Friday, March 10, 2006
a cycle endless
She ambled listlessly from the article she was trying to finish to the book she was attempting valiantly to understand. She glanced at the clock that glowed green in the corner and sighed. The luminous hands of the clock read half past one. It was another sleepless night. She reached for the steaming mug of coffee beside her laptop, her third one that night.
She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her eyes, which were itching from the five-hour exposure it received from the computer screen. She closed her eyes, thought for a moment and leaned forward to type another meaningless sentence to her article. It was the last one she had to do for the paper, but she still had the book to look forward to.
It was another thirty minutes before she was able to print out the article and store it safely in her folder. She turned to the book that lay innocently on the table and picked it up. She turned to the page she marked and continued reading where she left off. It wasn’t long before the book slid from her limp hands and she fell asleep at the table.
The next thing she knew, sunlight was streaming through the blinds and she was being shaken awake. In school, she slept through the discussions and languidly answered questions. Finally, the torturous eight hours were over, but still, she ended up with the same amount of work she had the previous day.
When she arrived, she made herself another cup of coffee and went upstairs to start working again. Dinner summons were ignored and good-nights were never said, as she never did go to sleep. That night, as she drank from her fourth cup, she numbly pressed the keys to type in another sentence to yet another article.
She closed her eyes that night, thinking that it was a cycle endless and impossible to avoid.
written at 9:45 PM