Over the past three weeks, I'd gotten more sleep than I had in years. Mia wasn't exactly making it easy, but it was worth the trouble. I'd awaken with my mind filled to the brim with images and memories from my own dreams, which I hadn't been capable of for years. I felt whole in a way I'd never believed possible. Funny dreams, bizarre dreams, even nightmares—I loved every one of them. Mia had opened up a new world to me, a world of my own creation, and she didn't even know about it.
My dreams didn't show me problems I couldn't fix. They didn't fill me with emotions I wasn't prepared to deal with. My dreams happened and then went away. They were temporary, fleeting, relaxing.
Seeing the fluidity and randomness of my own dreams confirmed my theory that when I was watching the dreams of others, I was stuck in some more realistic layer. Really, it wasn't surprising. My brain was technically awake. My conscious mind was finding the slot with the most reason and stuffing me into it, the layer that it could force into some box that made sense and at least partially obeyed laws of nature.
I hopped out of bed and smiled at the fading circles under my eyes in the mirror on the back of my door. Life with sleep was incredible. I could think. I could focus. And most of the bad memories and nightmares I'd witnessed in other people's heads were fading away. Even my coordination was better—all thanks to Mia and her incredible dreams.
Outside of the dreams, things with Mia weren't at all pleasant. That first week, she'd been annoyed at how I'd waited outside her last class every day and she hadn't been afraid to tell me so. But ever since the bonfire, she'd stopped telling me off and just tried to get away from me as quickly as possible. The mere sight of me seemed to scare her now. I tried not to make it worse than it had to be—I'd meet her eyes and then leave. The less complication, the better.
Flopping down at my desk to gather my stuff for school, I glanced up and saw my sixth grade soccer picture hanging on the wall. Finn was grinning so wide I swear I could almost see every one of his teeth, and he had one arm flung around my shoulder. I missed him, but every time I thought about apologizing I realized how much easier it was to see Mia's dreams when Finn wasn't around to distract me. That alone had made the decision to stay away from Jeff's soccer practices, and Finn, an easy one.
Reaching up, I took the picture down and stuffed it in one of my desk drawers. I didn't want to think about him right then. I hadn't talked to Addie either, though somehow it had been harder to stay away from her.
In fact, everyone at school seemed to be giving me a pretty wide berth lately. I knew that was a bad sign, but it didn't matter. I ignored them along with the voice inside my head that kept telling me this was wrong. Pushing it deeper into my subconscious was easy when everything inside me felt so much more alive.
Shaking off the doubts, I jumped in the shower. I had slept and it was wonderful. That was all that mattered.
* * *
The next day, after barely managing to make eye contact with Mia at the end of school, I stood in a bathroom stall, waiting and listening. Once the halls were silent and I thought everyone had gone, I snuck out the side doors to the parking lot, keeping my head low and my sunglasses on. I couldn't risk making eye contact with anyone else on the way out.
I'd almost reached my car when Matt ran into me in the parking lot, hard. My backpack fell off my shoulder, and my sunglasses went flying and broke against the asphalt.
"Oops." Matt barely controlled his laughter. If it didn't require looking at him, I might've punched him. I regretted it when it had happened with Finn; but with Matt? I wouldn't even think twice about it.
YOU ARE READING
Insomnia
Mystery / Thriller"It's been four years since I slept, and I suspect it is killing me." Instead of sleeping, Parker Chipp spends each night trapped in the dream of the last person he's made eye contact with. Every night he is crushed by other people's fear and pain...
