Kayci stumbled into her apartment, only vaguely remembering to shut the door behind her. She made her way through the living room, dropping her bookbag somewhere along the way. Exams had been hellish so far, and she was barely functioning as a result.
Using what little willpower she had left, she forced herself into the kitchen to get something to eat. If she sat down, she wasn't sure if she'd ever get up again. Her stomach rumbled loudly, agreeing with her decision.
Three exams in two days! She had been spending so much time studying that she hadn't had enough time to eat or sleep. Hell, she didn't even remember what day it was. The lack of sleep and all the information she was forcing into her brain was really draining on her. There was no way she could function normally any time soon.
And the worst part was, it wasn't even over yet. She still had two more exams to go, but she at least had three days off to study with. She needed to get back to her books. She knew going to college wasn't going to be easy, but damn, it was turning her into a literal zombie.
Zombie Kayci managed to wolf down a sandwich and drink a can of diet coke. The caffeine wasn't going to help her wake up any more, she knew. She had been chugging Starbucks for the past two nights, desperately trying to stay awake and cram in a few more hours of studying.
She managed to make it to her computer desk without passing out on the floor. She slumped back into her oversized computer chair. She needed to sleep, but her mind was still racing a thousand miles a minute. Plato and Socrates were taking up a large part of her brain, with the leftovers cycling through advanced microeconomics. As much as her mind was fried, she knew there was no way she was going to get to sleep any time soon.
So she flipped on her computer and surfed over to one of her favorite websites. A nice relaxation tape is just what she needed right now. She flipped through the selections, trying to find something that would be just right. Something to relax her and just turn her brain off. That's what she needed just now. Just shut her brain down and put her to sleep.
Ohhh, what was this? Sleepymind had a new video up. His videos were always texted based, and though she was looking for an audio, Sleepymind always put her into a very deep sleep. He was the one to go to if you needed a full night of quality rest.
Kayci slipped on her head phones and scooted down in her chair. She made sure she was nice and comfortable before clicking on the video. A slight smile crept onto her mouth as she enlarged the video to fit full screen.
A pleasant sound started reverberating through her headphones. Large words appeared on screen, telling her to get comfortable and relax. Uhhhhh, yeah, that was the whole point. Get comfortable and relax. Her eyes burned from all the reading she had done over the last two days, but she focused as best as she could. If this video worked, she would be relaxed and asleep in bed in just... 25 minutes, according to the length of the video.
A black and white spiral appeared on the screen, swirling around in her vision. Kayci's eyes were too tired and too burnt out to follow the moving spiral. She just let her eyes grow unfocused as she tried to pay attention to the words on the screen. A large "RELAX" gently floated up on the screen, as if it was lazily swimming in the spiral.
Kayci felt the muscles in her shoulders start to loosen up already. Urg, she hadn't realized just how tense she really was. This had been a really, really long week. And she just need to really, really relax...
Kayci's eyes blinked. Did she just read that on the screen, or was that her? Did it really matter? As long as she could just relax and go to sleep. That's all that mattered right now. Just relaxing and going to sleep...
She blinked again several times to clear her eyes. She needed to focus on the video if it was really going to work. But it was so hard. Her eyes were already so heavy, so hurt, so tired. But she was determined to keep them open. Just open enough so she could read the words. Those words were going to help her relax. The words were going to help her sleep.
Ahhh. Kayci sighed. She couldn't wait to sleep. She had only gotten three hours of sleep the last two nights. She just needed to turn her brain off so she could finally get some real sleep. She just needed to relax and turn her brain off. Once her brain was turned off, she could finally sleep. Should couldn't wait to finally drop into a mindless slumber.
But first she needed to focus on the words. It seemed like so many had drifted past already. She couldn't afford to miss anymore, or she might not be able to sleep. She squeezed her eyes together so she could focus on the words.
More words floated up on the screen:
YOU CAN FEEL THE HEAT IN YOUR LEGS
THE HEAT IS SOOTHING OUT YOUR SORE TIRED MUSCLES
YOU CAN FEEL YOUR LEGS GROWING HEAVY
SO HEAVY AND SO RELAXED
YOUR LEGS A GROWING WARMER AND WARMER
AND THE WARMER THEY GROW, THE MORE RELAXED YOU ARE