Waking Up

I lay in my bed; eyes closed and engulfed in darkness under my pile of warm sheets I contemplate my fading dreams.

They were strange.

I try to picture in my head the time. Was it 6:00? 3:00? Maybe my alarm hadn’t gone off after all.

I was ultimately okay with being late to school. I definitely didn’t want to be there anyway.

I rotated 180 degrees until I was facing toward my body pillow on my right side and hugged it, hoping I had enough time to enjoy just laying here in my bed.

Just laying.

As peaceful as it became, I knew no matter what, I couldn’t look at my clock and my good time had to end at some point. It couldn’t last forever.

Even if I knew I had to fully wake up at some point, I also knew I should enjoy it while it lasted, so I started to ‘daydream’. I thought about my friends at school as the scene in my head became clear to me. The rows of uneven desks placed in pairs and the unintelligible murmur of the students finding their cliches so they could fill each other in on their days.

So mundane. So boring.

This usual daydream was only made exciting when I added my friends, thinking about random conversations I had had with them days, even weeks prior. I smiled, keeping my eyes closed as I remembered what little details I had in my memory about them.

They were all so happy.

I had made them happy with my jokes and I was liked by so many. That’s always a dream isn’t it? To know you are liked, to know you have friends, to know that there are people who care about you. But there’s always a dark side. In a situation where I’d have to choose whether to be authentic or become monotonous and someone else in order to be liked by others I hope I wouldn’t pick the latter, but there’s a part of me that would.

I thought about this deeply, the vision in my head suddenly changing to the dreary, tired place it was in real life.

I was no longer happy.

Still physically at peace, I waited for my alarm to sound. Now, my thoughts were abrasive and self deprecating about my choices and my core values. I had started to sink into depressive thoughts about who I had become and who I wanted to be but thought I never could. Thoughts of my friends betraying me, the thoughts of me not ever having true friends to begin with started surfacing.

My worries. My fears.

I finally noticed what was happening and knew if I had a chance to get to bed again I would have to think positively. I thought of my favorite song and changed the surroundings of my dream once again. Now, I was in my house, hearing the music all around me like a surround sound system that followed me. Remembering one of my fondest dreams, I looked outside to discover a beautiful sunny day with no one around. I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

I walked outside with the music caressing my every move with it’s subtle notes and admired the scenery. It was all beautiful and amazing, everything I had wanted it to be in my real life. But I didn’t think about that, I just enjoyed every living and non living thing around me, eyeing the usually hidden wonders of places I had walked around for years. I took deep breathes and walked slowly, aware of every step I took. Happiness took a hold once more as I ventured down the road in my mind.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

6:15am had finally arrived.