stories that happened on a specific occasion

The spring thunder roars, everything grows, and before you know it, it is the waking of insects.

The windows were wet from the rain, and the outside world seemed to have changed. Shapeless blocks of color were flowing, making people forget the time.

"This is your medicine." A voice suddenly came from behind.

I turned around, still a little dazed. "Thank you, Dr. Li." I said after taking the medicine.

If it weren't for X talking about it all the time by my side, I probably forgot to come here.

"I haven't been here for a while, I guess your meter has been reduced?" Dr. Li said.

"Maybe." I said, "But I've been busy recently."

"Okay, so that's it for today?"

"Hmm." I nodded.

I got up and walked to the door, but when I opened the door, I saw a boy in school uniform standing at the door, about to knock on the door.We met each other, and he walked into the house with his head down.

People who will come here know each other's purpose well.

I have known Dr. Li for a long time. It seems that since I moved to this city, I will come to her private clinic from time to time.In fact, I don't have any health problems, it's just that I tend to suffer from insomnia when I'm under a lot of stress.Dr. Li's clinic is a place that specializes in treating sleep problems.

No, it's been almost ten years since I first came here.

In the past ten years, she has attended the symposium held by me, and I have attended her wedding and her child's hundred-day banquet, so I can be regarded as a tacit friend.So, occasionally we also meet outside of the clinic.

After coming out of the clinic, the elevator had just arrived at the basement floor, and I suddenly found that my car keys were left in her office. In order not to disturb the ongoing diagnosis and treatment, I went back to the clinic silently, sat at the front desk and waited quietly. with.

Not long after he was seated, he heard roars coming from the consulting room.

Not Dr. Lee's.

In fact, the door of the consulting room is thick and soundproof, but the sound still penetrated.

"I don't want to sleep! I don't want to sleep!" the man shouted hysterically.

I couldn't hear Dr. Li's voice, but I heard the man yelling again: "Don't force me!!!"

After a while of silence, the door of the consultation room was suddenly opened, and the boy came out angrily with red eyes and nose.

He seemed annoyed, and gave me a hard look as he passed me by.

Only then did I realize that his eyes were filled with bright red blood.

Dr. Li had no intention of chasing the boy back, and shook his head helplessly after seeing me.

"Are you all right?" I asked.

"It's okay, I'm used to it." Dr. Li turned to me and asked, "Why are you back?"

I explained my purpose, and she looked at her watch and said, "It's lunch time anyway, why don't we have dinner together."

She took me to a Japanese restaurant, and we were ushered into a small box that can accommodate up to four people. After the sliding door was opened, we took our seats in slippers.

"The eel in this restaurant is very good, do you want to try it?" Dr. Li began to order.

"Whatever you want, I can do it." I was a little absent-minded, but actually I was still thinking about what happened just now.

As I said, she has known me for many years, and she can see my thoughts at a glance.After ordering and the waiter left and closed the door, she whispered, "Are you curious about what happened just now?"

Since she was my doctor, I never had anything to hide about her, and it didn't work anyway.

"What happened to that boy?" I asked straight to the point.

Dr. Li sighed and said, "I have been practicing medicine for so many years and have met countless patients. Most of them are just like you. They came for the treatment of sleep disorders. I didn't expect to meet such a patient."

"What? He really came here to stay awake." I said jokingly.

"You really heard it. It seems that the sound insulation effect is still lacking." Dr. Li said.

I was a little surprised. Although the guess was confirmed, I still felt a little unbelievable.

"Why don't you sleep?" I asked.

Dr. Li sneered and said, "I think it's ridiculous."

I didn't say a word, I just signaled her to continue talking with expectant eyes.

"I know that this kind of thing is just what you want," Dr. Li said instead, "but, sorry, we have a confidentiality agreement and we cannot disclose the patient's condition to the outside world."

I adjusted my sitting posture, leaned my upper body forward again, and said, "However, it's okay to talk about things other than illness?"

Dr. Li suddenly laughed, pointed at me and said, "You are still the same."

Seeing Dr. Li was relieved, and I was also relieved.

Dr. Li told me that the protagonist of this story is also the boy I met before, named Xiao C.The first time she met Little C was after the end of this year.After the new year, Dr. Li opened his business a few weeks later than usual.She clearly remembered that on the first day the clinic opened, the weather was cold and there were few people. Xiao C was wearing a down jacket a few sizes larger than herself, and was led to the clinic by his mother early in the morning.

