The melatonin doesn't work anymore. I can't sleep, my eyes won't even stay closed. I look at the time, 3:37. "Damn it." I sigh to myself as I try again to go to sleep. The melatonin should've kicked in by now since i took it at midnight. I've tried everything. I tried to do a whole night routine with skincare to tire myself out. I tried putting my phone and other devices on charge across the room so I don't touch them. I tried listening to rain sounds. I tried getting warm. I tried all of those together plus taking melatonin. Once I pulled an all-nighter on a work night and went to bed at 8 the next night, my sleep schedule was fixed for 3 days before it went back to barely any sleep. I tried everything, but it didn't work. I sigh as I get up and grab my phone as I scroll through social media, searching for an answer. Soon I feel my eyes begin to droop and I put my phone down, getting comfortable, I'm wide awake again. "Ugh!" I groan before I get up, grab my car keys, and go to my car. This is my last-ditch effort, I swear. I climb into the car and start her up before I pull out of my driveway. I turn on some soft-sounding music as I drive down random roads. My car dings, I need gas. I drive to the nearest gas station and pump my tank full. At least I'll have a full tank tomorrow.
As I put the pump back I see this other guy pumping his gas, he's probably on a road trip or something. However, when I climb back into my car he's gone, the car too. It looked as if he was never there. "I'm just losing my mind." I sigh to myself before I begin to drive back home. I wasn't too far from my house at this point. If I hurry maybe I could get a couple of hours of sleep it's only 4:03. As I drive back home I can feel myself getting tired, i should hurry before I fall asleep at the wheel. As I drive the road looks different, im too tired for this shit. I pull over and decide to just sleep in my car. I set an alarm on my phone so I have enough time to get home and get ready for work. I use my spare jacket in my car to cover myself up and I put my seat back as I fall asleep.
I don't know how long it'd been, but I'm woken up by a light in my face and knocking on my window. I groan as I sit up and roll down the widow, it'd a police officer. "You alright, ma'am?" he asks. He seemed sweet, but I was tired and I had just gotten to sleep. "Yeah, I was feeling too tired to drive so I pulled over to take a quick nap." I explained to him, and hopefully, he understood I was simply making sure I didn't want to endanger others on the road. "Alright, just turn off your emergency lights, people called thinking you were dead." I turned my head to look at the emergency lights button and sure enough, it was on. I didn't turn them on, did I? I also caught a glimpse of the time, 4:29. "O-oh, okay. Sorry about that," I say and he nods before walking off. I watch him from my rearview mirror and see him climb into his car. There's something in his back seat, he's probably a K-9 unit. As he drives past me I see it's not a dog, it's the man from the gas station staring at me with a wicked smile from the backseat. Chills run down my spine before I decide just to drive home.
Once I get to my house I quickly climb into bed and close my eyes. I can feel myself drifting to sleep, but the door creaks, waking me up instantly. I sit up assuming it's just my dog coming to bed, then I see it. I see his eyes, the outline of his head, and his hand placed on the door pushing it open. The man from the gas station. I feel paralyzed as I sit there in the middle of a string contest with this man. I glance towards the clock but it doesn't even look like numbers it looks like symbols, I can't read it. I hear the door creak more so I look back at him, he's opened the door more, and I can see his torso and the top of his leg now. If I look away he moves, but I need to call 911. I look at my phone and the door creaks again, he's now halfway into my room. I look back to my phone and grab it, but the door doesn't creak, he's too far in my room so he rushes over and grabs my arm. I'm crying by this point, I didn't realize I had started crying though. We stare at each other before his mouth opens and he starts screaming. It scares the absolute shit out of me. I close my eyes tightly as I try to push him off.
The scream stops, and I open my eyes. Im awake. It was a dream. The man wasn't real. The police officer wasn't real. I didn't leave my room. The screeching starts again, maybe I was wrong. I look at my bedside table, it's my alarm. It's 7:30. He wasn't screeching it was just my alarm, my stupid, loud, amazing alarm. The melatonin worked.