You’re 12 years old. Your best friend is sleeping over on your living room floor. You have the TV and the Wii and the entire house all to yourself.
1. Mild sleepiness sets in
It’s only 1 o’clock, you tell yourself. You’re not really tired. It’ll pass. You can just keep watching your movie. Wrong. Don’t ignore sleepiness. You have to nip sleepiness in the bud before it blossoms into tiredness.
2. You get tired
It’s inevitable really. You curse yourself for avoiding the fact that you were getting sleepy. It’s almost two in the morning and you finished your movie - "Night at the Museum" or something. Your friend Jane is tired too, but neither of you want to go to bed. Staying up all night is fun and adventurous and dangerous because your mom told you to go to bed at a decent time that night.
3. So, you decide to play Wii
Wii is active so you figure that it’ll help you and Jane stay awake long enough to see the sun rise. You feel like a rock on the floor and neither of you wanted to move. But, eventually, you do because otherwise you’re going to fall asleep right there on the floor and that would be the ultimate catastrophe. This is the night that you and Jane are actually going to do it. You’re going to stay up even if it kills you.
4. Then comes the soda
Now that you’ve been playing Wii for a while and are slightly more awake you can make more informed decisions. That means drinking soda and eating popcorn and any sugar and caffeine that you can get your hands on. You know that you can’t do this without help. If only you knew how to make, or even liked, coffee.
5. And the 3 am blues
It’s 3 am. The excitement over the Wii has died out. You’re just kind of sitting around trying not to sleep. Your body feels heavy and your eyelids close of their own volition. You’re just sort of floating in between sleep and consciousness when you realize that you’re not going to make it.
6. Delirium
Then Jane mumbles something incoherent, and you think it’s the funniest thing you’ve ever heard. So you laugh and laugh and soon you don’t even know what you’re laughing about. Maybe you’re being a little too loud, but you don’t really care because everything is just so funny.
7. Food
After you’re finally done laughing and you realized that the caffeine that you consumed has worn off, you decide to eat some food instead. Snacks are always good - like popcorn or chips. And if you’re eating then you can’t fall asleep, right?
8. Why?
At this point in the night you’re just lying on top of your sleeping bags, maybe on your phone, feeling dead on the inside. You’re more tired than you’ve ever been in your entire life. So tired that everything aches, and you feel like a stone. You can’t move. Your eyes are itchy and dry. You’re wondering why you chose to try and stay up all night. Can you actually do this? Why are you doing this? Is it worth it?
9. A Slippery Slope
Conversations disintegrate. You turn on the TV to some old, nostalgic kid’s show to keep yourselves occupied until morning. You know all this is going to accomplish is messing with your sleep schedule, but at this point it’s too late to turn back. And you don’t want to be the one to suggest going to bed.
10. The End
Neither one of you is talking at this point. You’re too tired. You’re half asleep. You don’t remember falling asleep. Last time you checked the clock it was 4 am. When you open your eyes again the sun is up but it’s still earlier than 10 a.m. because your family is just starting to stir. So, how many hours of sleep did you get? Four maybe? Why are you proud of that? Yet, at the same time you’re angry at yourself. You couldn’t just stay up a couple more hours to see the sun?
Guess you’ll just have to try again next sleepover.
