That Feeling of Heaviness
New Standalone Story Whale Bedtime Story
Hola!
Thanks for stopping by.
Today’s story is a standalone piece about feeling down and being patient.
Drops in mood can be challenging. I wanted to write about that feeling.
Without further ado…
It all started with a night of bad sleep.
Lying awake with midnight fast approaching, Frank's mind was running rapidly and running in circles. He tossed and turned but never quite felt right. His pillow was his archnemesis and he couldn't believe that he had ever in his life been comfortable in his bed. He tried counting sheep but the sheep were impossible to wrangle. They were running all over the place in his mind. He would count a few and then they would all just run away.
Eventually, however, he did fall asleep. Although when he woke up, it sure didn't feel like he had gotten any rest. It were as if he had simply blinked his eyes.
Everything felt heavy, like his arms and legs had tripled in weight overnight. Not only that, the fan in his room felt strangely horrible on his skin. It was like a snake hissing at him.
He went out to the living room and his mum had made him a bowl of his usual cereal. When he sat down, he realised that eating was the last thing on earth that he wanted to do.
"How did you sleep, Frank?" his mum asked with a smile.
His eyes were heavy. When he began to speak, the words felt difficult and came out in a mumble.
"Not very well."
They had a brief conversation but it was all a blur for Frank. The conversation was draining the last energy he had left.
Eventually, he snapped and said definitively, "I'm fine."
The day went on and some of Frank's energy slowly came back to him, although he was still nowhere near his usual self.
School was long and horrible and during lunch, instead of playing handball with his friends, Frank just sat quietly on his own in some shade.
He just wanted to be still for a while. To sit in silence and not do anything.
When Frank finally got home, he went straight for the couch and lied down and did absolutely nothing for as long as he possibly could. Normally, he would have went to the park to train for the athletics carnival. Frank had desperately wanted to win the 100 metre dash. On that day, though, the dash didn't matter to him one little bit.
The week went on and not much changed. Eventually, during breakfast, Frank's older brother Gus spoke up.
"Why don't we do athletics training together this afternoon?" he asked.
Frank shrugged. Might as well.
That afternoon, they trained together and Frank ran for the first time in days. His time was a lot slower than he remembered.
They did the same thing the next day. And then the next day. And the next.
Frank's time was gradually getting back to normal. He was sleeping better too and playing handball again with his friends at lunch.
One afternoon, Frank got frustrated that his 100 metre dash time still wasn't what he wanted.
"I'm too slow!" he said.
Gus told him very calmly, "You have to be patient."
And so Frank was patient.
Thanks for reading!
Here’s to patience.