If he checked the time again, it would be 4:00 AM. And if it was 4:00 AM, he had already lost.
By the time he got to the second floor window frames, the gray light of dawn began to bleed through the curtains. The birds started their first, tentative chirps—a sound that usually signaled a fresh start, but to Elias, sounded like a finish line he had failed to cross. 1. I Can't Go To Sleep
Elias rolled onto his stomach. Then his left side. Then his right. He flipped the pillow to the "cool side," which stayed cool for approximately six seconds before absorbing his frantic radiating heat. If he checked the time again, it would be 4:00 AM
He sighed, his eyes burning and heavy, and realized the cruelest joke of all: now that the sun was up, he was finally starting to feel a little bit drowsy. The birds started their first, tentative chirps—a sound
The clock on the nightstand was a liar. It claimed it was 3:14 AM, but Elias knew better. To him, time had ceased to be a linear progression of minutes and had instead become a thick, suffocating fog.