“Oh.”

This used to be a popular make out spot. And even though there’s no one to listen, that guy’s sitting there as always, playing his guitar.

“Oh, hey there.”

“Oh! Hello.”

“Out on your nightly walk?”

“I see you’re here as usual, too.”

“Yeah, guess so. So how you holding up? Still can’t sleep?”

“If I could, I wouldn’t be here, now would I?”

“Hahaha! Touche.”

“… Keep playing that song.”

“Now this is a surpise. You’ve never said anything nice before.”

“What can I say? Your songs put me to sleep.” “Hmph… I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Yo”

“Well this is a surprise. I didn’t expect to see you here. Guess not even a worldwide calamity can shake you from your spot.”

“Heh heh! Right back at you.”

“…Point taken”

“You want me to spare you ears tonight?”

“Why?”

“‘Cuz you don’t wanna sleep?”

“No, actually. Put me to sleep.”

“…Interesting. And just why do you want that?”

“I just… I just don’t want my insomnia to make me the last person on Earth.”

“I see.”

“It’s just that… My dad, my mom, all my friends… They all fell asleep, and…”

“I know.

…Hey now, you already asleep?

You’ll catch a cold out here.

Here, borrow my jacket.

I… don’t feel like dozing off just yet.

See? Now you don’t have to worry about being the last one.”

Every day, time passes like normal. People wake up and go about their lives like normal. Night comes like normal. And everybody sleeps like normal. I can’t do things like normal. So, I guess that makes me a little weird. I don’t remember how I got to be like this. I’m not sure when it started. But one day, I finally realized that the nights seemed to last forever. At first, it didn’t really bother me. It wasn’t anything to worry about. But I think I’m losing my mind. The medicine the doctor gave me is starting to wear off. I finally understood what they meant when they said that trying too hard to sleep only ends up making it more difficult. So, after endless, futile attempts, I just gave up trying to sleep altogether. But walking around town in the dark doesn’t seem to be helping much, either.