Zzz

"Everything feels like a copy of a copy of a copy…""

Insomnia. Oh, insomnia, you bitch. This thing between us is supposed to be a power struggle; you are not supposed to have such an unfair advantage. We used to attack and retreat in regular intervals, but no more. There can be no sport in defeating me this way.

If you don't have chronic insomnia, there aren't words to help you fully understand the toll it takes on your body and mind. You can imagine, but you can never know. You can literally feel your sanity fade away as exhaustion pushes logic further and further into your subconscious mind. It is a kind of torture. No, literally.

Sleep deprivation has been used as an "interrogation technique" by various governments and organizations all over the world. There is currently debate as to whether it will remain an acceptable technique, due to the fact that it has been determined "inhumane and degrading". The former Prime Minister of Israel, Manachem Begin, experienced sleep deprivation as an interrogation technique during his time as a prisoner of the Russian NKVD. I remember reading one of his quotes on the subject and thinking "Oh my god! I know that feeling!". It was so strange to relate so closely to a person I previously knew little about. The quote, which I recorded in one of my many books, was "...a haze begins to form. His spirit is wearied to death, his legs are unsteady, and he has one sole desire: to sleep. Anyone who has experienced this desire knows that not even hunger and thirst are comparable with it."

Don't I know it...