(Written while listening to: "To Be Human (nightcore ver. by Blake)" by MARINA found on youtube)
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"Not for mortal mind is any resisting of force beyond human imagination. Not for immortal spirit is any conquering of that which hath probed the depth and made of immortality a transient moment. The end? Nay! It is but the blissful beginning…"
-Excerpt from "Deaf, Dumb, and Blind" by H.P.Lovecraft
<<<>>>
"It is what it is"
"Huh? What's this?...- Oh this is NUTS, I can't believe it.
Why would you even say that…- yea true, truuee."
A low humming of a pc ventilator was heard inside of a dark room. Illuminated only by a light coming from two monitors, one displaying a stream with political commentary, and the other: a fight happening inside of a video game.
In front of the monitors sat a guy. Just over 30 years old, average height, balding, sporting slightly receded chin, wearing glasses, but not in terrible shape due to some exercises and okay-ish eating habits.(He a sage)
He was focusing on properly pushing buttons, in-game avatar rolled furiously so as to not get hit, while chipping away on boss health. The enemy finally fell. Rewarding him with a satisfying message: "GOD SLAIN". It took a few tries not gonna lie.
"I made it in time, thank God."
He exhaled under his breath nervously checking time.
It was 21:00pm. Still had a few minutes before going to work. Night shift. He worked a security job which was peaceful work although it didn't pay much.
Just enough to pay for his property tax, bills, and basic daily needs on a month to month basis.
Cameras were doing the bulk of the tasks, so he had time to read novels while only keeping relative vigil. The crime rate in the city was basically nonexistent anyways. Perks of a high trust society.
'Okay, somehow managed to do Radahn + femboy duo again, tomorrow going to farm albinaurics for a bit and onto the ng++…- still need to see the chaos ending.'
He planned the next day's "entertainment" internally and glanced at the monitor with the stream.
"
'I guess my eastern European mind cannot comprehend the workings of US people in this big 2025. It's a new year soon so maybe things will calm down…- "new year" thing and stuff.'
'Surly.'
"Nothing ever happens anyways." he huffed under his breath and shut down the computer.
Soon, he was en route to work, stepping carefully so as to avoid slipping on icy sidewalk. Bad illumination, with lampposts that were few and far between, coupled with the dark starless and moonless sky made it fairly easy to lose your footing. He managed to reach his goal in time like every day and like every day he swiftly took over from the previous shift.
Nothing happened.
Hours flowed slowly.
Nothing happened again.
After an entire night spent checking camera footage, doing rounds, reading novels and sneakily dozing off for a few minutes here and there, the shift has ended.
In the early morning on his way home, the city was slowly coming to life with occasional car driving by. It was still dark though cuz winter.
And then…- Something happened!!!
He slipped.
Not because of the ice sidewalk. Or the dim light.(still few hours Until Dawn cuz winter)
Apparently, he stepped onto his own shoelace.
Rookie mistake. A toddler one even.
He knew well that his shoelace was untied, but after an "exhausting" night spent at work he couldn't be bothered to tie it.
He thought 'Okay I'll take thirty more steps and then I'll stop and tie them'
He didn't
'Eh, ten more and I will tie them for sure'
As expected at this point in time, he hasn't stopped again.
Consequence?
He fell flat on his face, in the middle of the sidewalk, right into a small pile of snow and mud.
He laid down there for a few seconds.
Defeated.
"Ehh, is everything alright ? Did you hurt yourself young man?"
Asked an elderly woman, who was waiting at the bus stop just right next to where he fell, she was looking at him with a mix of surprise and worry.
"Wha- Yes! I'm alright! Nice and dandy, thank you for asking. It was just a bit slippery…"
He responded nervously to the nice lady's inquiry, while rolling over and sitting on his bum like the bum he was.
Of course he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings. Only now he realized that his "performance" had an audience.
'Great, that's gonna help my social anxiety a great deal. I already can imagine all the moments just before sleep, when my brain will fire at me all the most embarrassing moments of my life on repeat.'
He thought grimly.
