I yawned for the umpteenth time. The digital numbers reprimanding-ly read at 1:37 AM.

With my back crouched, neck craned like those long storks in Aesop Fables, I waited for the dancing dots to blurt out the sentence I'd been anticipating waiting for. My heart thrummed with much frenzy and excitement in her throat. There were dark round patches all clustered like a joint family around my eyes making me look like--

"An egregious witch? Is this your new role for your drama class?", my long standing bestie Liv often finds a knack to complete my unsaid thoughts.

"Liiiiiiv let me sleep please", I whined , mildly hoping Liv took the cue and left. Why does Liv have to make entries when she was in the middle of goodness, namely sleep?

"Over my dead body, you better spill the whole tea. First of all, how in this whole wide world did you manage to do the impossible?"

I sighed, she is one impossible friend for sure. "I got lucky, I just said all you told me to say and tada—" I refrained looking at her eyes, but as I didn't, I noticed another impossibility of impossibilities-- her once empty finger now smugly wearing the legendary black ring . "Since when did Ron come back?"

"Since one week, but I guess you were busy with the drama head lad"

"It's nothing like that" Why did all of a sudden my treacherous heart went racing? Ugh.

"Then what was it? Did you all discuss your favourite theme of life? The need for ordered chaos?"

"I- H-how d-did y-you..." Its unfair how she can be telepathic so easily.

"It's called common sense, doofus. Not telepathy" she did her classic SMH eyeroll.

"Livvie I don't talk about it with everyone!!"

Her eyebrows waggled as she replied without missing a beat. "Yes, you don't except those whom you trust enough to get close"

"LIVVIEEEEE!!!" I draw  my sullen card face.

"Don't Livviee me, missy, by the way I'm going to Ron's place. And thus I give you the house keys to you. Be responsible and use condoms." She winked and threw the keys.

"But-" I sputtered with heart drilling on as she left. What did I do to deserve a supportive Livvie I wondered as I scrolled up my contacts on insta.

Drama boi is up and online! I voice call him and wait.

"Hippyhoppy wassup"

I try to stop my insides from churning but fail. "Willywonky my den is free tonight! Wanna crash?"

''Seems like my time has soon arrived to explore your kingdom Hippyhoppy" A raspy chuckle resonated.

The next few moments I should have exclaimed an ecstatic victory hurray and ended our call but that wasn't what happened. I placed the phone underneath the pillow and counted from one to ten. I could hear his voice calling me but much more faster than him, anxiety hit on me.

I was stuck. Stuck like -- you know when you were really little and you squeezed in your leg through those vertical gaps in the chairs because for the fun of it then all of a sudden the realization weighed down on you so out of the blue: you couldn't pull your leg back.

 I was stuck like-- you know when you go to a random concert and   in the middle of it all you realise you don't belong there with the crowd and yet there you were, an odd fish from the sequence of humans who all seem to share a big something and...

You don't. And you're stuck.

You know, how those ads are forcefully there and you are so stuck, you have to wait till they finish so you can watch when the scene of the video you intended to watch left off?

I was stuck. Is this what sleep paralysis sounds like ? 

I tried to salvage any words from my mind, the usual haven of words. Anything, anything at all but nothingness screamed. It screamed like how my ears usually ring when there is absolute no sound in my parents' office.

I switched off the phone and turned off the light, heading off to sleep.

word count : 678

published 30th sep 2024