I first noticed it in my wife, the dim light projecting from her screen, it was enough to illuminate our small bedroom, the light causing me to wake up; she told me that she just couldn’t sleep. We have always been a couple of routine, I wake up in the morning for work and she gets up along side me; preparing my coffee and lunch for the day. When I get home, it’s always the same, we eat dinner, talk about our day and then watch a little T.V. before heading off to bed. Like clock work by 9:15pm her soft breathing would flutter in the air, a sound that has always comfort me and it would only be mere minutes before I join her in the realm of slumber. It was very basic but it was us, a routine of an old married couple something I found bliss in, so when my wife first starting suffering from insomnia I didn’t think much about it; I figured like all things it would pass.
After about week it was clear her insomnia was not going away, in fact, it was getting worse; I would wake up to the sound of her cleaning the house —she hoped that physical work would make her tired but it didn’t. Instead the noise only frustrated me, usually I would snap at her telling her that I needed my rest, though I would feel bad after the moment understanding it wasn’t her fault. Like any one would we started off simple, I bought her some melatonin gummies but all it ever did was make her stomach hurt, she tried hot tea and milk but nothing, no sleep would ever come. After several weeks I grew worried, dark rings sagged under neath her ocean blue eyes, it wasn’t hard to tell how exhausted she was and I had to practically force her to finally see a doctor. I knew all she needed was some sleeping pills, I figured after sleeping one night she would slip back into her usual cycle, judging by the blank stares my wife was starting to have I assumed she wished for the same.
The doctors visit didn’t go exactly as I thought it would, we told him that her insomnia had been happening for a few weeks and immediately a look of concern emerged on his tired face, funny the doctor looked just as sleep deprived as my wife. Right away he set her up to have blood work, something I found quite odd for such a simple diagnosis. I tried to explain to the doctor that she didn’t have any allergy’s but told me that wasn’t the reason for the blood work, he said that more and more people have been coming to see him for the same reason, because of insomnia.
“Why is that happening?” I asked utterly confounded.
In the moment I thought how bizarre such a thing could be possible, an epidemic of insomnia, it sounded insane. The doctor was just as bewildered as I was but told me that it was something serious, that people in the droves were filling up our local hospital because of the same issue, we’re from a small town and judging about how the doc was describing it you would think half of our city were suffering from this hysteria. Either way the doctor couldn’t stop yawning and eventually handed me a prescription for some sleeping pills. He told me that he needed blood from my wife, she hardly could pay attention and just nodded in agreement whenever I placed my hand on her shoulder. That’s when he asked me if I had done any traveling, I told him no, that we weren’t the type of people that liked to leave our nest. I asked him why still befuddled by the whole conversation while holding my wife’s hand as the nurse came in to draw her blood.
“If there’s a contagion going around we have to notify the CDC and it won’t take long for them to do a full on quarantine of our town, I know you can see it in my face I too haven’t been sleeping and I been banging my noggin trying to remember when it first started but my mind draws a blank. If you can remember when this started for your wife or any information please let me know, there has to be some explanation to all this” the doc told me with practically a whimper.
For whatever reason I stood there for several seconds trying to remember when my wife first told me that she couldn’t sleep, I would ask her but by this point her responses were cold and distant; her face defeated by the fictional monster of insomnia.
“I don’t remember doc, but if anything does come up I would be sure to let you know” I told him, though all confidence shattered to such a revelation.
Before I left I asked the doctor what would happen if my wife never slept again, would she die? I barely could let the words escape my mouth as if saying the sheer words could some how manifest it into real life.
“Expect hallucinations, eventually her mind will start to shut down on it’s own even though she’s awake, most likely she will suffer from sleep paralysis but if this thing goes on too long then it can lead to organ failure or at least it’s been hypothesized; no one has ever gone more than 22 days without sleep as you can tell we are fast approaching that record” he told me as the words pranced around my mind piercing me with little daggers of anxiety, I gripped the hand written prescription even tighter in my palm all too ready to get it filled for the love of my life.
On the way to the pharmacy I did my best to try to remember when my wife first start having problems sleeping, I know it was about a week prior when I originally caught her awake, but by that point I remember her telling me she was having trouble sleeping. I turned to my wife and asked if she remembered anything but she could only mutter out bits of words, the way her head gyrated up in down smoothly was more indicative of her being sleep, but her eyes were wide open. The mere sight brought tears to my eyes and my breathing became heavy as all my thoughts were now shrouded with nothing but concern for her well being.
