The wind whistled a tune from the outside, the trees following along as they brushed their branches against the face of Ai's window.
Crickets croaked, buzzards buzzed, Ai' cried.
Was it the way the darkness peaked over her the way her mother used to?
Or the way the shadows held onto her like her father once had?
With a bottle of sleeping pills sitting dormant on her nightstand and a bottle of stagnant water acquainting it, Ai' felt the need to drown herself in even more twilight.
She realized she hadn't slept in a long while; when was the last time she properly had a full night's sleep?
Days?
Weeks?
Her lips twitched in the unalloyed moonlight; she wished sleep would overthrow her frights; she wished her bed wasn't so big; she wished and wished.
Ai' was stuck somewhere far from where she wanted to be.
Ai' was a long ways from where her mother left her.
Ai' was journeys from her father's embrace.
Ai' was nowhere near herself.
Ai' was lost.
Ai' wasn't difficult, hard to talk to, or socially inept.
She was just afraid of sleep.
She was just the calm before the storm.
She was the spring rain, summer heat, fall equinox, and winter solstice.
She was the immortal sun in the day but the dying stars at night.
She signed herself up for the support group because it was possessed by a certified Doctor: prescriptions would be easy to obtain that way.
YOU ARE READING
Human
Short Story"What do you call a person who constantly lies to themselves?" Ironically, the room went quiet. "A fool." "Someone in denial." "Human." Adam Price. Safaye Goodrich. Beau Richmond. Ai' Phan. They all have problems of their own, but what do they...
