The Vortex

1

Camila Smith

Laying on my bed, eyes wide awake even when I should be asleep right now at 2 am, my mind is blank, not even a single thought comes to mind. Usually when people are up this late they think about life, their achievements and regrets or drown themselves in liquor and other people to maybe curb that blinding pain which has a tendency to creep up at them unpredictably from the darkest depths of their minds.

But here I was, just staring at the ceiling of my bedroom, the only light in the room came from the night lamp still on at my side table.I shouldn't be up this late considering I have school tomorrow, this will only make the bags already forming under my eyes more prominent.

This was the sixth night in a row.

I never knew why or what suddenly triggered my insomnia, in the past it was usually two nights before it went back to normal and I slept peacefully again but I don't know why it's getting harder to drift back to normal.

It wasn't always like this though...I didn't have insomnia or any other difficulty in life, they were simpler times just being 13 years old, I would give anything to just go back and change that one night that caused me this pain that I was now numb to.

I feel my thoughts start drifting away to that place again it''ll be all the more harder to do anything if I let them, so I walk over to the window at the left of my bed in order to distract myself and gaze at the outside world for a while.

It was so quite and soothing, the only sound was of the gentle breeze and the trees swaying their leaves due to it, not even a single soul on the streets as if a sudden apocalypse struck the world and I was the only one left.

The gentle breeze across my sweaty skin doing its best to cool it and give me some comfort, the cool feeling spreading across my face and my exposed arms felt so good that I closed my eyes in response, just letting it blow through my hair.I crossed my arms in front of me on the windowsill laying my head on them as I sat on the stool next to it,  just taking in the moment for a while.

As I opened my eyes I saw the moon, it was a clear night only a few clouds,this setting made the moon clearly visible to me, the somber moonlight contrasting with the chaotic darkness in me provided a wierd mix.Thinking too much again I try to pry my thoughts away by looking at the street below me, empty as it should be, no sign of life anywhere.

Bored that there was nothing enough left to see outside to distract me, I sigh in defeat and pull back closing the window in front of me, I pulled the curtains and stood up examining my room.

If I don't find something to distract me soon enough this is going to turn into a long restless night that would do me no good.

In my black shorts and my dark striped basketball tank top I flick my eyes across the room in the need of finding something to do, my eyes landing from one object to the other trying to find something worth my attention. Suddenly an idea clicks my mind, if I was going to be awake and have bags under my eyes the next day I might as well do something productive so as to not waste my night away for nothing, it'll probably be a bitch to concentrate but I had to try.

I walk over to my bookshelf and pull out my Physics book, I have so much difficulty understanding it that I just give up every time I start studying it. It's basically math with theory and I absolutely loathe maths.

I skim the pages of the book  examining it and huffing in annoyance at its thickness, convincing myself that I had to do it anyway I start to walk back to my bed while grabbing my notes and my pen from my desk. I get on my bed and put the book and notes in front of me while folding my legs to sit comfortably.

This is probably going to give me a bad headache but I was ready to just distract myself with anything at this point, I pick my book up and start finding the topic that our professor told would come in the recent examinations, "Vectors" I murmur to myself, "Awesome just what I needed right now" I say while adding the sarcastic tone.

I start studying, reading every line and concentrating hard to understand it and feed it in my brain while jotting down the important things. This extra time would probably benefit me and maybe I'll understand it more, nevertheless if I wanna get where I want to be in life I'm willing to work for it.

The time went by quick while I was studying , it was 3 in the morning the next time I check the clock on my desk after getting mentally exhausted from making notes and solving questions. I was feeling a bit tired now, this was always a good sign indicating that my mind was ready to let me have peace for a while before it reeled me in for more chaos.

I guess Physics helped in some way atleast.

I got up and stretched a bit, my muscles stiff from sitting in the same position for over an hour, a yawn escaped my mouth as I did so. Picking my books and other stuff from the bed I walked over to my desk placing them on it. I was ready to go to bed now, my eyelids feeling as if they were getting heavier by the minute.

As I was walking to my bed, I heard faint sounds of something being hit on a wall repeatedly. I think this sound was there for a little while before I really paid my attention to it, it was so faint I never noticed it while I was studying.

Standing in the middle of my room, I try to pin point the source of the sound. It was coming from outside the house if I was not mistaken. The repeated thud piercing the quite. I was drowsy but my curiosity got the best of me and I walked over to the window again in hopes of finding what was causing this, the sound getting louder and more clearer the closer I got to the window.

I open up the curtain and look outside through the closed window trying to find something, anything. It didn't take me much time to register that the sound was coming from below my window.

I opened my window to look down, the cold breeze immediately enveloping me as I do so making my hair flow with it.

I push my hair back out of my line of vision to look down 10 feet below me.
I was taken aback when I saw someone  repeatedly punching the wall of my house, as if they were so angry the thought of damaging themselves in the process didn't cross their mind and they just wanted to get it out of their system.

The lifeless street now had someone bringing it back to life in their own way...so I wasn't the only one drowning in my thoughts tonight was I?

The moon light provided just enough glow that I could see this person's built and what they were wearing. From the built it felt like this was a man, they felt muscular under clothes,their black hoodie covering their face from uninvited eyes.

I am all for letting out your anger and feeling better but whoever he was, he was hurting himself and would probably be sore tomorrow. Also if he wakes someone up at this hour of the night he would probably get chased down the street or worse ...indulge in a fight, which would ruin his day even more.

My curiosity made me question why he was punching the wall of my house...did I know this person?

I decide to take matters into my own hands, considering if I was in his place I'd not appreciate if anyone makes me more mad than I already am. I lean out the window a little bit so if he looked up he could see me.

"You know it's gonna hurt like hell tomorrow right?" I whisper-shout so only he could hear me.

As my voice finds its way into his ears, his actions halt, arms frozen in mid-air as he was going to land another punch on the wall. His head turns to his side trying to find the owner of the voice before it turns to his other side, doing the same thing.

"Up here." I direct my words at him, making his head cock back to look up at me.

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Hiii guyss!!
This is my first book and any constructive criticism is welcome...also if u like it don't forget to vote ! ✨❤️

Buckle up, you guys are up for a ride 😏😉

Hope y'all like it ❤️

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