❝In which two people call up a helpline in order to find someone just as broken as they are. ❞
"Does...does it bother you that my dad's in prison for murder?"
"Well, judging by the fact that I moved away from America to get away from the memory of a...
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"Isabella?"
"I...I'm sorry for calling at such a ridiculous time. I...I just...did I wake you?"
"Stop worrying so much. It's fine, really. All you interrupted was an early morning binge session of Stranger Things."
"You mean...you weren't sleeping?"
"Yes, Isabella, I was sleeping and watching Stranger Things at the same time."
"Are you always so sarcastic?"
"Are you always so literal?"
"..."
"Do you...do you often stay up to binge watch TV shows?"
"More often than not."
"Don't you get tired during the day?"
"Not really. I've become accustomed to a minimal sleep lifestyle."
"You...you have? Why?"
"Well, for starters, there aren't enough hours in the day to watch all of the TV shows that I want to watch."
"That's it? You live a sleep-deprived life just because you want to watch more TV shows?"
"What, you expecting a deeper reason or something?"
"Yeah...kind of."
"Well...why are you up then?"
"I...I can't sleep."
"Why not?"
"I...I have...nightmares."
"Do you...do you mind if I you ask what they're about?"
"I would really prefer it if you didn't."
"Well, you want to know the truth?"
"About why you stay up?"
"Yeah."
"Do you...do you have nightmares too?"
"Yeah. I do go to sleep...at some point in the night. But...I...I stay up watching the shows first because they make me think about something else. They...they kind of distract my mind. Although it doesn't always work, the distraction gives my brain something else to think about. Something else to consider other than the nightmare. And sometimes...sometimes it prevents the nightmare altogether."
"So...watching TV is your distraction?"
"Yeah. Do you have another way of attempting to get rid of the nightmares because, if you do, I'm all open to new ideas. Although Netflix is great, my eyes go a bit weird after looking at my laptop screen in the dark for too long."
"My...my attempt is kind of similar to yours."
"It is?"
"Yeah...I distract my mind with something else."
"What do you do, read a book or something?"
"No...no. I mean, I've done that before but...it kind of varies on what kind of distraction lends itself to me."
"What kind of distraction are you using right now?"
