We Thought We Were Asleep

We Thought we were asleep

Rafael Alcolea Harold

ENGLISH READERS COLLECTION

(Level: Intermediate)

© My Place for English: English Readers Collection: 2

“We thought we were asleep”

Translation: Rafael Alcolea and Casey Talboys.

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We thought we were asleep...

That night all the human beings of the world went to sleep like any other night full of endless hours of sleep; as we had previously done during our short or long existence. We all slept, except a few unfortunate who didn’t sleep like the rest and suffered the consequences later.

14th June 2040 wasn’t like any other day. For three years there had been one day and one night of the year where we all slept. Our leaders had been capable of drilling into our brains, so that, that specific night, chosen at random, apparently, was declared as worldwide day of sleep. That way, our planet completely stopped. It was like stopping some kind of machine to restart the system so that, just for one day, our planet could breathe.

Whoever you were, wherever you lived, suffering from insomnia or narcolepsy, you had to get ready for bed. Even the freaks celebrated pyjama parties in auditoriums or sports halls. So much so was the state of ignorance or persuasion that we didn’t even rebel when they told us that we would be lightly sedated through electromagnetic waves and pharmaceutics. The explanation was that it prevented criminals from violating the good intention of the majority of the world’s population, and robbing, destroying all that we tried to save. I was one of the many believers that defended the movements towards the saving of the world with a day of sleep per year. Now, I think of how stupid we all were, to swallow similar pack of lies.

On previous occasions nobody remembered anything just that they slept like never before. A repairing and placating sleep, accompanied with the best sleep in their lives, was the only memory of our sleep day of the year 2038 an 2039. There were even people who had regular sleeping problems, but they slept like a baby that day even though it was four o’clock in the afternoon and broad daylight in their hemisphere, while on the other side of the world they slept normally at night, these people tried to figure out which medicine, provided by the United States authority, to buy it. It was the first time they had slept for ten hours; after decades of light sleep, but they did not succeed.

We never knew when it was the next “sleep day” to save the world environment. The first time it was in January, but the following in May. This time they had only given us two weeks’ notice, it would be on the 14th of June. It annoyed me a lot, because it was my birthday and I wanted to do a barbeque, the meat had to be frozen, the drinks stored; my friends had something more important to do: Sleep.

On the first world wide sleep day, there were no incidents, but on the second one there were. Over a thousand people went missing around the world. Nobody knew what had happened to them, they had just disappeared. The authorities hastened to say that there was nothing to worry about. Finally, a thick smoke screen covered the disappearances, with spectacular news about fast drops of types of interest or discoveries about daily life.

Little by little the families of those people stopped protesting. One threat here, a job offer over there, and sometimes their silence was simply bought.

But the third final celebration of world sleep was quite different. To short with, it was very sudden and unorganized. When the authorities announced that a meteorite was heading for Earth and the impact date was June 14th, immediately mad people about stars, or the followers of Astronomy, as they wanted to be called; gave the warning. But, they were paid with holiday to the nearer jail due to disorderly conduct and try to increase the collective hysteria. There were others, close to the governments that started to filter out information a few days before; saying that the pharmaceutics they handed out were unable to make people sleep, it was just a type of placebo. They really made us sleep through the waves emitted from the satellites situated in our terrestrial orbit.

Something must have gone wrong, because I, as well as other unfortunates, woke up that night, when we were supposed to be asleep. We woke up when the whole world should have been unconscious whilst they slept.

I went to bed early, even though I don’t think it was my choice. The last thing I remember is laying on my bed, unable to get under the covers, due to the suffocating heat of the beginning of June, that summer was going to be unbearable in London. It had hardly rained and due to climate change, the British city reminded me, more than ever, of my birth city in the South of Spain. I was closing my eyes little by little, slowly I was losing my consciousness, when I noticed the little pill that the British government had worried to make us take in the morning as we left the house, got in the tube or we tried to arrive at work on time. For the whole day, without realizing it, I had shaken off unintentionally all the controls made by the Bobbies. I had decided to take the beige pill that they had left in the post box last week. But my unconsciousness state was very advanced so I stretched my arm to reach the tablet and when I placed it in my mouth, I couldn’t remember anything else apart from being inevitably asleep.

