" I wear a mask. And that mask, its not to hide who I am but to create what I am." - Batman
The following story does not have anything to do with Batman, but it takes on similar themes in some aspect and thus inspiring me write.
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"Honey, it's time for bed.", the young mother sighed for the umpteenth time. She's been trying to get her ten year old to sleep for the past one hour but her attempts were futile. He looked like he could run a marathon or two. Gotham was always energetic at night even when he was a toddler, he gave her troubles by not sleeping thus automatically messing up with her sleep schedule. She hopes to fix his internal clock at some point of time.
Finally she pulled the last string on him and gave him the offer to tell him a story. Her child always enjoyed listening to stories but unfortunately she doesn't enjoy it and the little one needed his much awaited sleep.
Finally gathering him in a pile, she let him down in the bed and began spinning a tale where she downright improvised, Gotham knew that and he's alright with it. But for him, that's where he fantasizes about all the things he could be and couldn't be, finally letting the magic set in.
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The magic never went away but Gotham stopped believing it. The painful tiredness and harsh dark circles under Gotham's eyes are a clear indicator that he hasn't been sleeping well for quite some time but that doesn't stop him from hiding it from the others and that he was fine.
Each day he would come to school and somehow end up using one of the free periods or one of his main classes to catch up with his precious sleep. He would just ask his friends to wake him up when the assigned teachers came over, that tired he was.
But if you ask him he would say it was the warm nights or the annoying mosquitoes that come around.
He could still feel last night's demons crawling behind his necks brushing the nape of his neck as tenderly as they could, teasing him, calling him out tenderly to get him riled up. They knew and deep down Gotham knew he wouldn't be sleeping tonight just as any day.
I know for a fact that Gotham comes alive in the late night when the rest of the world is succumbing to the charming night, sleeping, partying, talking, engaging in delirious activities just like a siren calls out her prey or a mermaid luring her sailormen.
