Many weeks had passed since Max had slept. It was affecting his life at home, his life at school, and his life with his friends. He was no longer in a dreary state, but had gotten used to not sleeping. Though sometimes he felt as if he was always sleeping. He felt as if life was no longer real, as if he could step off a ledge, and he’d simply wake up.
Max had talked to his mom about his problem. Because not sleeping had made him irritable he had gotten into several fights with boys in the other neighborhoods. Max’s mom decided to take him to the doctor. The doctor was an Indian man with a small practice, he sounded nice enough, once you finally made out what he was saying. He diagnosed Max with Insomnia, he gave him sleeping pills in order to help Max get some much needed sleep. Max and his Mother thanked the man and they went on their way.
Max had the pills for several days before deciding they didn’t work. One night he took one, he couldn’t fall asleep. One night he took two, he couldn’t fall asleep. One night he took three, and still he could not fall asleep. Max had started to see visions, of people coming after him. They were not normal people, they were dead. Though, they weren’t zombies. They were faceless people, skin so red, and eyes so dark, they could hypnotize you. He thought the red creatures were after him, trying to take him away. Max then decided, if he was going to go, it would be in his own way.
When Max’s mother got up the next morning, he said one thing to her “I’m going to die today.” She, with her eyes watering asked “are you going to kill yourself?” He denied it and played it off as a joke, seeing how badly it hurt his mother destroyed him, but he wanted her to know. That night he found his pill bottle, he was just going to take as many as he could, until his eyes finally faded to black. He took one after another, waiting a few minutes before the next. Finally, the bottle was empty. Hours passed and he still wasn’t gone. He walked into his parents room, and he fell to the ground.
Max woke up the next morning. He was in a hospital bed with fluids pumping into him. As he pretended to sleep he over heard the doctor say that he was in critical condition, if the parents would have waited any longer, he would have died.They also found out the dosage of medicine the Indian doctor prescribed, was the adult dosage. The doctor asked the boy if he was trying to commit suicide, he denied it. He was released to his parents that night. He laid in his bed, closed his eyes, and finally got the sleep he needed. He just never woke up.
