It all began on a shiny summer morning when the screams echoed down the hallways of the Seattle hospital. It was nine thirty in the morning when Beatrice Gibson gave birth to her only daughter, Aurora. She seemed healthy and happy as any other child born on that day, but that will soon change.

The Fourth of July celebration was up in the air at the third week of Aurora's life. Beatrice was preparing a big dinner evening for the family and Aurora's father was making last calls to their friends and family for the confirmation of their celebration. Little king Charles spaniel named Daisy was happily running around Aurora's bed watching her sleep.

Overwhelmed by the preparations her parents didn't acknowledge that she was sleeping for almost the whole day. Only awakened moments were set, while her mother breastfed her and even then she showed all the signs of a healthy baby.

Hours went by and the celebration occurred. Loud noises from the family guests echoed through the walls of the family's house. They didn't awake Aurora, she was silently sleeping in her crib. Neither the big bangs of the fireworks from near and afar, nor Daisy laying on her feet and stomach didn't have any affect on her.

Years went by without any difficulties, Aurora grew up into a beautiful young woman. She was the same as other girls her age.

By her eighteenth birthday she was a blond haired and green eyes teenager with straight A-is. Aurora was determined to graduate with honours and be accepted to Harvard. Last year was exhausting and difficult for her, she studied through weekdays and slept through weekends.

It became bizarre when she missed her classes on Monday morning and didn't answer her mobile phone. After five calls and six texts, Beatrice decided to conclude her workday earlier and check on her daughter.

"William, she has been sleeping and I can't wake her up! Whenever I am close, she just mumbles about how tired she is, turns around and sleeps." said Beatrice to her husband through video call. She was sitting right next to Aurora and the conversation didn't seem to bother her sleep at all.

"Trish, she is studying so hard, it's not weird for her to be tired. If she sleeps away the week won't influence anything but her health, she will definitely feel better." William responded to his wife in a calming voice, trying to calm her down, but at that point he didn't know how right he was.

All of this wasn't enough to shake Aurora's parents to explore if she's there more than exhaustion. They let her sleep even in a day, when Beatrice's friends started to notice how weird Aurora's sleeping pattern was.

"Trish, she should be more awake!" said Clarissa, mother's best friend. She was visiting family every weekend and was worried about Aurora's sleeping.

"She is eighteen years old. She sleeps like that only when she studies at night, I am certain!" Beatrice said in a calm, unworried voice.

"Alright, I can find this to be true. My Sister's son slept for two weeks straight after the finals back in the day. Now he is a doctor, graduated last year, healthy as he could ever be."

"That's right, Miles right? Such a smart kid. I remember him, he helped Aurora with maths once. He was her tutor for a day and she got straight A ever since." said Beatrice and smiled.

They had both drunk red wine and talked for an entire evening. Right before Clarissa's leaving time occurred, Aurora came out of her room.

"Good evening. Clarissa, how are you?" said Aurora, yawning and stretching.

"I am well sweetheart. How are you feeling?" said Clarissa softly.

Aurora widened her eyes and lifted an eyebrow. Clarissa's voice sounded as she was extremely worried about her. She felt amazing and well rested. "I feel great!" she answered.

"See, she is fine. As i said, exhausted from studying." said her mother and smiled at Aurora.

"Why wouldn't I be? Did something happen?" said Aurora, puzzled by Clarissa's questions.

"No, no, don't you worry..."

Clarissa interrupted Beatrice in the middle of the sentence." You have been sleeping for the entire week honey!"

"Excuse me?" Aurora was completely shocked, but it answered a question about her hunger and stomach cramps.

"I didn't sleep for the entire week, that would be impossible. Anyways I definitely woke up every night hungry. And as I remember I went to school yesterday?!"said Aurora, heading towards the refrigerator.

"I noticed some things were missing in our refrigerator and I filled it in for you. You probably switched day for a night, hun!"

Aurora didn't reply, she made herself a turkey sandwich and ate it like she hadn't eaten for hours.

"You were in a lot of stress the last few months, but you weren't at any of your weekly classes. I called your school to excuse you." mother added.

They all stared at each other for a moment, while Aurora was still eating." Well, i feel fine now. What day is today?"

"Sunday, tomorrow is a school day."

