Road Trip
I’ve been up for almost 40 hours.  I drove for 24 hours just to get here.  My friend’s son was born ten days ago & for some reason (presumably religious) today is the day his son will be given a name.  The house is crowded, both parents come from large families & the house is filled with children & married couples.  I’m sitting on the couch & despite the volume (from others conversation) I can feel that I’m about to pass out.  A girl sits next to me & I can tell by her facial structure that she must be the new mother’s cousin.  In the middle of her giving me a long monolog introduction of herself, I get the feeling that this house really needs to have a cat.  I should get the son a cat.  She asks me to describe myself & I try to say, “I’ve been up a very long time & I want to pass out,” but when it comes out of my mouth it sounds more like, “Avisha lon jara misan for negata somanasa.”  I blink & feel my head fall & I’m unconscious & all my dreams are a pure black void.

BEEEEP
I keep hearing these un-natural beeps.  I can make them out, they sound like sign waves used to tell when the action & audio should start.  I hear them most often when I’m driving my car, but I can’t piece together what it’s caused by or what it relates to.  I’m scared it has something to do with someone re-editing my life.  I need to know what I’m missing from my life.  I need to find out what they’re stealing from me.  I think they’re using my time in the car because it’s a time when I stop paying attention & go on automatic pilot.  I need to find a way to stay aware 24 hours a day.  It’s the only way I’ll be able to catch whoever it is doing this to me.
 It only takes three days without sleep to catch them.  I can hear the programming in the back of my head urging me to do what they want after the beep sequence.  I follow the instructions to see where they want me to go & what they want me to do.  I find myself pulling up to a warehouse, but inside it is a shining sterile laboratory.  I’m sitting on a table in a lab room & when a scientist comes in I pull my knife out of my pocket & stab him in the neck.  He puts his hands up to cover the wound & starts choking on the blood.  He collapses & I can’t tell if he bled to death or suffocated.  I’m covered in his blood & I realize I didn’t plan this too well.  I put my knife away & get back on the table & wait to see if there are any beeps or programming to get me out of this mess.