After doing a routine examination, she found that Little C's eyes were dull and unconscious, the whites of his eyes were covered with bloodshot eyes, and his eyeballs hung up slightly unconsciously. From this look, he knew that it was caused by lack of sleep.But what Dr. Li didn't expect is that ordinary people's lack of sleep is caused by physical or psychological compulsion, but Xiao C's lack of sleep is different.

Dr. Li continued to ask Little C's mother, and the result was surprising.

Little C's staying up late and sleepless is not caused by playing games all night or heavy schoolwork, but purely man-made.In other words, it was him who resisted not to sleep.

"Did you know that people can go without sleep for a few days at most?" Dr. Li asked suddenly.

I shook my head.

"Ten days." Dr. Li said: "If you don't sleep for about ten days, it may lead to death."

Dr. Li continued, and Xiao C's mother told her that the child hadn't slept for eight days.

"This is the first time I've heard of a case of being able to go without sleep for such a long time without relying on any drugs." Dr. Li said: "Can you imagine? He is supported by willpower."

"Can it last for so long?" I asked curiously.

"As far as I know, it is very rare. You must know that not sleeping is very harmful to the body, and sleeping, if it is a crowd without sleep disorders, the body will take the initiative to fall asleep when feeling tired. He has been eight years old. I haven't slept all day, and it seems to me a miracle that he walked into my office upright without passing out.''

Dr. Li gave me a brief introduction to science. Generally, after 24 hours without sleep, people will be in a hyperactive state. The limbic system of the brain will be stimulated to try to compensate for the lack of sleep by increasing the level of dopamine, and dopamine can convey messages of happiness and excitement.However, after sleep deprivation lasts longer than this point, all pleasure wears off.After 48 hours without sleep, a person's immune response and judgment will be impaired.People also feel nauseous, and there may be instances of gibberish.Worst of all, the energy that drives the body will be almost completely depleted.This is because without rest for such a long period of time, the body loses the ability to metabolize glucose, so the person becomes exhausted.If a person does not sleep after three days, the consequences at this time are already unimaginable.Because that's when the brain hallucinates and starts seeing things that aren't there because the body is desperately trying to understand what it's going through.It's definitely not a pleasant experience with a lack of vital chemicals and nutrients, and a tired body and mind.Additionally, all previous effects get worse and the body starts to shut down.This is a clear sign that the person is at risk of becoming a "dead man", unable to communicate or function as a normal human being at this time.

"And eight days..." Dr. Li shook his head, "It's also unheard of for me to go without sleep for eight days without taking stimulants."

"Why isn't he sleeping?" I asked.

After learning about the situation, Dr. Li also asked Little C's mother the same question.

Unexpectedly, Xiao C's mother said that it was because of a dream.

"Dream?" I was surprised by the answer.

Doctor Li nodded.In the next few sessions of treatment, she gradually became clear about the reasons why Xiao C didn't want to sleep.Although as an atheist, she found it absurd, but seeing Little C's expression and hysterical emotions when he told the story, judging from the perspective of a professional doctor, he did not lie.

Little C did refuse to fall asleep because he was afraid of dreaming, and it all started with their family's New Year's trip this year.

Little C's story

Little C's grades are not outstanding in the class, but because the family is relatively affluent, there is no pressure from the college entrance examination.Every year during the holidays, his parents will take him to travel abroad, allowing him to practice English while broadening his horizons and preparing for studying abroad in the future.Because of this, the whole family will prepare for the New Year's trip together every Spring Festival.

But this year is a bit special. The originally planned trip to Europe was changed due to the strike of the airline staff.After some consideration, the family chose to go to T City, a warm island city in China.

I have long heard that T City is like spring in winter, with a strong New Year flavor, and its New Year temple fair and night market are also well-known throughout the country.So Xiao C and his family are still looking forward to this trip.I never thought that all the good things were completely broken a few days after staying in the hotel's vacation home.

Because Xiao C and his family are temporarily modifying their New Year travel plans, all the high-end hotels in the city center are fully booked during the peak tourist season.In desperation, Xiao C's father found an unused single-family holiday cottage near the city center for his family through friends.

Renting a whole house for the New Year seems to be a popular way of traveling and celebrating the New Year in recent years.The rest of the hotel's buildings have been rented out, but the remaining building is just vacant for Chinese New Year this year.Little C's family heard about Dayue, and a total of six members of the family moved into this three-story house.

