Hypnos, My Secret Enemy

 Hypnos, My Secret Enemy

Every day I sat there, pondering my dreams. I would hate it when they weren't real. Developing a fear of sleep was rather rational for me to adopt. Cursing my fate, I would stumble upon sleepless nights and groggy days. It would become normal for me to spend entire days sleeping, only to discover my reality was unchanged. This made me never want to sleep again. Like all mortal beings, I would always have to give into rest. This became a never ending nightmare. There wasn't a thing I could do. Sleeping pills became a necessity when I was at the height of my fear. This, I hated, like many things in my waking life.

One day, I encountered a stranger in my travels. We immediately became fascinated with each other, like inseparable brothers. When we encountered my door, he confessed to me he didn't have a place to stay. Naturally, I offered my humble home to be his. He gratefully accepted, stating that he would repay me with his wisdom. Shortly after we settled down, he revealed to me he was afraid we would die if we ever slept again. I felt his sentiments. From his knapsack, he revealed a small vial filled with white powder. He told me to ingest it to be free from the demon known as sleep. I didn't want to disappoint my friend, and unwittingly accepted, realizing that it was a strong drug shortly after taking it. I felt at ease. I didn't have to sleep, nor even really eat, although I could if I wanted. This made me feel like a demonic God. I laughed at my former foe, sleep, realizing it was powerless over my body.

About two weeks in I began to feel very sleepy, as did he. He begged me to take more of the white powder, saying that it could be all over if we even slept for a moment. I frowned, believing his words to be truth. We sung at the top of our lungs, and banged on pans as if to make music. We danced together, and howled at the moon. There is no way sleep can ever take me, lest I lose him, and my entire life. He told me that fallen angels would take my soul to hell if I slept even a wink. About on the fifteenth day, I began to close my eyes, as my friend furiously shook me to prevent my demise. He screamed at me, until I had no choice but to continue my flight. Our dance continued, to much as to arouse the suspicion of those around me.

I kept canting, staving off slumber as long as I possibly could. It was about the time my neighbors came into my house assisted by the local police that I was finally sedated. My friend closed his eyes, and halted his breathing. I begged with the patrolman to arouse my friend, lest it means his death. He told me no one else was with me. As I laid down, shocked, I realized that he was a statue my great grandfather had bought for me. On the plaque it read, Hypnos, God of Sleep. No one knew how I had stayed awake this long after I told them it had been 18 days or so since I last slept. The drugs I had taken were imagined, and I had given into my own fanatical mania. I cried, and they wrapped me in a blanket, the police telling me that I would finally go to somewhere I could sleep.

The doctors hardly ever see me. I'm strapped to this bed, constantly, and they administer sharp volts to me. I've became entombed in an asylum. The doctors tell me I could be here for quite sometime. They show me no piety, as they care so little for me and all my fellow ward mates. Here is to my imagined brother, a figment of my own waking dreams. You weren't actually real, but you were more reality to me than anyone else has been. You weren't my friend, nor brother, but instead my secret enemy.