[ WP ] `` I do n't sleep . '' He/She said .

“ I don ’ t sleep ” he said. 
 
 When I came into the Seattle area for the first time I realized I never really became accustomed to the actual *scene* of Seattle. Sure, I saw the postcards and took a few trips down to UW in order to gain a sense of the atmosphere of the place where I will be living for the next for years, but looking at data through a weather balloon is much different that standing on the ground and looking at the rainstorm. And that is what I exactly did for a few minutes until I stumbled into one of the increasingly numerous coffee shops that I passed every few times. This coffee shop had a strange ironic name to it that I couldn ’ t pin down, and when I entered it had a sense of both comfort and estrangement, like you are visiting a brother that you knew for your entire lifetime but both of your own interests are completely at odds with one another. I ordered what I usually ordered at the Starbucks in Kansas City; a ~~Grande~~ Medium White Chocolate Mocha with extra shot of espresso. It came out in a few minutes, handed to me by a guy with way too many tattoos to glasses ratio. I picked a seat and stared out into the city street. 
 
 I saw him when he walked across me. His face was completely wrecked; bags so big you would swear they were filled with the contents of a trip to Costco and eyes so bloodshot it put tweakers and crack addicts to shame. His hair was matted and unkempt, much like dreadlocks, only without the locks and only the dread. His clothing resembled much that of any other homeless Seattleite; northface jacket one size too big, shoes running shoes that never looked like they were run in a lifetime, and jeans that were just completely caked in mud. He entered into the coffeeshop reeking of marijuana, and he ordered a straight black coffee with a single sugar from the tattooed fella. He got his drink and sat down before I had a chance to react in a negative way. 
 
 “ Hi, I ’ m Mark. ” He said. 
 
 “ Hello, I ’ m Bothering ” I said back. 
 
 “ I can see that you are new here, is it your first time visiting the emerald city? ” 
 
 “ No, it ’ s been a few months since I last traveled here, but this time it ’ s actually here to stay. ” 
 
 “ College? ” 
 
 “ Yeah. UW, actually. ” 
 He flashed a toothy smile that revealed the lack of dental work performed on him. 
 
 “ Oh yeah? I used to go there! Alumni and all! ” 
 
 “ Cool man. ” 
 
 “ I got into the program on the backs of tons of scholarships, you know how that all felt like, right? ” 
 
 “ Yeah ” 
 
 “ Yeah, and actually some of the scholarships really had me put through the ringer. You wouldn ’ t believe how many different things other places want you to do in order for them to give you money. ” 
 
 “ Sure man. ” I drank some more of my coffee. It was much better than Starbucks, I ’ ll give that. 
 
 “ Yeah, like this one company wanted to try out a new sleep medicine for a couple thousand dollars. As with any serious cash I definitely had no inclination not to say no. And that ’ s when I ” 
 
 He stopped. I didn ’ t notice the shift from noise to silence until I looked over to my left. His face completely relaxed, his bags were completely gone and his eyes stared blackly into the jacket that I was wearing. I wanted to say something, but by that point ( and my experience with other homeless people in KC ), I didn ’ t want to set him off. He mumbled something incoherently when he perked up again. 
 
 “ Hi! I ’ m mark, I don ’ t sleep! ” 
 
 Funny, I would have never guessed. 
 
 A pause between the conversations as I tried to digest what he was saying. Here I am, in a coffeeshop in someplace that I have no idea where I am, talking to a strange homeless guy about college. The fact that he shut up completely changed the tone of my voice from one of apathy to one of interest. I decided to ask 
 
 “ What the he- yeah I saw that. You were talking about sleep studies when you decided to quiet down. I was wondering what that was. ” 
 
 “ Oh that? Don ’ t worry about my pauses. It ’ s a thing that happens to many people that can ’ t sleep. Apparently since the body still needs sleep people like me go into what are known as microsleep, stages in which my brain completely goes blank as my mind tries to sleep for 60 odd seconds. Because of this I can ’ t even drive, much less afford the insurance premiums that i got jacked up once they all knew of this. It was actually why I decided to start that sleep study that I told you! ” 
 
 He continues, and I listen. The coffee in my hands was half drunk, his was untouched. 
 
