October 25th, 2024
The night hasn't always treated him poorly as it has now.
Rather, in the past, he felt an interesting ease at night knowing what it would bring. In his eyes, it meant going to bed feeling the soft touch of the blankets as they engulfed his damp skin after he'd showered for the night, dreaming of fantastical stories he'd remember glimpses about, the calming aesthetic of background noises from the shower down the hall as his parents showered after him, the cool air flowing from his ceiling fan on top of his bed. Of course, being in middle school at the time, when innocence begins to be lost, and curiosity wonders in allies best avoided till later, was when this comfort began to disappear and replaced with obscenities lurking in the dark night.
"Have you heard of this?" One of his classmates mentioned that they found something off the internet that was not meant for their age.
"No."
"Watch this."
"Not right now."
"Well, search for it when you get home"
This was the pattern of curiosity for a while. Nothing too scary was seen at the time besides an immature image of a celebrity or a story about a boogieman from a pre-existing show or book. But that's when the changes started to adapt.
Of course, what would you think happens when you leave a teenager alone in his room with full access to the internet? He finds things like the adventurous children his age are with their newly required phones.
"Have you read the new creepypasta yet?"
"Did you read Jeff the Killer?"
"I think I saw slenderman in the woods near my house."
"Don't watch Spongebob at 3am. That's the haunted hour."
"Let's go see Saw or sneak into The Conjuring."
"Let's play FNAF!"
From there, it got worse. If you were a kid back then, you'd known all the famous titles and decided to follow the crowd because you weren't a chicken. You had to view it in a sneaky fashion yourself because you didn't have a social circle nor wanted to be caught watching xwz, or you stepped away either by choice or with proper guidance from your parents.
Of course, you age out doing things because it is cool with others and develops your own taste in things, even changing social circles because of it.
And what of the ones who developed an interest in these things? Of course, they consume more media based on their interests and pay the consequences.
You begin to see things that aren't there and begin to feel a sort of frantic paranoia that wasn't there as a kid; you thought was all fine and dandy, but really, you were still scared to admit that that one type of image scared you and that other film actually made you check you closets at night. As you age, the memories of scary images pop up on random nights and keep you awake until long hours that shouldn't be witnessed alone. By college, you're social media promote things you'd wanted to stray away from, but your self-control and curiosity get the best of you as you continuously search for the results. And yet, despite all this, you can look back. Things that were scary begin to tame down in appearance, at least for yourself.
"Remember when you were scared of him?"
"Oh yeah, man. That was such a stupid story."
"You know kids are buying toys off of it right?"
"Just don't watch the fan made stuff, things of nightmares."
You begin to make peace with the things that you were afraid of. Occasionally, you lose sleep to them as a little attempt to bring you back to the fear of them, but they dissipate as you are too tired to react anymore. You are awake for another reason now.
"I spent all night on the paper for class."
"I had to edit the photo shoot for the client."
"I wanted to finish the game I was playing."
"It's too hot in my room and I'm a night owl."
Indeed, the lack of sleep persists in a world full of early worms and night owls. For a moment, the night treated us wonderfully by giving us an ease of rest. Our curiosity tests that ease with artificial viruses that we either build immunity for...
Or not.
The discovery brings out fear, yet we perceive it with minimal injuries. Most undergo without injuries, and others still build their immunity slowly.
So now the question remains.
How do we properly fall back asleep?
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