I wasn’t sure how long I’d been asleep for, but I had the sensation of sleeping more than twenty-four hours. I looked at the alarm clock on my bedside table, and it showed two o´clock. I couldn’t believe I had slept for seventeen hours. I lay back down, still confused by sleep, and as I turned over, my blood froze.

Through the gap in the curtains, half open because I didn’t have time to shut them, when the most terrible heat took over; no light shone through. As quickly as possible, I stood up and I looked out my window. Confused and a bit dizzy, I leant on the window sill and I checked that it was still night. The most serene and silent night I had ever witnessed in my life. No cars were being driven, the teenagers didn’t walk trying to commit offences under the protection of darkness, the wind didn’t even blow the tops of highest trees, and not even homeless people sleeping close to the underground entrance; today they looked impatient under their mountains of second hand belongings and pounds of indifference.

Nothing moved, nobody spoke, everything was calmed, and everyone was sleeping. I couldn’t help but ask myself why I wasn’t asleep like them. Quite surprised I decided to see if any of my neighbours or flat mates was awake. I went to their bedrooms, in darkness, and they were totally asleep. I put on some running shoes, a pair of shorts and an old t-shirt for round the house and I decided to go out and enjoy the quietest night of the year. I walked all around Portobello, without meeting anybody. All lights were out in the houses, retaining the silence of their inhabitants. The houses which showed light, housed nothing. Normally, it wouldn’t have occurred to me to walk alone in the dark at this time of night around London, but the temperature and the opportunity invited me to do it. I wanted to remember every detail of that night so I could recount it the following morning. One of my flat mates worked for a tabloid as an apprentice. Maybe, they would publish my interview. After a while of walking up and down the city, even looking through windows of Londoners, just to check that everybody was asleep; I thought I saw something as I turned the corner to the road that led to my flat.

Instinctively I stepped backwards to check everything was ok. I stood listening, and… nothing. I was going to carry on with my journey, when an unsettling sound stopped me. I needed to turn around. But that was the only way I could get home. I was starting to regret coming out. The sound came closer. I had to get out of there, but my sudden panic stopped me from moving. Vey quietly, almost not breathing, I leant against the naked wall to see what it was that was terrifying me. When my sight rounded the corner, I saw it. There was someone dressed in black military clothing. Then he saw me and started to run towards me —¡ curse! — I thought. But this time my legs responded thanks to the adrenaline released as I thought of all the terrible consequences that could happen to me.

I ran as fast as I could, faster than I had ever run when I went running in St. James’ Park. But after running through some streets, I tripped on a paving stone and my persecutor reached me. On the floor, I heard his short breathes; I tried to turn so I could see his face, when I felt pain at the nape of my neck and I fell face down.

I regained consciousness in a large vehicle which had no windows. Next to me I felt the presence of other people, who I couldn’t touch or speak to because mu hands were tied and an enormous piece of insulating tape, covered my mouth and part of my nostrils. I did not know where we were going, or who those people were. I only knew that I was really scared. Nothing good could happen to us. After a while, the car stopped. Later, the car continued bumping over what seemed like an unused country road.

As the doors opened I saw hooded military men pointing their torches and weapons to us. They directed us to a type of camp in the middle of nowhere. I was thrown to the floor with my companions, inside one of the tents. My companions in captivity cried and writhed trying to escape. There were women, children even old people among them. I counted around twenty people. People that could not sleep that terrible night like me.

Next to the tent there was their tent, they were talking, quite loud for our local custom. When I listened carefully to the accent, I realized that they were speaking American-English. Then, they mentioned what they were going to do with us, they said something about a set time, they would take us to the agreed location; they just have to leave us on the big sign, in the exact location of the coordinates and leave. No questions, no remorse or regret; we were going to be left anywhere as if we were just rubbish. But, some of the soldiers revealed, concerning what they were doing. They kept on repeating that we were just innocent citizens. The man who seemed to be in charge, advised them to be quiet; it was either us or the whole humanity. The world wasn´t ready to witness what happened each “special night” when everybody was supposed to be sleeping. Nobody could be awake; there shouldn’t be witnesses that night. He said something about the fact that humanity was not prepared to be revealed a secret like that, but all the cries and voices next to me avoided a perfect understanding of the conversation. He even advised them to get lost in the Caribbean for a period of time with the generous money they were going to be paid with that mission, and forget about it all. It was impossible for me to go on hearing anymore due to the screaming of women and children; it was a horrible and desperate crying.

