets boring after a while. I beg Gravity to have mercy. He just laughs and walks out on me again. They’re always doing that. I begin to miss the way he pulled me down before, no matter where I was or what I was doing… always down down down… but now I’m up. up… awake… 3:01. The red numbers burn holes in my skull. They light my eyes on fire… fire everywhere… at least it’s rainbow this time…
the sheep return. I realize then that they were gone. Silly sheep. Where did you go? Take me with you. Oh god, take me with you please… anything to escape this rainbow nightmare. Four thousand eight hundred ninety one. They race past on their skeleton bicycles, numbers glowing on the tags they wear proudly- members of the famed race of time. Time… it makes no…
Cents… Falling from the ceiling. Or the floor. I can’t tell the difference anymore, with my vision obscured by the sudden surge of coins… they laugh at me, taunt me as they fall, seem to cry out “look we can move, why can’t you?” before hitting me in the eyes… they burn like the fire that surrounds us… it laughs as well. I plug my ears and attempt to shut it out.
The silence is even louder.
Rainbow silence. Black rainbows. Black holes of swirling light. Falling… into the rainbows now. YES! I have escaped my upside-down prison… but where to now? The strobe lights are blinding, yet I can see… sheep.
Four thousand nine hundred and seventy three.
They blink in unison. I blink. My eyes burn. The darkness is a shock that rips through my spine and creates a cacophony of light behind my skin… audible light. The worst kind when you think about it. My eyes throb as the decibels reach an obscene level, ears shut as it blinds them, along with my fingers… no idea where they end now. I am a part of this pounding world of audible light.
Gravity is back. He’s sitting in the corner looking very lonely. I call to him, but my voice, now a part of the song blinding my own eyes, is indistinguishable from the rest of the noise. Yet somehow he hears and understands… how does he understand when I myself have no idea what I was trying to say? I forget this dilemma quickly- he has become a sheep.
His eyes swirl directly into mine and draw me in. I cannot stay away. The vines on the walls lift me swiftly onto his back. Red vines… redvines… suddenly I feel pangs of hunger echoing throughout my entire shell. I feast upon the dreams of others, the unsuspecting few who dare to sleep at this hour. A girl in a house made of mirrors tastes just like nutella… but then it’s gone. For a second I am sad, but then I forget what “sad” is. Sad…sad sad sad sad sad sad sad… the word bounces on my tongue as I bounce on the trampoline covered in happy pillows. They smile at me. I smile back. My eyes glaze over. I stop smiling.
Five thousand and one. Five thousand and two. 4:07. Four… oh, seven. Well is it four or is it seven? I turn to Gravity, who, thankfully, is back to his usual form… which is… he stops my train of thought with his fingers, running them back and forth across my soul. I missed you, I think to myself. He can hear me though. My brain is in a little glass tube that he keeps in his pocket. But where are his pockets? I realize that he does not have pockets because he does not have pants. He also does not have legs. I apologize for stealing them. I explain that it was rude of him to walk out on me. He shrugs and sighs and kisses me goodnight and then I am falling again.
I am just a swirling ball of energy. My body means nothing. It is just a shell to guide others. I want to be released.
I find myself standing on the wall. At least I think it is the wall. But how can I think if Gravity still has my brain? I see him sitting on the bed playing with it. Tossing it up and down, hand to hand, foot to foot, mouth to…
He swallows it.
Blackness. I am sinking.
Suddenly he screams for me. My body shoots upright. Instinctively I whip my head to the left, to the burning red lights that tell my future. The button. The button is the answer. 5:00. I sigh. Gravity takes my hand and leads me to the floor. What a strange concept. Floor…
button
