If I was given an opportunity to make a wish, there's nothing I'd want more. I'd wish to fall asleep, even if just for a night. The torture is driving me crazy, I can't take it anymore.
At first, it was totally cool staying up all night, I felt special and I'd brag about it to my friends. As a kid, I was up to date with all blockbuster movies and the entire avengers and justice League series. What better time to watch movies without distraction, if not at night while the rest of the world slept away. Also I was super intelligent, actually people thought I was because I always got all A's in my results. Truth is the day before each exam, I just stay up all night cramming the texts. Next morning I'll drop it on my exam sheets as they are still fresh in my memory.
As a teenager those movie nights turned into party nights. There wasn't a party I didn't attend, I brought the vibe to parties. Who else can keep your party alive all night than a person who can actually stay up all night. Good old days.
A time came when everything changed. It all started on my twentieth birthday. I hosted a little house party and had friends over. We drank, danced and did all those crazy things they did at parties. I had intended that the party would last till daybreak, that way I'd have company for the night. Sadly around 11pm, my friends started leaving gradually as they all had somewhere to be the the next morning.
When they all left, It was just me in the sitting room littered with toast cups everywhere, plates and bottles lying around the corner. I got bored, I decided to tidy up the house and probably head out and have some fun.
"I can't spend my last night as a teenager bored." I said to myself as I got up and started cleaning up.
While I was cleaning splashed cake off a part of the window, I saw someone standing outside the house.
"The party is over!" I said.
He didn't say a word, and funny enough I didn't recognize him at the party. I walked to the door to know if he forgot anything. I opened the door and he was gone.
"Creepy neighbors." I murmured as I made my way back to the window.
I heard a loud crash, and my car alarm went wild. I grabbed a bat and walked out the house to the garage. It happened that one of my side mirrors had been smashed.
"You are going to pay for this!" I said angrily as I followed the footprints of the perpetrator.
It had rained earlier, making it much easier to see the prints on the muddy soil, it led straight to the bushes. Bat in hand, I followed the prints without thinking twice. Couple feet away stood the same man I saw through the window. He stood there smiling and gestured me to come forward.
****"You think this is funny!"***
I ran towards him, then bang! I fell. The soil beneath my feet gave way to a force which pulled me in and my eyes closed. That was the only time I ever recall closing my eyes, I thought perhaps I finally fell asleep and I was about to wake up. But then I saw myself standing in a place where skeleton-like people walked about freely. It was difficult to describe these people. Some of them had human face, then skeleton for a body and vice versa.
"Welcome home!" Came an unknown voice.
Next thing I know a skeleton hand without a body pulled me by the waist dragging me to a different section of wherever that place was. I was brought to halt in front of a woman and the creepy hand attached itself to the body of the woman as she said.
"You have no idea how long I have waited for this day son."
"I'm sure I'll know my mom if I see her, and she will never be in such a creepy place."
"This creepy place is your home. So tell me where is this mother of yours huh? Don't you think it's strange that you never go to visit your parents. Of course that's because they don't exist, those are just false memories."
"What are you people?"
Another skeleton-like person joined us and said.
"You see what I keep saying Mom. You send them up there and they feel like gods, forgetting where they came from. He now refers to us as a thing. "
"Be easy on your brother. He is just confused."
Everything was getting more complicated. I could barely sum up everything they were saying. They kept blabbing on how I was one of them.
"You are basically telling me that I'm half human-half skeleton like you all."
"We are all humans both those above and those below. Unfortunately we have weak genes which makes us short of skin. One percent are born normal and healthy, like you. Then we send your kind to live with those above."
"Why are we sent above?"
"To learn their ways and most importantly send us skin that they don't use anymore."
" What do you mean by that?"
And that was the beginning of my torment. Every night, while the rest of the world slept, I'd go lurking around graveyards in search of freshly buried humans to dig up and send to my family down below.