I continued driving as I could hear my wife whimper out a word here and there, I almost felt like leaving town, driving her to the best specialist the big city could offer but then remembered what the doc had told me; about it possibly being an outbreak, maybe the government was already aware and driving any further than my usual distance would be met by some blockade or worse military personnel. That’s when I realized the streets were a lot more quiet than usual, I hardly saw any cars on the road, even though we were a small town most people would be out and about mowing their yards working on their gardens or just out grocery shopping, but there was none of that, just a strong gush of wind that whistled through the narrow streets of our town center. Honestly the idea of this being airborne frighten me and trepidation swirled around me as I feared more and more for my wife.
As I parked the car I reached over and gave my wife a kiss on her forehead, stroking her perfect blonde hair whispering in her ear of how much I loved her. Before getting out of the car she reached over and grabbed my arm, it honestly startled me, it was the first time she had acknowledged my presence in days, slowly my stare crawled away from her grip and up to her eyes, she was smiling.
“It’s beautiful darling, it’s perfect” she told me.
I stood perplexed at what she was talking about and I calmly asked her what was beautiful?
“The moon honey, it’s breath taking” she replied.
I looked up towards the sky and the sun shined bright as it was still in the middle of the day, I gently patted her hand and placed it back on to her lap telling her that I would be back.
Entering the store I expected to see my long time friend Eddie behind the pharmacy counter instead it was his teenage daughter Sally. The store was deserted the silence was almost overwhelming, for all the years I’ve known Eddie I couldn’t ever remember him missing a day of work. Approaching the counter I cleared my throat trying to draw Sally’s attention, which I found odd since I was the only customer in the store, she was slightly turned away from me reading something on her phone and I had to cautiously tap on her on her shoulder, she nearly hit her head on the ceiling at how high she jumped. She grabbed at her chest exasperated and pulled out the small ear buds that were wedged firmly into her ears, I didn’t hesitate to apologize for alarming her but showed her my prescription.
“Another one huh” she exclaimed.
I politely smiled show casing my aged teeth not really knowing what she meant by that comment.
“Eddie out sick huh?” I asked her, the annoyed expression on her face swiftly morphed into one of sadness, her frown practically hitting the floor.
“He is, he hasn’t been…”
“Sleeping?” I interjected, her despondent gaze was telling and before she could say another word I told her to give Eddie my best wishes.
Before Sally walked away to retrieve my prescription she yelled out to someone else that was in the store, someone that was apparently behind me.
“I’ll be with you in a second sir” she yelped out as she gestured to the man with her pointer finger.
I could of sworn I was the only customer in the store, how could I’ve missed him, I turned to get a glimpse of the man and my heart began to accelerate; I found his mere presence threatening. The man was tall wearing an all black suit while sporting some vintage fedora, he hid his pale face behind a pair ‘RayBan’ sunglasses, but even with that I felt his eyes follow me as I swayed back in forth; uncomfortably. The man didn’t say a word, never even acknowledged Sally’s words, instead he stood there watching me, unmoving but menacing.
As soon as I got my prescription I scurried out the store faster than I had moved in quite some time, I dare not look back though my curiosity was too triggered not to and as I walked out the doors to the abandon Pharmacy I carefully turned my head to see if the horrid man was following and to my relief he wasn’t. Getting back to my car my wife was gently tapping her head against the window still muttering on about the moon, I wanted to tell her about the strange man, about the dead pharmacy but my words would have only fallen on deaf ears, so instead I turned the engine and headed home.
As you probably could of guessed the pills did nothing for my wife, she took multiple but still continued to stay awake, if you even want to call it that; she would aimlessly walk around the house bumping into walls without a care in the world. Her eyes sunken into the back of her skull as the dark rings began to turn purple bruised to the point of them gashing open with how swelled they were. I spent most days crying to myself, looking at the woman I once knew but more mystified of how she could still be awake, the outside world was not much different, I saw one of my neighbors stare out into the void looking up at the sky cautiously cradling around in place; like some marionette swinging back and forth on it’s strings. No cars passed through, no one mowed the lawns or tended to their gardens, my small town halted to a stop, as if the universe itself had imploded here in the place I called home. Though, when checking the news station not a word was said of what was happening here, the realm that existed beyond the borders of my city seemed unaffected, television programs still aired; the news cycle still went on about wars on the other side of the world but no mention of us, the sleepless town that no one had ever heard of.
I would walk around our downtown, a graveyard of it’s once thriving abilities, I would call out for anyone and few would respond, Sally still attended to her fathers store and others like me; people that were still able to sleep hung around in the usual place, we found comfort amongst ourselves. I asked others if they had ventured outside of town, if anyone was able to see if the world out there was still existent, I got defeated stares and frowns from my townsman; no one ever had the courage to actually try to leave this place; especially not with the man dressed in black still roaming around. I only saw him the one time, that was enough for me but apparently others had seen him in the most bizarre places; some saw him snooping around their backyards and other times he would randomly show up in their homes — the idea makes me shiver thinking that grotesque person could be in my home. We all searched for common ground, maybe before this we were a bit estranged, only knowing each other by name but now we were family, finding strength in the dilemma that had plagued our town. I asked everyone if they could remember when the sleepless nights began, when their partners and loved ones initially complained about insomnia, but no one could ever remember.
