Chapter 64: Like Fishing
There was a cold blooded cruelty to the one wonderful night of sleep that Derek had been able to get. In the past, he had always known that the only way for him to go to bed and be able to get some sleep, was through the use of medication. The medication had always left him feeling out of sorts, barely able to string two sentences together, let alone have complex thoughts.
That was how he had seen things before. No sleep meant that he could think, even if his head, eyes and every other part of his body hurt. Sleep meant swallowing down pills, and hoping that no one asked him what one plus one was. It also meant contending with feeling disconnected from the rest of the world.
Those were the trials and tribulations that he knew, and he had made peace with them. Then along came that night, and it tore apart all that Derek thought he knew about the world.
He could sleep without the aid of sleeping pills. Honest to goodness sleep that left his body feeling refreshed and his mind working at light speed.
But then, like a bolt of lightning that only struck once and did not return. The sleep was gone, and no matter how much Derek tried to get some shut eye, there was nothing there.
A sleepless Monday gave way to a sleepless Tuesday. His body adamantly telling him that the little reprieve he had gotten when he managed to sleep was well and truly over. By Wednesday, all of his aches had returned full force and no matter what he tried to do he could not seem to get into the rhythm that had allowed him to sleep the first time around.
Thursday night found him too disappointed in his inability to sleep to even go swimming. He simply walked the manor grounds until it was almost time for the staff to get up, and only then did he return, his legs aching, but sleep still very far from him.
On Friday night, he did not swim as well, but he did go down to the pool, and he spent his time there staring up at the ceiling. He had gone through with his idea of getting it painted, and so that night, he was staring at the milky way in all its glory. When he had come in, he had not bothered to turn on the lights, so the glow in the dark paint was doing its work.
On Friday night, Derek swam and swam and swam.