His Confusion

Chapter 3

It had been a while since strange things started happening in their home and Gao Shi De have been blaming Shu Yi for every little thing.

It started small like food in his room then it gradually became big movement. Like how he was moved from his bed to the couch, how he was dressed in pyjamas during the night because he has been sleeping in his boxer only, how food was cooked and eaten in his room leaving the plates behind.

But Shu Yi  refused to take responsibility for all these things; so they quarreled everyday. It was not peaceful in the house anymore. A ten year old friendship was at the verge of collapsing and no one was going to admit they were in the wrong first.

Gao Shi De bought some cameras and installed them in the house. It was the only solution to these problems. He set up one just outside his bedroom door that showed the hallway up to Shu Yi's room on the other end of the hallway. He installed one in the lounge that also covered  a view of the front door.

A few days later he watched the videos and the discovery shocked the life out of Shi De. It was not Shu Yi but in fact it was him doing all these things during the night. It was perplexing even more when Gao Shi De had no recollection of getting up and cooking or moving around.

Sleep walking.

He typed in the search bar of the internet and saw the vast amount of information regarding the subject. Sleep walking also known as somnambulism is a sleeping disorder that usually happen to kids. It's common to not have memory of what you do during sleep walking.

It was informative but he wondered why he seemed to function like a conscious person. He would've ignored it if it was just sleep walking but the fact he cooks and does other things in his sleep was disturbing so he looked up on the map and found a psychiatrist that dealt with that.  He scheduled an appointment as soon as he could.

The evening if that day, he sat Shu Yi down and showed him the videos.

"I told you it was not me," was Shu Yi's response after watching the videos.

"Are you sleep walking? Is that it?"

"Yes"

Shu Yi sighed. Atleast the mystery of this matter was solved.

He stood up and went to stand next to Shi De who looked so nervous. He brought Shi De's head on his stomach as he gave him a hug.

"It'll all be ok." He whispered. "It'll work out some how."

Gao Shi De felt comforted. His hands went up and held Shu Yi's hands covering his head as if he were shielding him from the world.

Before going to bed, Shu Yi warmed up some milk and delivered it to Shi De's room to help with sleeping.

A few days later,  Gao Shi De visited the hospital.

The walls were typical hospital walls covered with different posters and charts of different diseases and cures, prevention and health inspirational quotes. Just above the doctor's chair was a certificate of some sort which he only presumed it was a qualification certificate because it was too far for him to read.

As he was still surveying his surroundings, the door opened and a lady entered with a purposeful step and a very friendly smile which Shu De could not return as he was so stressed by the reason why he was there in the first pace.

"Gao Shi De?" she asked as she took a sit in her chair.

"Yeah, that's me" he answered clasping his hands together and putting them on his thighs.

"my name is Doctor Ern. Would you like to tell me what brought you here?"

"uuhmm" he hesitated. How should he say it? His hands became sweaty and he rubbed them on his jeans. He cleared his throat and tried again,

"Uhmmm"

"remember I do not judge at all, just know that I am here to assist you with whatever you are going through right now"

"okay I know this might sound silly but I think I am doing stuff in my sleep" This was indeed silly. He looked down at his shoes. It was ridiculous.

"what do you mean you are doing things please clarify" She asked with an encouraging smile on her face.

"I....I....I don't know.... I just know that something is happening whilst im sleeping and I can't remember" He finished with a frustrated tone

"Do you mean you are sleepwalking?"

"Yes I think so" Gao Shi De admitted.

"when did it start or do you remember when it started?"

"its been a while now"

"does it happen everyday?"

"I'm not sure but it's been happening frequently and I feel like it's getting worse now"

She was jotting down as they continued the question and answer session. By the time they finished she had came to the concussion that it was indeed somnambulism.

"It's usually seen in children cases and a small percentage of the adult population have been diagnosed with it. From our chat, the causes are sleep deprivation and stress. You should take time to plan out your sleeping timetable and rest too whenever you can. I'll prescribe you some medication that helps with sleeping. If symptoms persist, please come back and we'll figure out a way forward."

"Thank you doc," Gao Shi De left the room with his prescription that was basically sleeping pills. Just as he was leaving the hospital he got a call from an anxious Shu Yi. 

"hello" he answered the call as calm as he could be.

"what did the doctors say? Are you okay are you hospitalised? Do I need to come? Tell me wh.."

"Breathe" Gao Shi De responded with a smile knowing fully well that Shu Yi was about yo start panicking.

"Breathe yeah? And calm down. They only said its sleep walking."

"yeah like we didn't know that already" sarcasm was dripping from his voice "what is causing it though?"

"stress and not enough sleep I guess"

"then we have to make sure that you get as much sleep as possible.."

He left the hospital feeling better than he first came in.  He hoped to not come back here again. But boy did he know, it was going to be his playground. 

This was just the first to many trips.