Was It Only a Dream?

Insomniac

It's hard not being able to sleep. It's not that Mindy chose to stay up like this, night after night, but when she closed her eyes, all she could see was that other world where she was transported when her body in this world demanded rest. To save herself the trouble of going back, she fought sleep with every bit of strength she had, until she was so tired, she fell into blissful blackness. The black where nothing existed but her own deep breathing and the steady beat of her heart.

She refused to tell anyone about her struggle. Who would believe a tale of dimension traveling via dreams? That was the stuff of tv. It wasn't reality. Well, it was her reality, but it wasn't one she wanted. She lay in her bed on that cool, September night, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars and planets on her ceiling. A piece of her childhood she wasn't quite ready to let go. Her digital alarm clock illuminated her bedroom, bathing everything in a ghostly green light as it taunted her with the time.

'Four thirty, am,' Mindy thought with determination. 'Only two more hours.'

Her eyes burned and her head ached, but she dared not sleep. She dared not... sleep... She dared not...

The glow around her began fading. The blissful blackness sweeping over her. She smiled internally and drifted off to unconsciousness.

Just as the last of the light faded, she heard the voice of a young girl.

"Mindy, have you forgotten us? Have you abandoned us?"

Mindy bolted upright at the voice, just in time to hear her alarm clock start blaring. Six thirty, and time to get ready for another day of school with next to no sleep. Huffing, she brushed her fingers through her hair and rolled out of bed.

The voice she'd thought she'd heard bounced around her skull as she dressed and got her bag packed for the day.

"I'll never forget," she whispered. "But I'll never go back."