“I just remember my dad talking about the moon, he told me to come look at how beautiful it was, but I was too sleepy” little Becky said, a girl of nine years left alone with out parents as both of them were affected by this disease, though as a community we had taken all responsibility to look after her.
The moon, the word triggering a memory buried deep in my psyche, visions of a round sphere floating around our night skies flickering in out of my foresight, like an old film reel playing a movie in a dimly lit theater; why couldn’t I remember.
The solace of our small city was left undisturbed for little over a month, in that time we had seen our loved ones become walking corpses, shells of their former selves but then one day that had changed, I first saw it in my neighbor, he was still standing without movement in front of his home. His name was Javier, a single man living alone, I never really bothered to know him, his English was not that refined and most times I was left confused of what he was trying to tell me, though, our relationship was neighborly, simple waves and polite hello’s whenever we crossed paths but now the single man stood alone on his porch still looking up at the sky with such intent, as if he were trying to grow wings and fly back to the heavens of where he came. I wondered how long these people could really last, no sleep and I can only assume no food, what was keeping these people alive; I forcefully fed my wife, forced as much food as I could down her throat without her choking, I hooked up an I.V. to her arm, though it would become dislodged constantly as she roamed around the house. It wasn’t easy but I took care of her to the best I could, I knew we had no other choice, the hospital was a dead zone, no signs of any life, even our doctor no longer answered his phone.
One of us, one of the ‘awake’ as we called ourselves worked up the courage to try to leave, he was a young man, strong and leveled headed; he told us he would return with help. We all cheered him on, our last hopes instilled with his return. He told us he would routinely send updates through text, if that failed then through other means like social media, we all stared wide eye as if the man was Indiana Jones here to save the day. The updates came as promised, in intervals of 30 minutes, he said there was no blockade or check point; no soldiers of any kind trying to stop him but after several hours the updates became disparaging, the words not making any sense, just mindless dribble and eventually the word that had haunted my mind for the last several weeks, he typed
“the moon”.
Those are the last words he sent us, the ‘moon’, people tried replying back wanting to know what about it, was he okay, was there a world beyond our limits but then there was nothing, no more responses or texts the young man that we had hope would save the day became nothing, a ghost lost to the void of our town.
So most gave up hope, most of us spent our days burrowed away in our homes waiting for the uninventable, the moment our loved ones would pass, or more dreadfully the day that man dressed in all black would come for us. I spent my time staring out the window looking for what was coming, as they say, no one ever see’s that but that didn’t dissuade me, I needed to know when he would come for us I sat in my chair by the window always watching, always searching and that’s when I finally saw Javier move, his peaceful stance interrupted by some magical force; a sinister one as his joints spasmed in angles that shouldn’t be humanly possible. He began screeching in agony as his face contorted nightmarishly, I stared on with disbelief, was this the final moment, was his body giving out, would this happen to my wife? My mouth gaped open with wonderment hoping this would all end, the scene was too gruesome, the sounds were too devilish but the yelling stopped and his blank stare returned. I opened the window and yelled out to him, maybe he was back to normal, maybe this disease had been flushed out of him.
“Javier!” I shouted out as the sun cautiously set behind the horizon.
He didn’t turn to me, instead, he slowly walked out into the middle of street still looking up towards the sky, his small steps uninterrupted by any obstacle. Once in the street he returned to his simple movements of rocking back and forth on some pivot, arms swinging along side of his body. I didn’t know what to think of this, clearly something had changed and all I could do is watch with horror as the night sky approached shrouding my view with a blanket of the unknown. Throughout the night I stayed by the window waiting for the moment that man would arrive, perhaps he was the piper himself enchanting people towards his song, but out of the shadows it wasn’t the man dressed in all black that appeared, rather, it was more of them; my fellow town folk that had been dreaming as they stand all cautiously stepping towards my view and they all gathered in the middle of the street, standing next to Javier. I saw our doctor amongst the crowd he was one of them now, along with Eddie, Sally did her best to pull him away from the crowd, yelling for him to snap out of whatever trance was guiding him but to no avail she couldn’t stop her dad who was twice her size.