'Another one to the "collection"'
'Like the times(multiple) when somebody waved their hands at someone behind me, while me, knowing none the better, waved back, only to get a weird look'
'Or when I tried to jump a hip sized fence while wearing a heavy backpack. Only to get stuck with my pants tearing up.'
'Or when that girl saw me… No, stop-stop, don't think about, each one was my fault anyway, gotta do better "next time"'
He finally shook his internal "reminiscence" away.
"
Elderly lady pointed out kindly and then returned to the bus stop.
'She noticed, obviously, after all all older ladies are well known for sharp hawk-like eyesight and night vision.' He mused with embarrassment.
Also at this point the other few people at the bus stop have lost interest and stopped sending weird glances in his way returning to their own business.
"Yes ma'am"
He muttered under his nose.
Still sitting on his backside he reached towards his shoelaces.
'Fucking hell they are all cold'
Apparently during his walk back home, he somehow managed to get them wet and then they froze, because of course they did.
He started to twist and rub them to get the frost off.
Result?
One of them snapped. Of course it did. They were quite old and worn and the cold alongside rough handling didn't help.
'…- It was too long anyway.' He deluded himself.
He started to tie them with slight difficulty caused by now shortened shoelace and him wearing gloves.
Yet, before he even made it past even the first step of his task, he suddenly stopped mid movement.
"Is that an orange star visible above the city? With this city's light pollution? Impossible."
He muttered to himself.
'It's an omen, I'm sure. Soon an orange man will come to reap my soul… or bank account…- not that it's worth much anyways' He shuddered while thinking nonsense.
Then he squinted his eyes.
'Am I trippin or does it get bigger?'
He wondered while sitting on his bum and holding his shoelaces like he doesn't know what to do with them.
"~Huh. It IS getting bigger~"
He whispered, worry creeping onto his face.
'Is that a nuke missile? Well fuck me obviously not, because that would mean that something happened.'
'And we all know that nothing happens, every single time.'
"But it DOES get bigger! Excuse me ma'am? Can I ask you a question?"
He turned towards the elderly lady from before, who's been secretly casting quick concerned glances from the side eye, every few seconds.
She put a slightly concerned but still polite smile on her face.
"What is it, young man?"
"What do you think that could be?"
He asked while holding his shoelaces and looking at the sky face slightly unsure.
She followed his line of sight. And looked for a moment.
"What do you mean? I don't see anything."
Now, her earlier slight concern has turned into a full blown one.
He pointed towards the sky.
"Right there! It's getting closer! It looks like a meteor! I can see it better now!"
She squinted her eyes. Searched for a moment. Then she turned back in his direction, her face taking on a look of pity.
"Young man, there is nothing there, just a clouded sky."
The elderly lady said calmly.
"What?! But it's right there. It's so huge now, we need to run! What?! I Can't move my legs!" He exclaimed, panic visible in his eyes.
At this moment a man with a pale face and a set of heavy dark circles under his eyes who also stood at the bus stop, turned and shouted at the sitting guy clearly pissed off.
"Oh! Can you just shut up! I haven't slept in two fucking days and have an eight hours of work in front of me! And the last fucking thing I need is some lunatic, raving in the middle of the fucking street about shit that's not there!"
"BUT IT'S RIGHT THERE! Getting closer each second! HOLY SHIT IT STARTS TO CRACK!"
"YOU'RE ON CRACK! NOW SHUT THE HELL UP!" the tired man shouted back now completely agitated.
"Alright this is enough!"
The elderly lady commanded, then she lowered her voice and said to the pissed off man while pulling him on the side.
"Could you be a darling and call an emergency number?
The man took a deep breath, calming himself down and nodded solemnly.
"Of course, sorry just lost temper a bit"
"O FUUUUCK! THERE'S SOMETHING WHITE INSIDE IT!" the guy shouted while still sitting on the ground, with a single shoelace still in hand, struggling to get up.
The elderly woman and the tired man cringed and exchanged awkward looks.
