"Fatigue is No Weakling"
Kiichi Aoi
My mind runs tired as the ticking of the clock matches the breezing wind outdoors. Thoughts traverse from counting the clock down, to observing the leaves fall to the brown malnourished grass. For the entire U.S. History lesson this series of gazes followed, I had trouble remaining open eyed, but the difficulty only increased.
This is until I see my troublemaker friend quietly sneak into the classroom—swiftly to avoid alerting the professor. A small smirk widens on my face, but it slightly fades alongside my consciousness as my fatigue grows even larger. He gets closer and closer, and my eyelids attempt to hold themselves up to talk to him, but fail miserably.
I feel my skull firmly land against the table, a sharp pain runs around my brain like a song stuck in your head, but not enough to wake me from this unintentional sleep. I know, obviously the teacher would be angry, that I may receive detention. Yet, my fatigue masks that fear with the strong sense of euphoria that comes with eye closure chemically mixed with fatigued.
For what seems like at most a minute from the moment my eyes closed, they reopened once more. A short but stern yawn embarrassingly erupts from my mouth causing the entire class to glance at me. My head tilts as I realize nobody actually did look at me. In fact, there was nobody around to look at me.
The classroom was empty, the chalkboard was squeaky clean and the walls seemed freshly painted. A lightbulb flashed as I noticed it was a dream, a figment of my imagination. Upon knowing my slumber continues, the dream most likely formed into a lucid varient.
"I've heard about these..." I think to myself. "Its my first time, so what should I do." I ponder for a few moments, but quickly decide a couple of seconds following. "I'll summon conscious stuffed animal!" I focus my mind on creating this one clump of matter, but nothing appears.
"Oh, it must be difficult to do." I think before I'm rudely interrupted by a sharp pain on my temple...
