Insomniacs // d. pouliot

Chapter One

Chapter One: Derrick's POV

I once read a study that said chatrooms were a dying art, falling victim to the use of text messaging, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and all other forms of social media. Supposedly, people were too caught up in checking their friends' statuses and favoriting their tweets, to try and befriend anyone new.

In theory, it probably was true; however, my case was completely different. Seeing that I suffered from what was arguably the worst cause of chronic insomnia ever, whenever the time came that I needed someone to talk to, all my friends had already been fast asleep for hours.

That was my biggest problem, for starters, aside from the general idea that I was awake all the live-long day. My friends were all asleep when I was wide awake. As they counted sheep, I was laying in bed, my back pressed into the mattress, eyes counting the brushstrokes of the ceiling paint. I should've been like them: Fast asleep. But sleep and I seemed to be sworn enemies, and we hardly ever coincided.

I lived with two roommates; one by the name of Scott Wilson, the other by the name of Bryan Rust. They were incredibly sweet people, I'll be the first to admit, but they were never good company when I couldn't fall asleep.

We lived in a townhouse in uptown Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, by far one of the nicer areas of Northeastern PA. The people were friendly, the area was clean, and things were great. I love where I lived, I loved my job -as a professional hockey player for the local minor league team- and I loved my roommates. In short, I loved life.

But my body, apparently, hated sleeping.

Sleep had always been an issue in my life. No matter how tired I grew, no matter what I did to exhaust myself, my body was incapable of rest. And when I would fall asleep, it would only be in twenty minute chunks, and then I'd snap wide awake again. It was almost like my system was playing an incredibly unamusing practical joke on itself.

I'd never been one of those obnoxious teens to try and pull all-nighters just to be cool, or one of those guys to waste the night away playing video games. If it were up to me, I'd sleep eight-nine hours per night. I hated the life I lived, awake all the time with nothing to do. But, since I didn't really get a choice, I had to cope.

My coping methods ranged from reading, to sudoku, to mindlessly staring into the pitch black of my silent bedroom, to wandering into chatrooms. It all varied, depending on my mood.

One Thursday, February night, I was feeling particularly lonely. The stillness of my surroundings had sunk through my chest, cracking through the surface my ribs, bleeding across my lungs. It was almost like drowning in air, and I could not tolerate it. Part of me wanted to get up and say something to Scott or Bryan, who were just down the hall, simply to have someone to speak with. I was so desperate for contact.

But instead, I grabbed my laptop off the nightstand, resting right next to the bed. The metal exterior felt cold in my hands, and send a shiver down the backs of my arms.

Stifling a yawn, I peeled the lid of the computer open, the screen immediately screen reflecting a soft, blue glow onto my cheeks. It was 4:43am.

As my home screen appeared, I opened up Google Chrome, impatiently drumming my thumbs as it loaded. I'd been meaning to buy a new MacBook for weeks, but with my job, my mess-up rest patterns, and just being too lazy to back up my photos, that'd gotten shoved to the back burner. It was inexcusable, really, seeing that it was purchase that desperately needed to get done, but not inexcusable enough for me to actually act on it.

Having done it several times before, I dragged my cursor up to the left hand corner, to my bookmarks, opening up the link to the chatroom I commonly visited when I couldn't get to bed. Quickly, I typed in my username and password, before being entered into the program.

The room I selected to join was titled, 'for those single in Northeastern Pennsylvania'. Honestly, it was a brilliant way to meet knew people to talk to, while being certain that they were single, and you weren't going to cause any marital issues.

When I entered the room, there was just one person in there, under the alias of elxanorrr6. Not a whole large -or any, honestly- variation of who I could potentially select to chat up.

There wasn't a single way to tell how talking to that girl would go, but it also beat having no one to talk to, and just cowering in my room. And anyhow, what was the worst that could happen? The Eleanor girl could block me?

Realizing there wasn't a better option, I took the plunge and sent her a message. My heart pounded in my chest as I waited for a reply, eager to what she'd say. Eventually, I received one.

elxanorrr6, 4:52am- hi, you can't fall asleep either?

It blew me away that she said something back, but made me incredibly happy nonetheless.

dpouliot51, 4:53am- hey, and no, I can't. I take insomnia to the next level.

I pretty much understood I was unintentionally sounding like an arrogant douchebag in my note to her, but I prayed she would ignore it.

elxanorrr6, 4:55am- actually buddy, I think I have that tied up. I haven't slept in five straight days.

That was kind of one of those moments where you're almost positive your eyeballs are going to pop out of their sockets.

dpouliot51, 4:57am- wow, that's actually impressive.

elxanorrr6, 4:57am- I know it is. but sleep is for the weak, right?

To myself, I chuckled for a moment or two. Despite not knowing each other personalities yet, I knew we'd have some good conversations.