Chicago Trip: Day 1 (The Awakening)

The Awakening

          I awaken to the darkness of the hotel room. The covers are pulled tight around me and I can feel their warmth seeping into my skin. I can hear the sullen whisper of air being spewed from our air conditioner. Straining my ears, I hear the hustle and bustle of cars speeding down the expressway. I take a deep breath in and admire the sweet smell of our hotel room. I open my mouth slightly to get a better smell and as the air flys over my tongue, I can taste the room.
It tastes delicious.
          I turn over onto my side and I can see the light seeping through our window shade. It's glow falls onto the bed where I lie. I lay there for a few minutes just listening, and sensing the things around me. I feel shifting in the bed besides me and when I look over, I realised my friend Catharina had just awakened.

"Hey" She whispered, straining to mask the tiredness in her voice.
"Hey" I replied
"I really can't get used to this time change thing"
"Yeah... It's really weird"
"Yeah, and now our alarms are going to go off in like... an hour"
"Hey, at least we get a full night sleep"
"Yeah"

She paused for a moment grabbing her phone.

"You know you flail around a lot in your sleep"
"Oh..."
"You curled up into this little ball and then you were like..." She halted, searching for words.
"Dancing"

"Dancing?" I asked a bit confused.
"Yeah" she responded "Like...interpretive dancing... You were like..."
She proceeded to mover her arms around in a circular motion.

I laughed.
She laughed too.

I then explained to her that that's perfectly normal and how I was just trying to slide my arms under my pillow but this dumb scrape on my arm wouldn't let me.

          That bit was true. Every time I tried to slide my hands under my pillow I would get a sharp excruciating pain jolted up my arm. I always try to ignore it but I still couldn't stop myself from jumping. It hurt so much but I didn't care. I shouldn't, I wouldn't. It doesn't matter anyway. A little bit of pain never hurt anyone... But a lot could kill you.

           I shook away the thought. I am fine, no one cares and as a no one I shall not care either and I am perfectly fine with living in that mindset for the rest of my continued existence.

What I didn't tell her was that I wasn't sleeping for most of the night. I woke up at 3:45 and had a lot of trouble getting back to sleep.

I leaned over the bed and grabbed my phone charger. Unplugging my phone, I realised it hadn't been charging all night long. I sighed.

6:15 in the morning, and I already know it's going to be a long day.