Aurora nodded." Great, I am going! I need to find out how much I have missed. I will text Ann for the missing lessons and go through them."

"Wouldn't you like to stay at.."

"No! Mother, a week! I was at home for the whole week! Finals are around the corner, I have to go!'' Aurora protested.

"Okay, okay! I will take you to the school in the morning! Just let me do it, to be calm!"

Aurora nodded and went to her room. Clarissa and Beatrice said their goodbyes and Beatrice went to daughters room to check up on her before she went to sleep. "Aurora, sweetheart, one more thing.. Promise me, if you feel extremely tired, give me a call! I love you and I am worried."

"I will, mother, I promise. Now I have to study for tomorrow. Ann texted me the chapters they learned between my absence.
***
Second time that Aurora fell asleep wasn't unnoticed, but tiredness was considered to be a part of her studying. Time passed before it came to the third time and it changed the flow of their lives.

Doctors were determined with their diagnosis and Mister Rogers explained it to Aurora's mother. "Kleine-Levin syndrome, also known as "sleeping beauty syndrome" or "familial hibernation syndrome," is an extremely rare condition that causes intermittent episodes where you sleep for long periods of time, which prevents you from staying awake during the day. We confirmed it for Aurora, but the side is, we are living in modern society and she will be alright. Most likely it will go away on its own according to our observations made on other patients with the same condition!"

"What triggered this illness doctor?" asked Beatrice, puzzled by the doctor's diagnosis.

"The cause of the syndrome is unknown. Many times it came from head injuries or flu-like infection. Didn't Aurora have any of those recently?" said Mister Rogers and went through Aurora's health records again. "Like i can see in the both occasions you mentioned a flu-like condition and even as a child she had similar symptoms. Is that correct?"

Beatrice nodded." So, if I understand you correctly, every time Aurora gets the flu, she... she.." she lost her voice in a flood of tears.

"Calm down Miss Gibson, as i said, the disease will probably go away by itself. And..."

Beatrice interrupted him in between his lines." By itself? So there is nothing to do for us? When Aurora sleeps we should just sit there and wait until it's over?"

"We couldn't use some known treatments for Aurora and when the episode strikes we can take her and monitor her symptoms and how her body will react to certain treatments, especially amphetamines, as there's a high risk of dependency associated with the drug.." doctor gave Beatrice piece of paper with suggested medication.

She read the list out loud.
"- Lithium: May reduce the frequency of episodes.
- IV steroids: May shorten prolonged episodes greater than 30 days.
-Stimulants or wake-promoting agents: Helps prevent sleepiness

Thirty day? She could sleep for the whole month? What about the food and she is just a teenager with life ahead of her... how?" Beatrice lost her voice in a flood of tears for the second time.

Doctor stood up, went around his deck and hugged her." We will do whatever it is in our power to make it as uncomfortable and unpleasant as possible!"

Beatrice could only nod, she felt completely helpless and unable to speak.
***
As days, months and even years passed by, Beatrice got a better feeling about Aurora's illness. Medicaments seemed to work just fine for them and Aurora could enjoy her life almost normally. She had almost everything she wanted. A great job, with a peaceful work environment. Best friend Ann, who always had her back and a week ago she met a young lawyer named Phillip.

Phillip was a 185 centimetres tall man with dark brown curly hair and grey eyes. Aurora saw him as extremely handsome and charismatic. His muscular body was in her eyes a perfect embrace for her tiny 164 centimetres small, skinny appearance.

After the first and second date passed them and they became closer she completely lost herself in his warm hugs. She felt safe and wanted. Even the first kiss felt special. It was like a kiss from a prince of one of the Disney stories Aurora's mother used to read when she was little.

Aurora took her medicine and enjoyed every day's life until one day when she awoke in the morning, tired and lifeless from the night before. She was able to get to her bathroom when she had stashed her medicine, but the bottle was empty. She forgot to buy them. There was so much going on in her life that it slipped her mind.

Busy work schedule and dating Phillip was so exhausting. Her mind was overwhelmed and she was so stressed out that she couldn't even get to the office to get to work.

In panic she called her mother and told her what happened. After she passed out on the sofa.
***
"She has what? Calm down Trish, I can't understand what you are saying!" said Phillip trying to calm her future mother in law down.

