When We All Fall Asleep

Chapter 3 - The Visit

"Change your clothes, let's see Mom."

After a few minutes afraid to close my eyes again, I managed to fall asleep. I covered myself under the covers as much as possible so I couldn't see anything. I only left a space to circulate the air in there because I don't want to suffocate in a blanket.

I managed to sleep well at least, I had no nightmares, I had no dreams, it was just a turning off of my head so I could relax and rest for at least two hours of my day. It had been more than four in the morning when my brother woke me up in bed, and now it's past six in the morning. My brother is downstairs, making breakfast. I could smell it from a distance: bacon and scrambled eggs. I don't like it much, my stomach churns, but it's his favorite coffee so I'll try not to scowl while I eat.

I'm in front of the mirror on my wardrobe door, I'm watching myself. I look terrible. If someone were to look at me, they could easily mistake me for a zombie. My dark circles are huge, my head still hurts but not as much as before. My feet are cold, that was one of the reasons I wore two socks and a tight shoe so that no wind would get in there. I'm terrible, tired.

I went down to the kitchen, my brother was at the stove making eggs. The smell of oil was strong around there, he had put a lot on it.

"Are you making eggs with oil or oil with eggs?" I said, holding my nose and going to the stove.

He excused himself. I took the spatula and started to stir the scrambled eggs in the skillet. I added some salt, tasted it, saw that it was good and served it on our plates along with the bacon. Two for each.

"I want to see when you start living alone," I said laughing, her gaze on his face, still serving the eggs. When it was over, I placed the skillet in the sink, making that sound of fire in contact with the water. "Your house won't last a week, you can be sure."

I sat down to eat, my brother sat beside me.

We ate our breakfasts without saying much to each other. He asked me if I was okay, if I didn't have any more nightmares, and I said no. He seemed to be calmer, because he ate more heartily than before. I was starving so I couldn't complain about the burnt bacon he'd made. It was delicious just the same.

After an hour, he went to get ready. I was ready so I waited for him sitting in the living room. He returned with the outfit he always wore to go out: a dark gray sweatshirt, ripped jeans, a leather shoe, and a hat with a black ribbon.

"Let's go?" he asked, putting his hat on his head.

"Let's go."

At first I thought that idea was stupid and it wouldn't change anything, but then I started to think the idea of being able to talk to my mother was cool, I'm missing her. It won't be such a good thing to arrive and have to say "I've been having nightmares constantly since you came here", it would make her even more worried.

My brothers and I were already on the only bus that went to Manily that day and at that time. The bus was practically empty, just me, Mike, two more people and the driver. I sat by the window, able to see the empty street. Few people were there either, pacing back and forth in the running time; some kept an eye on the watch on their wrist, you could see from a distance that they were looking forward to getting home and being able to rest. They would come home and rest... sleep.

As I leaned against that closed window (which, if it were open, I'd already be frozen from the cold weather), my head shaking from the moving bus, I stopped to think about Cafeteria Woman. How did I manage to see her without being in the trance of paralysis? It is possible? Have nightmares while awake? Said the girl who has this shit practically every night, but... literally awake? I was moving! I was walking! How did that woman show up in front of me without me even sleeping? And that fainting...it wasn't normal. It really wasn't.