The Adventures of an Insomniac

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I slowly rolled over in my bed, groaning when I saw my alarm clock and realised the time. It was just 3am. I was, however, thankful that it was the weekend. I had woken up at 3am on a school night before (or morning, whatever you prefer) and had ended up falling asleep in not just one class, but five. Cue various detentions.

I rolled out of bed, landing in a heap on the floor, before standing and looking around me. My line of vision flickered from the TV, to my bag, to my phone and then to the window. I could have had a looksy at anything on Sky at the moment, but I was pretty sure that I had nothing recorded and everything on the actual channels would just be teleshopping. My homework had been finished at 1:30am the night before and my phone was useless because I was starting to get tired of You Tube. Damn my friends for sleeping; I didn’t even have anyone to talk to.

That left me with my last option: the window. I walked over to it and pressed my fingertips to the glass. The recent snowfall had cleared off. The air looked to be completely tranquil and there was neither a drop of rain nor grey cloud in sight. Still, I knew better than to let the clear, dark sky trick me. It was probably no more than four degrees outside, if that.

Sighing, I walked back to my wardrobe and grabbed my phone and hoodie. I had stopped caring about getting properly changed weeks ago. Back against the window, and I slowly turned the handle and pushed it open, wincing as it creaked loudly. I waited for a few seconds, before the silence of my house showed it was all clear.

I hauled myself out the window slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible. Planting my feet on the porch roof outside, I mostly closed the window behind me and inhaled a deep breath. I was right: the cold air was freezing my lungs and made it hard to breathe, but I didn’t mind. It was nice just to feel alive in a dead-end place like this.

I suddenly slipped, nearly falling off the roof, but I grabbed the guttering just in time. I cursed my stupidity under my breath. I should have seen the frost. Hauling myself back up onto the roof with a mixture of kicking and pure luck, I managed to drag myself onto the roof, panting loudly. At least I was starting to warm up.

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