>>58163685
>Squinting your eyes, you reached for the nightstand.
>Hadn’t slept this bad since you were human.
>This was misery.
>There was the edge…
>Sliding your hand up, you touched something round and cool.
>Too far, that was the lamp.
>It had to be closer.
>And it was.
>Wrapping your fingers around it was difficult with one hand, but you managed.
>You balanced the phone’s edge against the table, too groggy to lift it.
>This would hurt.
>The screen hit your eyes like a flashbang.
>It happened so fast you couldn’t see the time.
>The glow behind your eyelids slowly grew tolerable.
>Finding the strength to open then, you peeked at the phone.
>2:17 AM.
>Great.
>Two straight hours of tossing and turning in bed.
>Ever on the edge of sleep and unable to fall into it.
>This wasn’t working.
>Staying in bed.
>Your mind screamed stay.
>Your body screamed no.
>Sitting up, you looked at your phone again.
>Mom didn’t fall for the “I’m sick” play.
>Just a quick hello. Won’t be more than ten minutes.
>Good to know they weren’t in the “It’s a contagion” crowd.
>You flicked through social media.
>If you weren’t falling asleep, you might as well learn.
>People were duking it out on social media, already tribal about the situation.
>The few days of everyone feeling united were woefully short.