Subjective reports of sleep disturbance indicate that 70-91% of patients with post-traumatic stress disorder have difficulty falling or staying asleep. Nightmares are reported by 19-71% of patients. Those were the facts. John wondered what was the percentage of people going crazy, because no treatment worked on them.

He tried everything. The medication was giving him nightmares, and the next day he would be drowsy and slow. It wasn’t ‘sleep’ when he was on pills, it felt more like losing consciousness, and suffering the worst hangover the day after. He almost crashed his car twice within a month. Meds were out of the question. He tried therapy, regressive hypnosis, exercises before bed, herbal tea, white noise machine. All and every bullshit method he found on the internet. Nothing worked.

Nights were so long, hours dragging endlessly. To pass the time, John would walk his dog, listening to audiobooks and podcasts. And while exploring his neighbourhood at night, he found a 24/7 convenience store. So he started stopping by almost every night, to get a snack or a drink. And to chat with the store clerk.

Night shift at the store paid better, and you needed the money. Besides, there was little work at night, mostly stocking shelves. The customers were rare at night - some drunk college kids buying frozen pizzas, sometimes night shift nurses from the nearby hospital. So it was quite surprising to get a regular. But this guy started stopping by pretty much every night, and he eventually became a part of your night shift routine.

Nighttime had this strange effect on people. It felt somewhat wrong to be awake and active when the world around you was so quiet, as if put on hold. And you and him seemed to share the same misery, being unable to sleep, forced to survive in this in-between state when everyone else was sound asleep. An unspoken understanding formed between you. And eventually, you started looking forward to seeing him.

And he started looking forward to seeing you.