Case Study 348
By Olivia Modica
Day 18,
I usually don’t sleep at night, and when I do I drift off into the nothingness and do not dream. I always chalked it up to the fact that I wasn’t creative. I had never enjoyed the arts and found myself a more scientific man. I like the facts, what is true and easy to believe in.
Three weeks ago I was told about a new insomnia sleep study at the research center two towns over. I thought, ‘what the hell? I rarely sleep as is, might as well make a couple bucks off of it.’ We were marched in here three weeks ago and told by some scientist that it would last a month. I had nothing better to do, so I took the chance. They asked us to keep a journal during our stay here, record any changes in sleeping patterns or odd behavior. Along with the journal they introduced me to the drug that would be the center of this entire study. It is said to not only aid with sleep but intensify dreams.
For the first two weeks everything was normal. It wasn’t until three nights ago that the dreams started. The first time it happened I opened my eyes prepared to see the room I had been provided during my stay but I was instead met with a dark sea of clouds. There were people all around me staring at me. Their faces were distorted and stretched as if someone was pulling their flesh in two different directions. Their mouths were gaping open, and although they were open no sound came out.
One of them was crying, but she still remained silent and unmoving. It was unnerving to me that tears were just puddling on the dirt around her shoes but she said nothing. Then I woke up. Days after I’ve had this dream I can still remember every single detail.
Day 21,
I was asleep for fifteen hours yesterday. I’ve never slept longer than five and somehow my body took it upon itself to put me out for fifteen hours! If one of the researchers hadn’t come to check on me I don’t think I ever would’ve woken up. Somehow I dreamed the entire time. Every detail is etched, no carved, into my brain. I remember the faces. Every single one. I remember the sound of my screams mixed with their screams mixed with more screams.
Some of the faces were familiar too. Perhaps my brain doesn’t have the bandwidth to create new faces and is using my fellow participants as inspiration, after all they are practically the only people I interact with. However, when I wake and I attempt to search for these people from my dreams I come up empty handed. It appears as if maybe these faces are coming from a different place. They want to evaluate my psyche and make sure I won’t become a danger to the other patients. But I’ve seen things, I know I’ve seen things. Just yesterday I saw them dragging someone away (information has been redacted for your safety and the safety of others).
Day 25,
Since my last entry I have been evaluated and they’ve put me under what is essentially house arrest. I have been stuck in this fucking room for days with nothing but the infuriatingly bright lights that sit on hour after hour blinding me. I promise I’m not crazy. I’m as perfectly sane as any person can be.
Day 27,
I haven’t slept since that day. I have been sitting, staring at the wall blindingly awake. I think I’ve stopped blinking, hell I think I’ve stopped breathing! I’ve begun to occupy myself with watching. I take in every move of every person I see. I’ve started to notice that some of them haven’t been leaving their rooms. I asked the researchers and they said that those people were part of a shorter project. I don’t believe them. I’ve seen things, I’ve seen everything. No one has left, no one is leaving. They’re all still here! (information has been redacted for your safety and the safety of others).They’re somewhere I know they are. Sometimes I hear them scream, but no one is there. There has to be someone, they have to be somewhere! I know they are, they have to be, they have to be, they have to be.
Day 31,
This morning the nurse came in and gave me the sleeping pills. They’ve said that I’ve been awake for an unhealthy amount of time. They said they just want to help me. I didn’t want to take it, I don’t want to sleep. They had to tie me down to keep me from screaming (information has been redacted for your safety and the safety of others). I tried to vomit up the sleeping pills to no avail. I’m trying to fight it, the sleep I mean. The researchers must truly want me to sleep because the screamings have stopped and no one has come to see me all day. Perhaps, if they are so insistent, I should stop fighting it. To be honest, I’m beginning to have trouble fighting sleep. Even as I write my eyes are being forced open and I can barely think................
Important Notes;
After two weeks of exposure to the drug, patient 35890 has finally become susceptible to the influence of the proposed drug dgkdjfgdfgdg (information has been redacted for your safety and the safety of others). The patient shows signs of the vivid dreams we’ve seen in action and should wake up in six to eight weeks, if at all. According to the current statistics, about 5.0% (information has been redacted for your safety and the safety of others) of patients wake up from comatose. If the patient does not wake up the protocol is provided on the next page. In addition to this, you can find documentation to provide forged death certificates on page 92 of your packets.