Although the utilization rate of this house is not high, it can be seen that someone cleans it all the year round.The service staff of the vacation home held the key to help open the door and carry the luggage. Although there was a damp and musty smell in the house after entering the house, the windows were bright and clean, and the decoration was elegant, which made Xiao C's family feel very lucky.

After a careful tour of the house, the family began to arrange accommodation.

Although this building has three floors, there are only three rooms in total.The two old people lived in the guest room on the first floor, and Little C's parents took his younger brother to live in the master bedroom on the second floor, while he himself chose a room on the second floor near the stairs.Halfway up the stairs leading to the third floor was an iron door, which had been locked with a huge iron lock and could not be opened.There is a sign saying "Do not enter unless you are public", and it is estimated that the attic is a utility room for cleaning items.

In this way, Little C's family moved in with peace of mind.

It was New Year's Eve when we arrived in T city. Although it was close to the urban area, it was extremely quiet. There was only a small road connecting the city and here.Therefore, although you can enjoy the fireworks over the city after nightfall, you never hear the sound of firecrackers.After the New Year's Eve dinner, the family agreed to watch TV together to keep the New Year's Eve together.However, just after eleven o'clock, the old man and the young brother couldn't hold on anymore, so everyone had to disperse separately.The bored little C had no choice but to watch a movie on the computer to pass the time, and fell asleep to the sound of the movie before he knew it.

Just when little C was sleeping soundly, there was a sudden "boom", like some heavy object falling and hitting the ground hard, which woke up little C.Then there was a complete silence, Little C thought it was an illusion.

Little C looked at the computer again, and the movie was still playing.Maybe it's the voice in the movie, Little C thought to himself.At the same time, he subconsciously checked the time, and it was past twelve o'clock.This New Year has passed in a daze, Little C sighed after thinking about it, and planned to turn off the lights and continue to sleep.

After Little C turned off the desk lamp, the room was completely dark. At this moment, the moon hiding behind the clouds gradually appeared. From the light and shadow of the room, one could clearly see the moonlight pouring in. From a corner of the room, slowly The flooding suddenly illuminated the room.

When the moonlight just fell on the door, the doorknob of the room suddenly turned.

Little C became alert, and he stared at the doorknob.

"click".

The doorknob turned again.

Little C thought it was a family member, so he called out.

Unexpectedly, there seemed to be a response from the other side of the door. After turning it twice quickly, there was a "click".

Little C knew that it was the sound of the door lock being opened.

The wooden door facing the foot of his bed creaked open, revealing a gap.

The other end of the gap was pitch black, nothing could be seen, and no one appeared for a long time.

Little C and the door seemed to be still, and just when Little C was about to get up to close the door, the door shut itself with a bang.

Little C was taken aback, only to realize that he was still lying on the bed with the computer in his hands, the desk lamp was still on, and the door was closed.

It turned out that everything before was just a dream.Although Little C was still terrified, he turned off the lights and went to sleep.

That night, Little C didn't sleep well.But he thinks that if he admits to the bed, he will be fine in the future.Unexpectedly, what happened last night was just the beginning of a nightmare.

From that day on, Little C dreamed of exactly the same scene every night.

I accidentally fell asleep in the room. After turning off the lights, the moonlight floated in the room. When the light and shadow came to the door, the doorknob would turn.Even this is regular, at first it is once and once, after about three or two times, it will be turned twice in quick succession, and then the door will open with a harsh creaking sound.After such a picture is still for a while, the door will close by itself again, and then Xiao C will wake up from the dream with the sound of closing the door.

Repeatedly.

But there are also differences. Little C finds that every time he dreams, there will be something different.That is, as time goes on, each dream door is opened a little bit wider.

The gap in the door is widening.

Gradually, by the fifth night, the door was already ajar.

Little C was still staring at the door, waiting for the moment when the door was slammed shut, which was also the moment for him to wake up freely from his dream.But belatedly, for some reason, the door was not closed this time.

Slowly, from the darkness outside the door, something appeared.

That thing is so small that when it first appeared, Little C thought he had misread it.However, the sight that became sensitive in the dim light quickly caught the existence and movement of that thing.

At first, it was just a small white dot that suddenly appeared from the darkness, and then it turned into a branch-like thing, and there were not only one, but four branches.They came out of the pitch black one by one, and then "slapped" all of them on the edge of the door panel.

