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We Thought we were
asleep
Rafael Alcolea Harold
ENGLISH READERS
COLLECTION
(Level: Intermediate)
That night all the human beings of the world went to sleep like any
other night full of endless hours of sleep; as we had previously done
during our short or long existence. We all slept, except a few
unfortunate who didnt sleep like the rest and suffered the consequences
later.
14th June 2040 wasnt like any other day. For three years there had
been one day and one night of the year where we all slept. Our leaders
had been capable of drilling into our brains, so that, that specific night,
chosen at random, apparently, was declared as worldwide day of sleep.
That way, our planet completely stopped. It was like stopping some
kind of machine to restart the system so that, just for one day, our planet
could breathe.
Whoever you were, wherever you lived, suffering from insomnia or
narcolepsy, you had to get ready for bed. Even the freaks celebrated
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United States authority, to buy it. It was the first time they had slept for
ten hours; after decades of light sleep, but they did not succeed.
We never knew when it was the next sleep day to save the world
environment. The first time it was in January, but the following in May.
This time they had only given us two weeks notice, it would be on the
14th of June. It annoyed me a lot, because it was my birthday and I
wanted to do a barbeque, the meat had to be frozen, the drinks stored;
my friends had something more important to do: Sleep.
On the first world wide sleep day, there were no incidents, but on the
second one there were. Over a thousand people went missing around the
world. Nobody knew what had happened to them, they had just
disappeared. The authorities hastened to say that there was nothing to
worry about. Finally, a thick smoke screen covered the disappearances,
with spectacular news about fast drops of types of interest or
discoveries about daily life.
I wasnt sure how long Id been asleep for, but I had the sensation of
sleeping more than twenty-four hours. I looked at the alarm clock on
my bedside table, and it showed two oclock. I couldnt believe I had
slept for seventeen hours. I lay back down, still confused by sleep, and
as I turned over, my blood froze.
Through the gap in the curtains, half open because I didnt have time
to shut them, when the most terrible heat took over; no light shone
through. As quickly as possible, I stood up and I looked out my
window. Confused and a bit dizzy, I leant on the window sill and I
checked that it was still night. The most serene and silent night I had
ever witnessed in my life. No cars were being driven, the teenagers
didnt walk trying to commit offences under the protection of darkness,
the wind didnt even blow the tops of highest trees, and not even
homeless people sleeping close to the underground entrance; today they
looked impatient under their mountains of second hand belongings and
pounds of indifference.
darkness, and they were totally asleep. I put on some running shoes, a
pair of shorts and an old t-shirt for round the house and I decided to go
out and enjoy the quietest night of the year. I walked all around
Portobello, without meeting anybody. All lights were out in the houses,
retaining the silence of their inhabitants. The houses which showed
light, housed nothing. Normally, it wouldnt have occurred to me to
walk alone in the dark at this time of night around London, but the
temperature and the opportunity invited me to do it. I wanted to
remember every detail of that night so I could recount it the following
morning. One of my flat mates worked for a tabloid as an apprentice.
Maybe, they would publish my interview. After a while of walking up
and down the city, even looking through windows of Londoners, just to
check that everybody was asleep; I thought I saw something as I turned
the corner to the road that led to my flat.
Instinctively I stepped backwards to check everything was ok. I
stood listening, and nothing. I was going to carry on with my journey,
when an unsettling sound stopped me. I needed to turn around. But that
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was the only way I could get home. I was starting to regret coming out.
The sound came closer. I had to get out of there, but my sudden panic
stopped me from moving. Vey quietly, almost not breathing, I leant
against the naked wall to see what it was that was terrifying me. When
my sight rounded the corner, I saw it. There was someone dressed in
black military clothing. Then he saw me and started to run towards me
curse! I thought. But this time my legs responded thanks to the
adrenaline released as I thought of all the terrible consequences that
could happen to me.
I ran as fast as I could, faster than I had ever run when I went
running in St. James Park. But after running through some streets, I
tripped on a paving stone and my persecutor reached me. On the floor, I
heard his short breathes; I tried to turn so I could see his face, when I
felt pain at the nape of my neck and I fell face down.
I regained consciousness in a large vehicle which had no windows.
Next to me I felt the presence of other people, who I couldnt touch or
speak to because mu hands were tied and an enormous piece of
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I knew in that very moment that I had to get out of there no matter
what. I looked around me for something to cut my ropes that held my
freedom. There was nothing in sight, then I saw a child dry his tears
with the sleeve of his shirt; I made him sins and he came closer. I
indicated him to take off my gag. At first, he doubted, but then he did it.
I told him that he should try to untie me, but when he was succeeding
and the pressure on my wrists lessened; someone came into the tent.
The boy was completely surprised standing up at my side, I
immediately looked down. The soldier grabbed the boys arm, and
between pushes and shouts he led him out of the tent.
I felt horrified about the child, but after some seconds I continued to
rub my wrists, I had to survive, until at last I untied my ropes, next were
my feet. My pulse slowly quickened as I felt I was close to freedom. I
went to the back of the tent looking for a way out. Those people who
saw me begged to be set free, their faces implored my help, but all the
commotion going on outside indicated that sooner or later they would
come to take us. With a piece of metal I found on the floor I managed to
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rip the tents material, the narrow irregular gap would allow me to get
out in a hard way. I looked through the gap to discover that there was a
forest next to the camp. I put my hands either side and with all my
strength I made the gap bigger until I could push my way through. I had
just fallen to the floor outside the tent, when the military men came for
the prisoners. I stayed immobile behind a nearer tree, waiting to be
discovered.
Thankfully, they were rushing and they were shouting at each other
about keeping to the set time. I waited for a few petrifying minutes, and
I checked that there was no one around. In the distance, around eight
hundred metres, I saw the vehicles stopped and they thrown the people
there. Immediately, they left. I saw the slow figures trying to move, and
trying to get up of the floor. Without thinking, with the vehicles still
near, I ran to help them.
Suddenly, I heard a deafening sound, it was the most awful thunder
clap I had ever heard, it resounded in my head over and over again, I
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they landed on the floor. I turned around, exhausted, to pick them up;
cursing my friend, who wasnt at the window, for his bad aim.
As I picked them up off the asphalt, a taxi went past our building;
inside a figure was surprised to see me. He turned in his seat with his
eyes popping out. The taxi stopped a few metres past the building; he
rolled the window down to look for me, but I had already hidden behind
the porch door.
Where an instant ago there was a figure picking up keys, now there
was nothing. After a few never ending seconds, the taxi started up and I
heard it pull away. I began to breathe when I looked through the glass
and I saw the car turned the comer, where the night before I had been
caught. Relieved I began walking up the stairs when I realized that the
guy in the taxi was the same guy in black who had captured me the
night before. I turned the key and entered my flat. Safe? I asked
myself.
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