Big Sleep

Chapter 6: The Big Sleep

Each day, Nelson grew more convinced. The idea that something far beyond his understanding had happened to Amanda gnawed at him like a splinter lodged too deep to remove. The more he thought about it, the more certain he became—what happened in that car accident wasn’t just a simple twist of fate. It wasn’t just her changing because of the trauma or a temporary lapse in judgment. No, it was something far more profound. Something he couldn’t explain, but couldn’t deny.

A soul swap.

He had read about it so many times now, the stories of people who claimed to have felt different after near-death experiences, the inexplicable shifts in their behavior, their personalities. There were even accounts of people who had lived lives that weren’t their own for years before they’d realized something was wrong.

Could that have happened to Amanda? Could the person he had loved, the woman who had been his partner, the mother of his children, really be lost in some other body? A body that now acted like a stranger?

His mind raced with the possibilities. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. How else could Amanda have become so... cold, so distant? How could she have gone from the loving, warm person he had married to the woman who had looked at him with nothing but indifference, the woman who had cheated on him, who had left him without remorse?

He couldn’t shake the thought that she was still in there somewhere, somewhere deep inside that body, trapped in a kind of sleep—waiting for some sort of awakening.

It was wishful thinking, he knew that. But every night as he lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, he couldn’t help but hope that one day, Amanda would wake up from this strange trance, this "big sleep," and remember who she truly was. Maybe she’d come back to him. Maybe she’d come back to them—their family, their love, their life.

It was absurd. The soul swap theory seemed like something out of a fantasy novel. But what else could explain the way she had changed so completely? What else could explain the hollow woman he was now forced to share a past with?

One stormy night, Nelson found himself unable to sleep. The wind howled outside, rattling the windows in their frames, while the rain poured down in sheets, turning the world outside into a blur of dark shapes and flashing lights. The storm echoed the turmoil inside him.

He rose from his bed and walked to the window, his eyes staring out into the tempest. The flashes of lightning illuminated the world for a brief moment, casting shadows that seemed to mirror his thoughts—dark, fragmented, uncertain.

As he watched the storm rage on, memories of better days began to flood his mind. The days when he and Amanda were young, when everything felt possible. When they were inseparable.

They had been so full of life back then. Their love had been the kind that others envied. Late-night talks, lazy weekends spent in each other’s company, their shared dreams of the future. They were a team—best friends, soulmates, partners in every sense of the word.

Nelson’s chest tightened as he remembered those times—the way they’d laughed together, the way Amanda had looked at him with such warmth in her eyes. There had been no doubt in his mind that they were meant to be. They were the perfect couple, the ones everyone else wanted to be.

And now, looking out into the storm, it felt like those days were a distant memory, slipping further away with each passing moment.

But in the silence of the night, as the rain beat against the window, Nelson felt something stir inside him. A quiet hope. A fragile hope that maybe, just maybe, Amanda could come back. That the woman he had loved so fiercely—who had been his world—could somehow return.

He closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against the cold glass. The wind howled, the storm raged, but in the stillness of his mind, he held on to the memory of her smile, her laughter, the warmth of her touch.

And in that fleeting moment, he allowed himself to believe that the woman he had once known—the woman he had fallen in love with—was still out there, waiting for the right moment to return.

But how long could he wait? How long before he had to accept that she might never come back? That the person who had once been Amanda was gone, replaced by someone else—someone he didn’t even recognize?

The storm outside seemed to echo his inner conflict. He didn’t know what to believe anymore. All he knew was that the love he had once felt for her still lingered, like a ghost of the past. A love that was both a source of pain and a flickering flame of hope.

As the rain poured down outside, Nelson let out a sigh, torn between the memories of who they had been and the harsh reality of who she had become.

And all he could do was wait. Wait for a sign. Wait for her to wake from the big sleep. Or wait for the truth to finally break through.

---