Lullaby

Chapter One

Kongpob laid in bed, wide awake staring at the ceiling. He turned his head over slightly to see his large digital clock practically screaming the time at him.

2:06AM

He sighed and continued his counting of sheep.

3045.

3046.

3047.

The counting continued.

3:34AM

6789.

6790.

6791.

And continued.

4:56AM

8912.

8913.

8914.

And continued.

5:47AM

10,569.

10,570.

10,571.

And it was now time to get up for school.

Kongpob slammed on the alarm's off button right before the numbers changed to 6.30AM. He wondered why he ever harboured hopes that his insomnia would have gone away just because he was now sleeping in a dormitory.

If anything, it was probably going to get worse. From his room he could hear the cars on the street behind the building, he could hear the clinking of metal from the stalls nearby and he could also hear his neighbours dragging their chairs around the rooms, from every direction.

Oh the woes of being a light sleeper and an insomniac.

Chronic insomnia had followed him most of his life, and his doctors had all advised against the regular use of sleeping pills. This resulted in him having to go to the Dean of the faculty during his enrollment with a stack of doctor's memos explaining his condition.

While Kongpob could still function normally on most days, there would be days where he would have to be excused from classes. Due to his lack of sleep, he was prone to literally collapsing out of exhaustion.

So when he found out that both Aim and him had made it into the Engineering course, he was more than happy to have a friend who wouldn't freak out at his fainting spells or when he suddenly fell asleep as though he was dead in class. That was one less person to explain his condition to at least.

Hulling himself out of his room, he went over to Aim's and rapped on the door hard.

"Aim, come on we got to go. We have our SOTUS hazing today."

He heard a groan, some thuds on the floor as well as a swear before the door swung open, revealing his best friend.

"Did you manage to sleep?" The boy asked, still adjusting his shoes as he held onto the door frame.

"Not even a wink." Kongpob sighed. "I hope I don't crash later, it will probably be a terrible impression on the seniors."

"It's okay, Kong, I'm sure they already know about your little.. Problem."

"It will still cause a bad impression." Kongpob grumbled.

"Don't worry." Aim patted him on the shoulder. "Besides, it's just day 1. How bad could it be?"

Boy was Aim proven wrong. Whilst the session started on a light note with the second years leading the session, everyone could feel the change in atmosphere the minute the Hazers stepped into the hall, donning the faculty's red workshop shirt.