Only then did Little C react.Those four branches-like things are fingers.

Those four off-white fingers, which seemed to have no nails or other parts, were tightly grasping the door, and then slowly pushed the door open bit by bit like this.

The dream of the fifth night came to an abrupt end here, and Xiao C woke up again.

At this time, he was lying on the sofa in the living room on the first floor. This was also his last night in T City.

Although this trip has been plagued by nightmares at night, the daytime play was very satisfying, so although Xiao C felt strange, he never mentioned it to his family.After all, mentioning these things in the New Year will somewhat make the elderly feel taboo.

At the end of the trip to T City, Little C felt that the nightmare would end with it.

On the sixth night, Little C and his family returned home exhausted after a four-hour flight.After packing all the luggage, Little C fell asleep on the bed and fell asleep immediately.

But when he opened his eyes, he found himself back in the three-story house.Still the same room, same time, same scene.

Everything is exactly the same as before.

The room was pitch black, the moonlight began to emerge, and the door was gradually opened.

The difference this time is that a complete hand and arm appeared.The same off-white color as before, the hand reached into the door and fumbled at the door indiscriminately.

From this picture, Little C's brain began to spin rapidly, and he found that the door was pushed open a little more because of the arm's extension, and there was still a third of it to be fully opened.But it was still pitch black outside the door, the thick black seemed to be alive, tightly wrapped around some objects that might be seen, except for the pale arm.

From the perspective of the appearance of the arm, it is not difficult to deduce that the owner of this arm is at least two meters tall.

The dream is here, disconnected.

Little C, who was covered in cold sweat, sat on the bed, staring and gasping for breath. Only then did he realize the seriousness of the matter.

Only then did Little C tell his family about everything he had dreamed about in T City.Sure enough, the attitudes of the adults were the same, and Little C was comforted by saying that everything was due to the exhaustion of traveling and then let it go.

Things also started from here, with a qualitative change.

Since the appearance of that arm, little C has seen the same off-white toes and soles of the arm in his dreams one after another. Slowly, as the time between opening the door and waking up from the dream prolongs, they appear together. There is also a head.

At first it was just a top of the head, and it was difficult to confirm the existence of the top of the head in the dark, but those few strands of black haggard hair followed the direction of the air flow along the crack of the door, and gradually drifted in through the door of the room where there was no wind. It made the identification much easier and clearer.

In the dream after the top of the head appeared, the person's entire head also protruded in.

But the face cannot be seen, because the head is so carefully covered by the hair that it is almost impossible to distinguish the front and back.

Even so, Little C knew it was looking in its own direction.

After Xiao C woke up from this dream, he began to dare not fall asleep.It was also from that time that Little C was unable to go to school and live normally. Most of the time he drank a lot of coffee all day long and played games all night at night.Of course, there will still be times when you are exhausted and accidentally fall asleep.

Whenever Little C fell asleep in a daze, he would wake up in his dream and find that he had returned to that room again.

The last time Little C returned to that room, all the doors of that room had been opened.In the room, besides him on the bed, there was a person-like thing standing against the ceiling by the door.

Its head leans slightly towards the ceiling, its body is gray and white like a dead tree, its limbs are extremely uncoordinated, and its arms almost hang down to its calves.Its head was completely covered by hair, and those hairs were tightened around the neck by something like an iron chain, which looked like a black dull balloon from a distance.

It's approaching me.

This is the first sentence Little C said to Dr. Li after opening his mouth.

At this point in the story, I'm still a little unsure.

Suddenly, the door of the private room was opened a crack, and I shivered vigilantly.

When the door was fully opened, it turned out that it was the waiter who had come to deliver the food.

After the dishes were served, I didn't move my chopsticks for a long time.

"What about now?" I said anyway, "How is this kid doing now?"

"I'm here for a follow-up visit today." Dr. Li said, "Let me stop prescribing Valium for him."

"Can't sleep after so long?"

"That kid's willpower is truly amazing."

Dr. Li and I were silent and ate quietly for a while.

Suddenly, she said again: "The child said that he doesn't want to go to bed anymore."

"Why?" I hurriedly asked.

Dr. Li put a piece of eel on my food plate, and said, "He said that the man had already stood by his bed."

The author has something to say: Thank you for reading, this novel is updated while writing, so it is expected to update one every week :)

Friends who meet for the first time, welcome to read the first book of this series of novels "Story without following"