I knew in that very moment that I had to get out of there no matter what. I looked around me for something to cut my ropes that held my freedom. There was nothing in sight, then I saw a child dry his tears with the sleeve of his shirt; I made him sins and he came closer. I indicated him to take off my gag. At first, he doubted, but then he did it. I told him that he should try to untie me, but when he was succeeding and the pressure on my wrists lessened; someone came into the tent. The boy was completely surprised standing up at my side, I immediately looked down. The soldier grabbed the boy’s arm, and between pushes and shouts he led him out of the tent.

I felt horrified about the child, but after some seconds I continued to rub my wrists, I had to survive, until at last I untied my ropes, next were my feet. My pulse slowly quickened as I felt I was close to freedom. I went to the back of the tent looking for a way out. Those people who saw me begged to be set free, their faces implored my help, but all the commotion going on outside indicated that sooner or later they would come to take us. With a piece of metal I found on the floor I managed to rip the tent’s material, the narrow irregular gap would allow me to get out in a hard way. I looked through the gap to discover that there was a forest next to the camp. I put my hands either side and with all my strength I made the gap bigger until I could push my way through. I had just fallen to the floor outside the tent, when the military men came for the prisoners. I stayed immobile behind a nearer tree, waiting to be discovered.

Thankfully, they were rushing and they were shouting at each other about keeping to the set time. I waited for a few petrifying minutes, and I checked that there was no one around. In the distance, around eight hundred metres, I saw the vehicles stopped and they thrown the people there. Immediately, they left. I saw the slow figures trying to move, and trying to get up of the floor. Without thinking, with the vehicles still near, I ran to help them.

Suddenly, I heard a deafening sound, it was the most awful thunder clap I had ever heard, it resounded in my head over and over again, I stayed paralyzed. Immediately a blinding light came out of what looked like an enormous aerial surface and swallowed them all.

Open-mouthed, I saw how in an instant the monstrous thing had gone and with her all the witnesses of that atrocity; except one: me.

I felt dizzy; I even thought I was dreaming. Desolated and in shock I began to cry on the floor. After some minutes crying, I looked back to the place and it appeared as if nothing had happened there. No soldiers, no people, nothing was strange in the middle of the countryside. I was like that for hours, looking up to the sky constantly, until the sun began to brighten everything around me. I was walking through the forest for a couple of hours, fearful of meeting one of those terrible men, until I came to a side road. I asked myself what had I seen, what had happened. After hours of walking, a car approached in the distance. Before I could notice, it was on top of me.

A nice old man offered to take me to the city, he was in his way to London, to see his family and check if they had slept as peacefully as him. I had a terrible appearance; I made up an excuse that my car had broken down so I had to sleep in the countryside.

On the way home, the news on the radio told of the great success of the past twenty-four hours and how millions of pounds had been saved on electricity bills, pollution had been reduced and how the interviewed people in the streets had slept the previous night.

I was shattered; luckily the man dropped me off two underground stops away from my house. He even gave me some money for a single ticket and I got down in Portobello. I was looking forward to getting home and tell my friends what had happened to me but I wasn’t sure if they would call me mad.

So I would have a shower, and wait and see if I heard anything on the news about the missing people; that idea sounded like the best alternative. When I went to go upstairs, I realized I had no keys. My friends saw me from upstairs and went to look for them, so one of them could throw them down to me. I tried to catch them but I missed and they landed on the floor. I turned around, exhausted, to pick them up; cursing my friend, who wasn’t at the window, for his bad aim.

As I picked them up off the asphalt, a taxi went past our building; inside a figure was surprised to see me. He turned in his seat with his eyes popping out. The taxi stopped a few metres past the building; he rolled the window down to look for me, but I had already hidden behind the porch door.

Where an instant ago there was a figure picking up keys, now there was nothing. After a few never ending seconds, the taxi started up and I heard it pull away. I began to breathe when I looked through the glass and I saw the car turned the comer, where the night before I had been caught. Relieved I began walking up the stairs when I realized that the guy in the taxi was the same guy in black who had captured me the night before. I turned the key and entered my flat. —Safe? —I asked myself.