sades' short stories

An Insomniac's Nightmare

tags: 1k words, short story, adventure, sci-fi, contemporary, mystery, superpowers

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Four thousand twenty-five. Four thousand twenty-six. Four thousand—

What was the point? It never worked. No matter how many white noise podcasts, rain sound videos, metronomes, clocks, or sheep to count, Alex could never sleep on their terms. They would pass out around six, like they did every night, after the complete exhaustion wore them down.

They climbed out of their bed and cracked the blinds in their dorm. Heavy rain pattered against the window, blurring the few streetlights outside.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Unable to think straight, they paced the room, working through it all in their head. If they could convince themself to sleep, they could wake up in time for their classes. Then they wouldn't be so stressed all the time, and maybe that would help with the sleep trouble.

A vicious cycle. They couldn't sleep because they couldn't sleep. How thought-provoking.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick.

It was a subtle change, but someone as accustomed to the sound of their clock as Alex was would have immediately noticed. They turned to face it and saw it was glowing.

Not only that, the second hand was moving backwards.

Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick.

They cautiously moved towards the anomalous analog machine and inched their hand out. As soon as their fingers contacted its metal casing, a strange surge of energy traveled across their arm and through their entire upper body before dissipating around them. Something electric had woken inside of them.

They stumbled backward and bumped into their blinds. Some weird blue bubble appeared around the window, and they watched in confusion and horror as the blinds momentarily peeked open and back shut on their own in the same spot they had done so moments ago.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

A few moments later, the bubble popped, and the blinds repeated the act. They carefully re-approached the blinds and tried the same thing, getting the same result.

Were they... reversing time?

They reached out to touch the clock on their dresser, and a bubble appeared over that as well, this time purple. The second hand completely stopped.

Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence.

To test, Alex touched it again, and the bubble once again popped, bringing the clock back to life.

Whatever was happening, it was controllable somehow, and that's all they needed to know. They spent the next half an hour alone in their dorm messing with both the pausing and reversing of time as it quietly ticked by, controlling both the subject and size of the pockets.

A smile grew across their face, but their stomach rumbled. The clock, which was now about a minute off, told them it was almost two in the morning, about the same time they usually got hungry. Fortunately, the kitchenette at the end of the hall was stocked, and so they left their room silently, hoping to avoid waking any of their neighbors.

They made it to the kitchenette and retrieved an apple from the fruit basket, and as they turned around, one of their friends was standing there, eyes sunken.

"Hey, Alex, what are you—" was all he could say before one of the time bubbles collided with his chest, launched by a startled Alex.

"I'm so sorry," they said. "I didn't mean to do that."

"Ouy era tahw, xelA, yeh," their friend said, then began walking backwards out of the kitchenette.

"No, wait! Stop!" They grabbed onto his arm and tried to physically halt the process, but their friend was locked into each movement.

Stop, they thought. Pop, bubble. Stop now.

Their friend continued moving in reverse, and as the two of them continued down the hall, Alex's next worry was making sure nobody saw what was happening. Fortunately, nobody was awake besides the two of them, and they made it back to his room with no issue.

Well, other than the obvious one.

"Stop!" they called out as their friend climbed back into bed. Only when they tried to launch another bubble at them did their protests finally work, and their friend stood on the last rung of the ladder, completely confused.

"Alex? What are you doing up? What are you doing in my room? We didn't... I mean, I wouldn't be against it, but I would think I'd remember it."

"What? Oh, my—what the hell, Cam."

They threw another bubble at their friend, this time knowing how it truly worked, and reversed him back to the point where they were in bed, then stepped out of the room, hit them again through the crack in the door, and silently shut it.

Just to be sure he didn't remember any of it, Alex quickly returned to the kitchenette and picked up an apple again, this time managing a bite before their friend arrived.

"Hey, Alex, what are you doing up so late?" he asked, entering the room. "Wow, déjà vu."

"Couldn't sleep. Needed a snack."

"I get it. You know, when I'm having trouble sleeping, I just think about silly things, like what it would be like to have superpowers. Working those creative juices in my brain usually knocks me out pretty much right away."

"I'll be sure to entertain that thought," they said, suppressing a smile. "Is that all you think about?"

His eyes searched their face, but couldn't read their thoughts. "I'm not sure how to interpret that. Good night, Alex."

Once he'd left, they waited a bit before heading back to their room, apple in hand. What were they going to do with this... superpower? How did it even work? There was way too much testing to do, but they desperately needed sleep.

As soon as the apple was finished and tossed in the trash, they hopped back into bed.

Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Tick—

Alex blinked, and suddenly their alarm was going off. Five hours had passed.

They had slept.

The details of the night had gotten a little fuzzy after resting, but they were almost certain they could stop or reverse time. As a test, they approached the clock on the dresser and touched it.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Maybe it wasn't real. A dream, perhaps. That made the most sense.

They got their bag around for their first class of the day, and on their way to the stairs for breakfast, Cam fell in next to them. His eyes were sunken, like... like last night.

"Morning, Alex," he said. "Did my suggestion work?"

"Yeah, I think so," they said, looking down at their hands. "Funnily enough, I think my superpowers only work when I haven't slept."

If the only time they could use their abilities was when they had insomnia, then their relationship with sleep was about to get even more complicated.

"Sounds counterproductive to me. What kind of superpower is detrimental like that?"

"I don't know. Want me to show you later?"

"Wait, are you being serious? Is there actually a superpower, or are you trying to hit on me? I mean, I wouldn't be against it, but... déjà vu again."

Alex smiled and continued walking as Cam froze, trying to process what was happening.