"Surrealism had a great effect on me because then I realised that the imagery in my mind wasn't insanity. Surrealism to me is reality."
John Lennon
Prologue
Silence, the only friend I had for the past week, it is silence that kept me sane enough to know what is around me. The cold walls of my cell has kept me comfortable. The soothing breeze of the air has kept me refreshed, but the monsters that haunt my mind has not yet been leashed.
These monsters, I have not seen a being so terrifying so gruesome as the ones who torture me every night
Beings that I fear not even hell would spawn them.
Sometimes I would wish hell would just take me to end this nightmare.
-Journal Entry #003, Edward Lichtenstein
Chapter 1: Hell just a pill away
Insomnia, the worse of its kind, has pestered me throughout the month. With Christmas and my family coming to visit, I'd best not look like someone who was not seen the sun in a decade. I've went thru a series of medical procedures, but nothing could stop this, yet I came upon one doctor with a checkered history but rumored to be a genius in the field of sleep. I came upon his house located in 508 Mactan Avenue. The doors seem weathered down throughout the years that went by, the walls creeping with moss and cracks. For a doctor in this field, why would he chose to be located here? As I knocked on the old weathered door, I noticed the Avenue was empty, no signs of life could be found, not even the sound of life coming from the houses nearby, upon my realization the door in front of me suddenly opened and inside I see an old man, with a frown so depressing so lonely it seems as it though he was the only one living here for years. Speaking in a frail Scottish accent "It's been awhile since i had me a patient, what brings you here, lad?"
For a man who oozes depression, his voice is up-beat and friendly. "Cat got your tongue, lad? Come in inside, I was just working on me experiment yer". Trusting this old coot, I brushed my shoes on the floor mat and placed my coat upon the hanger. The inside of his office seems rather quaint, It's complete will all the laboratory equipments found inside normal hospitals. He seemed to have no patients in the waiting area. I told myself "Must be the only one having sleep problems this christmas". As i walked inside his officer room, I saw a man, dressed in fine clothing on which we would find in those old Noir movies, Sitting in a couch, fast asleep. I turned towards the doctor and before I asked him, he told me "That there is Mr. Herbert, he has been suffering severe nightmares throughout his life life, Strange nightmares of him actually talking to "God" and hearing him and he keeps rambling on saying "God has abandoned us". As of the moment he is in a catatonic state in which he cannot think clearly, but please don't bother with him now, he'll be recovering in a few days from now, thanks to my medicine that i recently developed." Opening the drawer in the desk he reached in and grabbed a little bag of full of pills. "My years of developing a drug has finally reached it's success, on top of that, you'll be the lucky one who will test my drugs."
Giving him a uneasy look, he responded "Don't worry this drugs are 100% safe, I guarantee you that you'll be having a good night's sleep tonight, plus I'll give you a free bag for you to test, If you come back here and did not get the sleep you were after, I'll even pay you for your troubles."
Where is this going? Am I going to trust this old depressed doctor with my life? Christmas and the family are going here soon, I really need to get the sleep I deserve. Without hesitation I took the plastic bag from the desk and placed it close to my chest. My heart beating fast because of 2 reasons, the excitement I feel to finally get the sleep I needed and the fear of using this pill from an unheard doctor of sleep but nevertheless I had it with staring at my ceiling for long hours waiting for my eyes to close and my body to shutdown. Looking at the doctor again, he has lost the frown he had ever since I entered here and changed it to a rather happy feeling, like the feeling of freedom. He stood up and shook my hand and asked me "Thank you very much Mr......?"
