Security Breach Adventures

Deep Sleep

Inspired by today's episode of SAMS, but not directly based on/after it. There's no particular point to this, I just had the idea and wanted to write it.

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You never really realize how long nights truly are until you're sitting up through them, exhausted but unwilling to sleep, no other ways around to pass the time because they're just too noisy and the walls are too thin for you to play games or watch videos without waking up your brother in the next room over. I thought I had headphones somewhere, but I haven't been able to find them.

My point is, you normally think the nights are short. You can go to sleep super early but the morning still comes too soon, and you just wish the night would last longer so you could get more sleep! It's so easy to believe that simple lie when you're off playing in dreamland, soaring through the skies with dragons, having tea parties with talking woodland critters or whatever. But what about when sweet dreams turn sour? Or better yet, when your mind only cares to replay your worst memories as you sleep?

...

I keep having nightmares about July 16th. Ever since I got home, I keep remembering that God-forsaken day where Bloodmoon took control of my body, and- and they...

I quickly shake my head to ward the images away. The blood and bodies, blood staining my claws, Moon's look of shock- or horror? I can't really tell, even with the image branded into my memories for me to scrutinize at length.

Why can't I just forget it all? Why do I have to be the only one who remembers that pain? Why does it have to haunt me even in my dreams? I wonder, rubbing my eyes wearily. True, this isn't the first time that day has come back to haunt my dreams- it took months for me to be able to sleep through the night after it first happened, and after the government interview then Earth bringing it up, I would have nightmares about it at random. But this is the first time in a long while that it's been persistently haunting me. Even if I just doze off for a split second, I wake up with the screams of all those poor kids echoing in my mind...

And how the hell could I just go back to sleep with that at the forefront of my memory?

I just wish I could sleep peacefully. A long, deep, dreamless sleep. Sighing, I shake my head and close my eyes. But when do I ever get what I wish for? I can't even remember the last time things really... Worked out... For...

"Hah!" My head snaps back up as I gasp, a shock of horror running through my systems as I hear phantom screams ringing in my audio receptors. My vision blurs and I clutch at my chest as I struggle to breathe, my throat feeling so tight it hurts as the screams playing in my head never end.

"'m so sorry, 'm so sorry," I croak out, knowing damn well that my apologies mean nothing to anyone, least of all the lost little stars...

"Shhhh... Stop trying to force the air to come, just let it come naturallyyy," Hushes a quiet, raspy voice, strangely soothing almost like a lullaby. Then a purple paw stretches out, touching the hand of mine on my chest. The fur is soft and fluffy, comforting to the touch. But who is here with me?

I look up to meet their gaze and jerk away with a choked yip, clamping a hand over my mouth as my panic falls to confusion and slight terror. "C- Catnap?!" I question, yet despite my alarm I can't raise my voice any higher than a whisper. "What the- where did you- aren't you-" I stammer helplessly, so many questions running amok in my head that I can't get out.

Catnap the Smiling Critter simply stares at me, wearing that wide, pitch-dark smile he had in the cartoon. It doesn't even waver an inch as he claps his paws together and whispers back, "I could sense a friend in need, so I came to help you. You look so exhausted, Sunshine. I bet you could use a real deep sleep!"