 “ So what the company did was that they took em and five other people into a room in order to study the effects of group sleep on the body. The room was pretty wild I ’ ll tell you, they got it so that it dampens every sound that comes into the room. I couldn ’ t even hold a good conversation with other people because the dampening in that room prevented me from raising my voice too high. The big wigs at the study made us sleep in beds that were arranged in a star pattern and played some white noise in order to help us sleep. As I decided to sleep I was ” 
 
 He entered into what he called another stage of microsleep. His eyes started staring into his own coffee as I wait for him to come out of it. I drink some more of my coffee, enjoying the sights of what Seattle has to offer from the coffeeshop. 
 
 “ Finn, Julien, Cyril, Colbert, Lopez ” 
 
 I look back at him expecting another section of his adventures in the sleep study lab. I don ’ t see that, I see him staring into his coffee looking like a man that had taken in thousands of dollars to Vegas only to find himself within the hour scrambling for change on the strip right beside a cheap prostitute. The shift in vocal tone completely muffled the coffeeshop that I was in. Even the tattooed barista stopped cleaning glasses in order to wonder what the heck went on as Mark continues to repeat those five names. I scoot a little bit away from him, scraping the floor and seemingly waking Mark up from his routine. 
 
 “ Hi! I ’ m Mark! Though I think I was already talking to you about somethi- Jesus Christ are you alright? ” 
 
 I didn ’ t notice it as first so I looked at my reflection in the window. I looked scared. 
 “ No, no don ’ t worry about me ” I said 
 
 Mark replied “ Dang I never knew that my episodes could scare someone like that. I know that sometimes it freaks people out but you, you were looking about ready to either fight me or run straight out of the coffeeshop into the street. ” 
 
 “ Ye- “ 
 
 “ *Screaming. * ” 
 
 “ Yeah ” 
 
 There were different routes I could have taken with this conversation now. He gave me one before I had the chance to respond. 
 
 “ Okay man. Where was I, the sleep study thing and all that I do remember… I think I was at the part about the nightmares ” 
 
 “ nightmares? ” 
 
 “ Nightmares. Yeah. Well, not so much as nightmares as just one single long dream. I ’ m guessing they wanted us to confirm a thing about white noise and the effects on people. Or maybe it was the shared experience of dreaming or something like that. But anyway when I started dreaming I found myself in a circular room with other people sitting around me. I realized that ( a ) I was dreaming and that ( b ) these were the other five people in the sleep study. There was some murmurs between us on what to do next when one of them, Cyril, decided that we should all tell each other our names. ” 
 
 “ Finn, Julien, Cyril, Colbert, Lopez, right? ” 
 
 “ Yeah, how did- I said it in my microsleep phase, didn ’ t I. ” 
 
 “ Yeah ” 
 
 “ Okay sure, all six of us exchanged names and talked about our lives for the couple of hours that we were within the sleep study group. We explained our lives and our aspirations, and by the time that we should have all woken up we knew quite a bit of everyone else. ” 
 
 “ Sure ” I drank the rest of my coffee. His looks cold but I don ’ t care, he looks too focused to even think about drinking. 
 
 “ Except, by the time that we thought we were to wake up. Nobody did. ” 
 
 He continued his story, looking less energetic as he went on 
 
 “ Lopez realized it first when he decided to go back and wake up. He did all the regular stuff people do to wake up. Slapping himself, lifting up his eyelids, poking and prodding himself, everything. Nothing worked. Soon everyone decided to get in on the whole waking craze, with the assumption that when one of us wakes that one person can wake the rest of us up and we can all go home. Don ’ t take this as me saying that I hated it here, I actually liked the company. But the relative isolation really did make us itching to get us out of here. I and Cyril and all the rest were all at it when we heard an echoing voice talking about test results. And ” 
 
 He paused again, I prodded 
 
 “ And…? ” 
 
 “ And the voice started congratulating on falling asleep so fast, only five minutes before everyone knocked out, he said. ” 
 
 He definitely looked winded out and I wanted nothing more than to end it so I decided to ask the question that was tugging at my mind. 
 
 “ So the reason why you couldn ’ t sleep was… ” 
 
 “ The fact that, at this point in my life, I had already mentally spent half of it sleeping for 8 ‘ hours ’. ” 
 
 I decided to end it there and pay my respects and condemnation for whatever practitioner cursed him with this situation. He only looked at me and nodded in agreement, and I set off back into Seattle. 

