Go Back To Sleep

 

  All I could think about, was why my feet weren't cracked and bleeding from the twigs and branches all over the forest floor as I ran barefoot through the trees. It was probably closer to floating, but my feet were definitely hitting the ground every now and again. I was weightless, in a dense birch forest, wearing an enormous billowing white dress. I halted mid-stride as I realized this, looking down at myself and then all around me.

Of course. This was a dream.

As I turned my gaze to the sky, the sun peered through the trees in grand white pillars, and then intensified, illuminating thousands of tiny white paper cranes that fluttered in the branches, and then blinded me.

 

I sat up, slowly, and frowned.

That was a stupid dream.

I had thought myself so much more creative than that. It was a harsh realization that lo and behold, I had cheesy fantastical dreams too, just like every other twenty-something bimbo on earth...

How repulsive.

I muttered something inaudible to myself as I swung my sleep-heavy legs off the side of my single bed, and reached for the glass on my nightstand. The water was stale and tasted dusty. I grimaced, but choked it down anyway.

The clock read 3:16am.

Clearly wide awake, I scowled. Well, at least I'd made it past 3:00. That was better than nothing.

The Nest was a particular area of my home that had recently developed due to my pattern of sleepless nights. It was located in the living room, as that was the darkest and coziest area of my humble abode. The Nest it's self, consisted of a very old brown corderoy recliner, a small but sturdy garage-constructed side table spray painted matte black (on which my laptop conveniently rested on it's charger), and a massive “nest” of various pillows and cushy blankets. It was my sole comfort during these long hours of darkness when the rest of the world slept soundly. My entertainment center (picked up at a garage sale for $10 – booya!) was no more than five feet in front of me, valiantly supporting my modest 20 inch television, dvd player and the ancient VHS player I had demanded my mother let me commandeer when I left home, so as to ensure the means needed to watch my lengthy B-side horror collection at will. Anything less was unthinkable. Obviously, she caved.

Tonight, however, was not a night for low budget renditions of Dracula, revised. I needed something much more soothing, and maybe even girly. My appallingly feminine dream had left me with a taste for romance and fantasy. I reached for one of my favorites; one of those movies you hide in the back of the cabinet when you have company. A classic version of Cinderella, but without the fairy godmother.

The house was too quiet as I fumbled with the disc, empty somehow. Lonely. I tried to swallow the eerie feeling creeping in around me but my throat was far too dry. My muscles made the motions, but the walls of my throat stuck together like Velcro and made it hard to breath. I cleared my throat and whimpered, sort of at the same time, and finally coaxed the dvd out of it's case. I popped it in and bolted for the kitchen, noting that it was probably the downstairs neighbors making my life hell with all the drug trafficking nonsense. I filled a glass to the brim with filtered water from the fridge and made a point of slamming the cupboard door shut. B******s.

The warm glow of the movie was enough to light the room for me, and I flipped the switch on the overheads. The creepy vibe immediately disappeared. How interesting that the darkness brought comfort. Settling in to the nest, I flipped my laptop on and lit a joint, and readied myself for a long morning.

 

* * *

 

The are few things I dislike more than waking up to my phone ringing. I hate it even more than I hate waking up to an alarm. That's saying something, let me tell you. It's gotten better, now that I can set my alarms to ring as songs that are bearable, instead of that gut wrenching screechy MEEP MEEP MEEP of days gone by. Even so, it just reminds me that people are leechy and obnoxious and my private little bubble world in which I actually DO sleep occasionally means nothing to them in the slightest. Yeah, I'm kind of a shut in. I'll admit it.

If I wasn't flat broke I probably would have fumbled for my stupid little red phone and thrown it violently across the room, but not before screaming at Trixie to piss off. Instead my conscience kicked in just in time, and I grudgingly hit the green 'picture of a phone for those of you who are retarded' button.

“What do you want ?” I groaned into the receiver, and decided shortly that my arm was in no way strong enough to hold the phone to my ear, so I switched the speaker phone on and let the whole phone slip off my pillow and on to the drool-stained bed. I let my body relax, and tried to make sure my mouth wasn't completely buried in the pillow, so in case I was required to I might be able to respond audibly.

“For you to get your lazy a*s out of bed, clearly.” Trixie crooned. I could picture her all dolled up and ready to hit the town, impatiently filing her nails and waiting for me.

“Dude... no.”

“Seriously Della, you need to get packing.”

“Packing?”

“Packing.”

“Packing for what, Trix?” I sat up just slightly, narrowing my eyes at the phone in distrust.

“We're going on a road trip.” She stated, obviously, like I hadn't been paying attention to the plan or something.

I struggled to sit up in bed, looking around wearily. Hadn't I fallen asleep in the chair? I swear I'd fallen asleep in the chair...

“Trixie... no.” I repeated.

“Will you quit arguing with me already? This is happening. It's summer, you don't have school, and you don't start work for two weeks. Don't tell me you've been planning on wasting that sitting in front of your tiny little tv.”

It was hard to argue, for in fact I had envisioned a fair amount of time spent in front of my tiny little tv.

“Trixie...” I whined again, not as convincingly.

“C'mon. Collete and the twins are coming too. You need this, and you know it. Out the door by 1:00, that's the plan.” Was she actually filing her nails? And more importantly, was she completely INSANE?

I rolled my eyes slightly at Collete's name, and then my eyes went wide. “1:00? You want me ready to go by 1:00?!”

“Thaaat's what I said.”

“S**t... d****t Trix...” I swung out of bed, groggy and disoriented

“We'll pick you up in two hours. See ya soon!” Her smirk was seeping through the phone before I heard her hang up, and when she did I raised my hand to my head and wavered where I stood.

 

Author's Note

Pretty raw, only edited once. Let me know if anything needs changing, or if it simply isn't a good chapter. I realize it's kind of boring. ^_^