The Insomniac

Amber Rayne sits on her bed looking outside her window at the stars twinkling in the midnight sky. She's having another restless night of sleeplessness. Her mind is spinning thoughts a mile a minute. She watches as an ambulance goes by her window with lights flashing and sirens blasting loudly. The dogs in the apartment complex began to howl as the ambulance goes by. She hears scratching at the front door and goes downstairs to investigate the sound. When she looks out she sees a stray cat licking its paw and purring softly. She goes into her kitchen and takes out a small bowl from the cabinet. She opens the refrigerator and takes out the milk. She began pouring it into the little blue bowl. The living room was dark only the glare from the moonlight could be seen through the curtains of the window. Amber accidentally bumps her big toe on the sofa in the living room and lets out a scream.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Amber.

She limps in pain towards the front door and slowly opens it. She watches the cat as it jumps off her steps and run into the bushes next to her apartment.

"Don't be scared kitty," said Amber.

She places the bowl of milk on her steps for the cat and closes her door. When she peers out from the curtain she sees the timid animal began to slurped the milk hungrily.

"Poor little thing," said Amber.

Amber goes back upstairs to try to get some sleep before she has to get up for work later in the day. She promised herself she would try to make an appointment to see her doctor about her problems getting to sleep. The only thing she feared most about going to the doctor was being put on medicines to help with her sleeplessness. Amber has always been a cautious person about taking any type of medicines because she believed it would harm her body. She was a vegan and only took herbal remedies from her herbalist Geneva. The herbalist had recommended that Amber take chamomile tea at bedtime and some valerian root drops for her anxiety. Amber got back into her bed and pulled the covers over her shoulders. She only had four hours before she had to get ready for her day at the veterinarian clinic. Her eyelids began to get heavy and she closed her eyes and was asleep in a second. 

The alarm clock went off next to Amber's bed. She got up and sat on the side of the bed yawning and stretched out her arms. She turned off the alarm to the clock and pulled the curtains back all the way. The sun was shining brightly and the birds were chirping loudly in the trees. She went to her closet and took out her uniform and began getting ready for work. She went downstairs and made her coffee and cinnamon toast. After placing the dishes into the kitchen sink, she looked outside to see if the stray cat was still around. The cat was gone and the bowl of fresh milk was empty. Amber took the bowl inside and left for the clinic. It was a long day at the veterinarian clinic. Amber kept yawing from lack of sleep so much that she decided to call her family doctor to make an appointment. The receptionist Grace told her that Dr. Webb had a 4:30 appointment available if she could make it in to see him that afternoon. 

"Yes, I'll be there," said Amber.

The receptionist made the appointment and Amber went to see the doctor as soon as her shift was over at the clinic. When she got to her doctor's appointment, two other patients were waiting to see the doctor beside her. Amber signed her name to the sign-in form and took a seat near a magazine rack. The nurse came out of the little side door to the waiting room and called Amber back to see Dr. Webb. Dr. Webb had been Amber's doctor since she was a little girl. He was a short, round, chubby man with white hair and a white beard. When Amber was a little girl she used to call him Santa Doctor because he reminded her of Santa Claus.

"What seems to be the trouble?" asked Dr. Webb

" I'm having trouble falling asleep," said Amber.

The doctor wrote Amber out a prescription for Zaleplon 10 mg tablet to be taken at bedtime.

"This may make you feel dizzy," said Dr. Webb. " It will get better as the medicine works its way into your system."

"Will this interfere with my job?" asked Amber.

"It shouldn't since it's taken at bedtime," said Dr. Webb.

Dr. Webb handed Amber the prescription. She took the prescription putting it into her purse. The doctor wanted to see her back in three weeks to see how the medicine was working. Amber stopped at the receptionist's desk to make her follow-up appointment. After leaving the doctor's office, she made a top to the Publix to pick up some milk, bread, and coffee. The Publix has a twenty-four-hour pharmacy inside the store. Amber filled her prescription while she was there. When Amber reached her apartment she saw the stray cat sitting in front of her door licking its paw. Amber opened up her car door to go inside her apartment. This time the cat didn't run he just stared up at her purring.

"Someone must be hungry," said Amber.

Amber unlocked her door to go inside her apartment. She went into the kitchen and got a bowl from the cabinet. She took out the milk from her grocery bag and poured it into the bowl. She placed it in front of the cat and watched as he slurped the milk hungrily.

"You're welcome," said Amber.

It was nighttime once again. The dread that Amber used to feel about her insomnia seems to fade. She had a remedy for her sleepiness night and prayed that it worked. She had her reservations about taking medicine prescribed by doctors because some of them can be addictive. Amber trusted her doctor and she took the medicine he had given her. As soon as Amber got underneath the covers she was fast asleep. Amber had the best goodnight sleep of her life and she never suffered with insomnia again.