Short Storiez

Why I Can't Sleep Tonight

The amount of mice that get crushed underfoot, the screams of Eduard Delacroix as he catches fire, the hole in my floor that could grow and swallow me.

I can't sleep tonight. I have too many thoughts and fears and hopes.

How can I improve myself? How will this year go? Will I get better? Will I get worse? I should make more friends. But what if I get stuck in a toxic situation?

I can't sleep tonight. I'm scared, excited, sad, pessimistic.

A kitten plays with a thimble, soft wool being knitted into a blanket, cracks in the floor, small children play at their grandfathers funeral not understanding the new scenario, sisters screaming at each other, a car hits a tiny body and knocks it to the ground.

I can't sleep tonight. It's becoming the norm.

My eyes sparkle with excitement and wonder as I ride the bus to my first day at high school, I ask myself what I'll do after, I'm not longer bright and shining as a vision of a suicide flashes in my eyes.

I can't sleep tonight. It shouldn't be this way.

I can hear my parents screaming at each other after another fight with my aunts, it's happened so often that I don't feel anything anymore, my sister cries and I hold her until we hear nothing.

I can't sleep tonight. I'm getting too old to keep doing nothing.

Finish your assignments, you're not trying hard enough, get a job, get more education, go outside and meet people, why aren't you more like your cousin? Grow up, stop being so gloomy, entertain the family, why can't you just be normal?

I can't sleep tonight. I'm too young and not good enough to do anything.

I don't feel you'll be a good fit here, are you sure you've tried everything? You should probably try somewhere else, you're not really what we're after, you're just being lazy.

I can't sleep tonight. I can't stop my thoughts from spiralling into fears. I can't stop my fears from ruining my hopes.

I can't sleep tonight. Maybe in the morning?