Recently, I highlighted that after some 72 hours of no sleep, I was fast approaching the land of utter mindlessness. Here’s what happened…
May 24th and I have a 4000 word essay due in. It is the final hurdle between me and my degree. I must get it finished.
Although, I started the work, the week before, and had been preparing for a month, I’m in front of the computer for the whole day. I finally unstick myself from the chair at 5 am and Mighty O is asleep, (has been for the last seven hours, lucky ba****d) and I don’t think I can sum up the energy to creep quietly into bed. I crawl over to the sofa bed instead, and my PC and I fall asleep at same time.
25th May and the alarm goes off. It’s playing The Entertainer. I feel like I have sand in my eyes and a headache the size and force of a small earthquake. Must. Get. Coffee.
The countdown really starts today. Two and a half days until real freedom. I can do this.
The office is a mess, but I don’t have the energy for cleaning. Hell, I don’t have the energy to shower or eat a proper meal. Mighty O, comes in to say goodbye. He’s off to work. I’ve already been awake for two hours…it’s 9.30 am.
The day goes quickly….too quickly. I check my word count and it’s frighteningly low, as is my coffee supply! I figure I have at least another half day’s worth of caffeine to get me through. If not, I know I have some Guarana powder somewhere! I don’t want to leave the house, in case I see the outside world, taste fresh air and decide to pack it all in at the last stretch. Right now, it is highly possible I am losing my mind.
Today, I managed to scrape together the semblance of a meal, but it’s a poor affair. Again, I’m still in my baggy tracksuit pants and hoody when Mighty O gets home. He has shopping bags from the supermarket. There are some healthy option ready meals in there and coffee! Plus, he’s brought home real food: vegetables and my favourite fruits (and I spy some tasty treats). I almost cry out of gratitude and thank the PTBs (powers that be) that this man loves me!
I’ve decided to stay awake the whole night and soldier through; I figure what’s another day and half? I can sleep when it’s over. The sky darkens as dusk gives way to night, and I’m still tapping away at the computer. My word count is slowly increasing and I feel as if I’m making steady progress as I begin the nightshift.
Working solidly through the night is peaceful for the most part, but then it gets to that weird time of stasis: nothing moves and a silence wraps around and over everything. It’s as if the night has muffled itself in a massive eiderdown duvet. It is usually between the hours of 3 – 5 am. Things start to get a bit strange. I start seeing shadows in the corner and things moving behind me. It doesn’t help that I saw a spider a week ago and it wasn’t a small one either! My mind keeps playing tricks on me. So, I keep ducking my head under the desk, expecting to see this eight-legged freak of nature staring at me; taunting me to, ‘come and get me!”, as I try to catch the nasty bugger and release it back into the depths of the hellish wilderness from which it came! (As much as hate spiders, I don’t like to kill them unnecessarily).
I’ve not slept for nearly 24 hours and I’m on my umpteenth cup of coffee. I finally run out brown sugar at 7 am on the 26th. Luckily, we have honey in the cupboard…I will not be fazed.
…to be contiued…
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it