The people collided into one another, like an ant pile, swarming in masses and that’s when I remembered my wife, she too soon would be pulled to this ghastly scene. I ran downstairs yelling out my wife’s name, disregarding the fact she wouldn’t had responded in her state, she was repeatedly crashing into our front door, trying to open it; I had nailed it shut with a small 2 x 4, apparently she couldn’t see it. I grabbed out at her, slapping her trying to awake her from this delusion, but all she returned was her glazed over stare and those words,
“the moon, oh how beautiful it is”.
Her body began convulsing, I tried to calm her as I gripped her in my embrace the best I could, but she wiggled out of my reach and once again headed towards the door, slamming her full weight trying to break it open; trying to join the others. She snarled and cried wanting to be let out, thrusting me away at any attempts to stop her, only one thought came to mind, something I had never done to her in our 30 years of marriage, with as much force I could generate I hit her across her head knocking her out. I caught her limp body before it hit the ground and picked her up and placed her on the couch, for the first time in almost 2 months my wife was sleeping, her soft breathing that usually cradled me to sleep permeated in the air; with it’s sound a bit of jovial relief washed over me, especially now knowing she wouldn’t be joining the others.
That’s when a bright light erupted all around me, the light seeping through any opening from the outside, the night sky became day and I covered my eyes as the immense light practically burned my retinas. I could hear Sally scream out with terror from outside, she was yelling for help but her pleas were washed out by the others groaning out in unison; some feverish dream that embodied them. I made my way to the window still trying to shelter my eyes from the light but my curiosity needed to know what was happening, I peeked out behind the curtain of our front window narrowing my eyes as they adjusted to the bright light that had invaded my home. All the people were encapsulated in the light, the soft glow illuminating their dead faces and they all stared up with euphoric moans, all except for Sally, she was trying to run away but something about that light kept her in place. I could see her body moving with aggression as if she was running a marathon but she went nowhere, she remained with the others.
That’s when perhaps I made a mistake, but one I think anyone would have made, I decided to look up at what was creating such a light and for the first time I could remember it, the moment it had happened the time my wife called me to the window to look at the moon. She was drinking her tea, standing at our bedroom window looking up at the night sky, she told me it was beautiful that I had to take look, so I did. I approached from behind her and embraced her from around her hips pulling her into my own, I gently pushed away her hair as I planted a small kiss against the angle of her neck, then I finally looked out the window and saw it, the moon. It wasn’t the moon, it was something else, something that couldn’t be described, a round sphere that hovered without noise and it seemed to be mere meters away from our home, why couldn’t I remember this before? Now I was once again face to face with the monstrous pulsating orb and a feeling of elation inundated me, I couldn’t look away and finally I realized just how beautiful the moon really was.
My stare didn’t last long, or at least it didn’t feel as it did but something pulled me away from the window, it was a person covering my mouth with some cloth, a stench flooded my nostrils as I felt faint and whoever it was lay man down unto the floor. A brief glimpse before passing revealed to me it was him, the man that I feared most, it was the man dressed in all black standing tall over me bringing a finger to his mouth in attempts for me to stay quiet and then there was nothing, just darkness, me entering the dream world where I could only imagine remained in for hours.
My wife awoke me, her soft voice bringing me back to life and as I lifted myself up I grabbed at my head as a sharp pain jabbed away at the crevices’ of my mind almost causing me to vomit. That’s when it came to me, the revelation that she was back, back home where she belonged, the dark rings that infested her beautiful eyes were gone, she was how I remembered her and I quickly pulled her into my embrace much to her surprise. She asked me why was I sleeping on the floor, I told her about the moon, about the lights and the people, but, she didn’t understand any of it. She told me she didn’t remember any of the events from the last 2 months, in her mind nothing ever changed it was all the same. I ran to the window and all the people were gone, things looked like they had returned to normal, I saw a few people mowing their yards, tending to their gardens, a few cars drove by the streets, even the sky seem more blue than before.
I asked my wife about Javier, about Eddie, about any of the people that were sick and she told me she didn’t know who I was talking about, she told me we never had a neighbor by that name; that the people I spoke about never existed. This became the consensus, our town couldn’t remember any of the event’s even the people that were part of ‘the awake’ as we called ourselves. I don’t know why I was able to remember it all, I don’t know if it has something to do with the man dressed in all black, did he save my life or did he choose me to tell the story, the lone descriptive of such a nightmare. I know what happen was real, I will never forget it, the moon was too beautiful to ever forget and I will wait for it’s return some day, knowing that it will want the rest of us that were left behind. Even though things are back to normal, I find it hard to sleep, I guess you can say I’m suffering from a bit of insomnia but that’s okay it gives me plenty of time to write about all that has happened, it reminds me of a dream, perhaps all of this was a “dream within a dream.”