"Splendid." She responded to the man
"Tell them, we have a case of severe psychotic hallucinations. If they try to refuse the call, say he's aggressive, that always works."
"HOLY SHIT IT HAS A FUCKING TRUCK INSIDE! HELL NAW! I'M NOT GONNA BE ISEKAIED TODAY!!! MOVE YOU STUPID LEGS WHY CANT YOU MOVE!" he screamed.
"…- In the meantime I will try to calm him down, before my retirement I was a nurse I can handle that."
Then she put her brand professional calming smile and turned carefully towards the panicked guy.
"Alrigh-"
"NO! AAAArrghh!…"
He shouted, then went rigid for a few seconds, slowly started to sway left and right.
Next his body went completely limp, falling on the ground.
Silence descended.
—
[Hospital]{50 minutes later}
"All brain activity ceased over 30 minutes ago. He's dead." Said the doctor slowly rubbing his temples. He turned to the assisting nurse. "Write down death time and date, body to the morgue for autopsy and contact the police for formalities"
"Of course Dr. Schneider, Right on it." She went to complete her assigned tasks.
After all formalities were done, the doctor left towards his office to ready himself for a drive home after his night duty.
And what a long night it was.
Not every day he has to assess the death of someone, but it does happen sometimes.
But what truly caused him problems tonight, were dozens of people declaring insomnia showing at his doorstep and asking for prescriptions.
And what made it even worse.
He also has suffered from it. After almost a week of feeling unnatural fatigue and over 50 hours of not sleeping. He developed a heavy set of black circles under his eyes.
So he had to basically force himself to listen to people complaining about not being able to fall asleep. While he himself, also couldn't.
Then, he had to give recommendations: "mAyBE TrY MeDItAtIoN" that essentially were useless, and prescriptions for medicine that he knew wouldn't work because he already tried them himself.
He had to do that through the whole night on repeat again and again, because these people just wouldn't stop coming.
'Did somebody put something in the water? This is like some fucking plague' he thought to himself.
He went on his way towards his car 'I swear If they announce another quarantine I'm going to crush out, even though I should advocate for it as a doctor. I'm just too tired to give a fuck anymore.'
After gathering his things he left the hospital and headed towards the parking lot.
He entered his car.
"When I get home I am getting myself stoned until I pass out. It's time to whip out the bucket." The doctor groaned under his breath while turning the keys to start the engine.
As soon as he returned home, he took off his shoes, gave a quick peck at his wife's cheek and head patted his 5 years daughter, Amelia. They were dressing up to head out for kindergarten.
"Hello princess." He greeted the girl and turned to his wife.
"I'm sorry, honey but I really have to crush the couch now honey."
And crashed the couch he did.
He felt sleepiness suddenly starting to build up.
'I kind of feel that now I am going to be able to fall asleep'
Doctors eyelids felt impossibly heavy and his breathing started evening out.
"Okay daddy! We are going out to kindergarten. Bye!" their sweet little girl called out giddily to him from the hallway.
"Hush sweetie, dad needs to sleep now, he had a very tiring week. Now, here's your scarf... aaaaand done. Now let's go or we are going to be late." Doctors wife said while smiling.
"~Oh Right! Sleep well daddy~!" The girl whispered loudly (as far as whispers go).
The woman rolled her eyes amused and guided their daughter towards exit. Just before they left the house, she looked over her shoulder.
"Sweet dreams" she wished quietly to her dear husband with a slight smile. Then she locked the door and they left directly towards her car.
But he couldn't hear her anyway.
The doctor has finally managed to fall asleep.
And simultaneously.
All the other recent insomniacs started to fall asleep as well.
Hundreds, if not thousands of them, all around the planet Earth.
<<<>>>
[Chapter End] The story is not over yet!
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Author notes:
Editing
"Speech" or quotes or sarcasm depending on the context
'Thoughts'
"~whispering~"
– moment of silence
"...- also moment of silence...- But mid speech!"
"
"♪Singing♪" or music playing :♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪
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I'm putting authors thoughts here cuz no one read the ones below anyways