[ WP ] In the shower you discover a dial on your neck . It 's turned to 7 . There 's no indication of what it controls . You set it to 8 and get dressed .

For the fact that complete coherence is a sign of mental illness, it sure feels good. You did n't get near enough sleep that night and got to the temporary state where everything interrelates, in ways which after a few hours of sleep will be nonsensical or absurd. You walk with staggering steps to the platform of the train that brings you away from this sleep-deprived nightmare home where your bed awaits you. Trains are weird to your current state. You could fall asleep in one and wake up in Brussels, or Berlin, or some far-off place in this Bundesland and it would be the exactly same act: Go to platform 1, step into the train and fall asleep somewhere quiet. Yes, there are announcements, but in your addled state, they sound more as if the echoing noises are there to tell you that you are alone and if you would not make it home no one would miss your absense. You think you have chosen the right train, sit down, fall asleep and hope your intuition wakes you up in time. The fact that this works by now rather reliably is both embarassing and convenient. You grab your bag, leave the train and walk home. The rhythm of the steps and the chirping of the birds seem to refer to things just a bit beyond your current level of sleep deprivation. You unlock the front door and climb the 5 flights of stairs. Just go to bed, you said to yourself far too often, but you feel dirty, grimy and cold and as such, you decide to step under the water of the shower at least for a moment. You do, and only then realize that you are still wearing your socks and your glasses. You correct that and as you wash yourself, you feel something metal on the base of your neck. Something round. You shake your head. You must be hallucinating. You check the mirror. The thing looks like a dial. A bronze-looking dial, about the size of a dial on a car radio. It has the numbers from 1 to 13 on it, looking as if it was set to 7 right now. Some people deem 7 lucky, but right now that number seems icky to you. The shape like a dagger, or a knife. you turn the wheel to the next setting and naked, wet and without glasses fall into bed.
