Sleeping Sickness

First comes the fever. Then the headaches that won't let up. Then a fatigue unlike any fatigue you've ever known — not ordinary exhaustion, but a pull. A downward drag. As if someone were pressing you underwater, and you can no longer resist. During the day you fall into deep sleep mid-sentence, mid-movement. At night you can no longer find solid ground. Your inner rhythm shatters. And with it, something else slowly shatters: your capacity to be awake.