Insomnia Wake #Wattys2016

Chapter 2 - Don't Show Up Unless You're Invited

I've got the finish this homework. But I'm so sleepy... I don't want to...

This was me, a college student who was rather overwhelmed with homework. My name is Neuman, and everything from my tidy, straight, black hair, glasses, and stylistic button-up shirt screamed "NEEEEERD". In all actuality, I liked this style. I liked the whole intelligent air that it gave me, and it honestly fitted me perfectly. I was born with an eidetic memory, meaning every little detail of every little minute was doomed to never escape the black hole that is my memory. Because of my memory, I had no troubles in class, and I actually skipped several grades to get where I am today. I guess you could also call me a bookworm, but I only read nonfiction books. I didn't want to waste my time on reading something that would likely never prove useful. That's the type of person I was. This was the defining moment to which that was about to change.

Where's that adventure that I dreamed about? College is so boring. All it is is work, work, work, and more work.

I looked at the time. Just after midnight.

I should call it a night. I did lots of good work today.

After putting all my school supplies away I tucked myself into my bed. It's a funny thing, you know? When we wake up after a long night's sleep, we can still kind of feel the passage of time even though we were unconscious during that time. Maybe our dreams become part of our lives by using our active brain to tick away at our internal clocks. Or maybe, just maybe, sometimes it's much more than that.

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The sunlight woke me up. I felt terribly dizzy. Without opening my eyes, I stretched out and tried to flip the switch on my alarm clock. I'm already awake, no need for it to go off later. My hand failed to find the clock though.

I'm probably on the wrong side of the bed.

I reached further and felt something. After feeling around it, I found that it wasn't my alarm clock.

Is this... grass?

I opened my eyes and looked around.

I'm... outside? What kind of prank is this?

I stood up and stretched. This is when I realized I wasn't in the clothes I was in when I fell asleep. In fact, minus some glasses, I wasn't wearing any clothes at all. Embarrassed, I looked around to make sure no one was around. It must've just been my luck, because someone was walking right at me. I tried to find a bush or tree to hide behind, but there was no such site around. I was standing in the middle of a plain.

"Fear not, it happens all the time. Finding out that you're going about your life without clothes is a pretty common dream after all."

It was a man's voice, but I couldn't tell by the body what gender the speaker was. He was covered in a rather bulky and jagged looking suit of armor. The only visible hole in the armor seemed to be his eyeslit, which I could not see into anyways.

What's that he's carrying. Could it be... clothes?!

The man walked a few feet short of me and threw me the clothing.

"Put these on and head in that direction" he said pointing behind me. "You'll eventually hit a road which you will follow until you hit a village. Once you get there you'll need to find and talk to a girl named Ariel." The man turned around and started to walk away.

"W-who are you? Where am I?"

He stopped. "I am known by the name Prometheus. Welcome to Insomnia Wake. Goodbye Neuman." He kept on walking.