Insomnia1
By Sheila Toney2
Samantha Alyce Dennis was lying on her bedroom floor staring at the ceiling. She sighed loudly while rolling over to check the time. Four fifty eight a.m.. You need to be asleep… Stretching her arm she flicked on her stereo and closed her eyes. The beat of her heart matched the *thump, thump, thump* of the music’s rhythm. Trying to sleep was nothing short of a miracle these days. 3
Insomnia.4
Events of the day and the next days tasks flooded her mind. *You need to be asleep… I need to feed the fish… no you already did…I forgot to study… the test is next week… the sun will be up soon… You need to be asleep…* Her mind raced with things she needed to accomplish. Her fear of forgetting something tied her stomach into tight knots and made her heart beat faster. *thumpity, thump, thump.* Squeezing her eyes more tightly shut she tried to count backwards from one hundred. *One hundred, ninety nine, ninety eight, ninety seven… this is so stupid… ninety six, ninety five… shut up and go to sleep… ninety four… You should be asleep already…* 5
Opening her eyes again, she looked at the bright red numbers on her stereo, five thirty-seven. Not too much longer… The music and her heart beat the steady thump, thump, thump rhythm, the fan on her ceiling made a constant *sswishh*, while her mind hummed steadily. 6
There was a war going on inside her mind, pulling on her from different sides, trying to tear her apart. One side is screaming *Sleep, Sleep, Sleep!* while the other side screams that there is no time for sleep, with so many tasks left unfinished. Each voice seems the be screeching louder than the last, pushing to be heard, pulling to tear her apart. *thump, thumpity, thump…* Her heart began to beat faster and louder, it too trying to outdo the others. Each voice fighting to be the loudest. The noise seemed endless, the pounding from her heart and the screaming voices within her pierced her eardrums and forced her to cover her ears in an attempt to mute the sound. The attempt proved useless, only increasing the sound, trapping it inside her head. Curling up into a fetal-like position on the floor she covered her ears, and closed her eyes hard, while her stomach knotted up with worry. She laid there, possessed by the screaming and the seemingly endless worry, doubled in pain. *Don’t go to sleep! Don’t fall asleep!* She felt like she was going to be sick…7
*You should be sleeping…Calm down… one, two, three, four…deep breath…five, six, seven…sigh…* 8
The tension eased from her face as her hands feel from her ears. Her eyes no longer closed tightly but lightly and her heart became slow again. thump, thump, thump. Slowly the voices quieted and she slowly uncurled her body. Soon the room was quiet all except for the soft *thump, thump, thump* of the music and the content breathing of Samantha Alyce Dennis as she lay on her bedroom floor, no longer staring at the ceiling.9
What did you think? Please comment!
Comments
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great write, no... awesome
wow she, that is really good, you have great imagery with your words and i can just see everything that is going on in the room so vididly. I like how you say that her heart is thumping along with the beat of the music. This is a really good story you should write more of them. Im not a really good story writer cuz i dont take the time to do it, it just takes so much longer cuz it has to make sense and with poetry u can just put down your emotions and there you have it u know. Anyways, great job and I look foward to reading more stuff you write, maybe me and you could make one about simon and ashley or something, since we kinda r both in the same kind of relationship thingy except on different sides, hopefully it will not turn into having sex in a pool and a car and all that crazy stuff the last one we tried did, lol, anyways i'll ttyl and c u at the game friday : even if i have to walk! I posted the song, i really dont got a beat for it yet so i guess as you read it you can come up with your own thing for it, its supposed to be more of a pop/rock song, not a hardcore song or a r&b or rap song, i really doubt it could fit into a country beat but u never know, anyways just tell me what you think, *hugs, kisses, and all that jazz* lol -
STUPENDOUS!!
wow! sheila, let me just tell you that this story is one of the best i have ever read!! seriously. everytime you talked about her heart beating, it was like it was me. i could hear the voices, the thumps, and the swish. great effect. its the kind of story that you cant stop reading. you should write others to go with it. maybe it could be a book? hey, its something to think about, right? yes! you used alot of emotions and alot of literary techniques. great job!
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