Beatrice mumbled the same sentence again. Phillip heard she was crying badly, but this call wasn't enough for him and he decided to come by.
***
Beatrice was In Aurora's room when Phillip knocked on the door.

"What happened here?" asked Phillip, entering Aurora's room. William, Aurora's father let him in and appointed him to the right direction.

Beatrice was reading a Disney story to her daughter. That was the only thing she could do for her at the moment. She seemed calm, when Phillip entered the room, but something was definitely off.

"Phillip, sweetheart, please sit down. There is something I need to tell you!" she said with a broken smile that put shivers through Phillip's spine.

He nodded and sat at the other side of Aurora's bed. There was an empty chair waiting like it was meant for him.

"My daughter acknowledged to me that she didn't yet share her secret with you. Not that she wouldn't trust you, but she was afraid.'' she paused to take a breath. "Afraid that you would abandon her, like she was abandoned before. You see, you are very special to her and as I know she loves you deeply and truly, but she loved before a man named Derrick! As he was informed about her...''he voice trembled and broke. Phillip stood up and walked towards her to hold her hand. Beatrice smiled, nodded and proceeded with her words. "...her condition."

"What kind of condition?" asked Phillip curiously but worried.

"She has Kleine-Levin syndrome, a sleeping beauty sickness..."

"She definitely is a sleeping beauty!" interrupted Phillip softly.

Beatrice smiled and nodded." She is, but she could be like that for days. That's where the name of sickness came from. We have no clue how long this would take." She looked at Aurora's father.

"How long does this usually last?"

"Usually it took a week or so. She was awake for some hours through the night, but in the daytime she was asleep." Beatrice answered and stood up, she went to her husband and turned to Phillip. "I will leave you alone for some time, maybe it will help."

"Alright, I will inform you if anything changes!" said Phillip and sat where Aurora's mother sat before.

Phillip sat by Aurora for hours. Talking about himself and the future with her. He was reading her short stories. Exhausted, he fell asleep and right he started to dream Aurora awoke.

Aurora was in a deep sleep for hours and she was not waking up until late night. She sat right up straight and looked at Phillip. He was so peaceful and beautiful when he was asleep. Her hunger was more than she could handle, so she quietly crawled out of her bed and went to the kitchen.

Aurora was well aware what happened and Phillip being by her bed gave her the answer about his knowledge about the situation. As her thoughts were clouded with what could happen a bright idea came to her. "Phillip definitely cares about me, if he didn't he wouldn't be here! I don't have any regrets about him and I can't rule over my sickness. I will try my best to be awake for him as much as i can, to answer his questions. I love him and I want him to stay!" With this thought she went back to her bed and the last thing before she saw, felt to sleep was his face.

***

Aurora started to bring her imagination from the dreams to reality and her experiences from the waking world were adapted through the subconscious mind when she was sleeping. Normal people certainly have a similar exchange between reality and dreams, but her sickness proceeded too far and she projected those dreams to people around her. Result of it were conversations that were made only by her subconscious and people barely handled her.

"I got you your medicine. You should have I, you will feel better!" said her mother, handing her a bottle of blue pills.

Aurora nodded and gave her mother the biggest smile possible. She took the bottle, but she couldn't tell her mother she was in a dream world than in reality.

***

Time went by and Aurora's company didn't fetch the success they were aiming for. She had many fights with Phillip which she settled on in her dreams, but drifted them apart in reality . Beatrice mourned over her husband who died after the hard heart attack and Aurora couldn't handle seeing her mother like that. She sanely decided not to take her pills.

Aurora's decision took her further into the dreamland as she was before. Everything seemed easier and happier there. She could be herself, without her sickness and Phillip was right next to her. Aurora couldn't see the difference between what was a reality and what was a dream anymore, she let go of her worries and thoughts. Phillip was waiting for her and there was nothing she would regret leaving behind. There was no answering phone calls and texts anymore. Beatrice once again went to the daughter's house finding her in a deep sleep. As much as she tried hard to recall Phillip, he didn't want to have anything with Aurora anymore, their last fight was the tip of the iceberg and ended their relationship.

After three weeks of Aurora's sleeping, Beatrice decided to relocate her to the hospital. It was her last try to regain hope for her daughter. But as it all began it ended the same, with Beatrice screaming in Seattle hospital.