Asleep

It was dark, and cold. He couldn’t see, or hear a thing Maybe he was blind and deaf, right in the middle of a vast frozen empty land. He didn’t know. Suddenly,, his feet felt like they couldn’t carry his whole body. He realized he was falling ; it felt like the ground had disappeared in one moment. He felt like falling, during minutes and minutes. He thought it would never end. Until he woke up.

Leonard opened his eyes, and let out a mute dread cry. The apartment was totally silent. What a horrible night again ! He tried to rise up from his bed ; his limbs were numb, and his senses were imprecise. The sun rays blinded him, through the shutters. He forced himself to come to his senses, and rushed to the bathroom. « I must hurry. I must hurry…. » he repeated to himself. He took a short cold shower to get rid of the sweat, and ran back to his room. He randomly grabbed some clothes in the mirrored wardrobe in front of his bed, shortly dressed up, and looked at himself in the mirror. There was a grease stain on his old grey sweatshirt. But he did not notice it. He slipped in his sneakers, picked up his keys, and slammed the door.

While he was running downstairs, his legs were shaking. He got out from the building, and turned right. « I haven’t eaten for two days now… I should probably buy something, the day will be tough… I must hurry. ». He has exactly 5,60 pounds in his pocket. He walked at a brisk pace, hurtling down the street. Suddenly, he stopped. His heart skipped a beat… he felt like he was about to faint. He had not seen It for many years. It was not a good sign…

Leonard smelled smoke, as if someone was smoking a cigarette in front of his face. He turned around and saw green smoke crawling along the street. He felt like it was asking him to follow. He started to walk after it curiously. The smoke turned into a dark alley. He was hesitant, but he followed. Leonard turned around and saw that the entrance into the alley was gone. When he turned, he saw that the smoke was rising and spewing out from every corner of the alley. Then suddenly, in front of him, his eyes widened as he realized where the smoke was coming from. There was a man with stormy blue eyes that twinkled like stars. His presence and the green smoke were making Leonard sleepy. He instantly recognized the man as the Sandman, a character in European folklore who came to sleeping children and sprinkled sand in their eyes so that they would have good dreams. But instead of having good dreams, Leonard was having nightmares every night. ...All of a sudden, a brick landed on Leonard. He winced in pain, but shrugged it off. As he looked around, Leonard realized he was in a dark, deserted alley. The only thing he could see in the darkness was a faint blue light coming from one end of the alley. He felt intrigued to move towards it and started walking in that direction. Suddenly, he was face to face with the same man he saw on the street before passing out. It was the Sandman, but not the one Leonard remembered. Leonard asked, “Where am I?” “It’s hard to answer that question, Leonard,” the Sandman replied. “How do you know my name?” Leonard questioned. “I know everything, because I am the Sandman,” the man said. “But I thought the Sandman was supposed to give people good dreams,” Leonard said. “Instead, I’ve been having nightmares for the past few weeks, and they feel so realistic.” “Not just you,” the Sandman said evilly, “but everyone will continue to have bad dreams forever as long as the real Sandman is locked up!” Leonard was shocked. “You locked up the real Sandman?” he said. “Where is he?” The Sandman laughed and said creepily, “Do you really think I would tell you? I have cleverly captured my brother and kept him in my control. He will never get out of his imprisonment!” In shock, Leonard cried out, “THE SANDMAN IS YOUR BROTHER?”