The woman twisted and turned in her bed, trying to fall asleep. She was completely exhausted but her stubbornly mind refused to cooperate. Sitting up, she picked up the bottle of Nyquil placed on her bedside shelf. Disregarding the dosage instructions, as always, she tossed it back like it was alcohol. She had already drained half its contents four hours ago with the hopes of getting even two hours of sleep, but like every other stupid remedy it failed to deliver more than 20 minutes.
She needed more.
A lot more.
She had another bottle of Nyquil in her kitchen shelf but was too exhausted to go get it. Earlier she had contemplated mixing the Nyquil with some crushed sleeping pills and a tall glass of alcohol. The last time she'd ingested this concoction she'd slept for 16 hours straight. It was the highlight of her year after battling 9 years of insomnia.
She had woken up from that wonderful coma feeling like a new woman. She'd smiled, she'd laughed, she'd jumped up and down and had so much energy. Sleeping for sixteen hours had charged her for days as she normally only got between 30 minutes to 4 hours.
Then, sadly, the same awakened nights followed only a week later.
She drank the same concoction again but this time something went wrong. She was hit with an aching and burning pain in her heart. So bad, that for a moment she thought she was going to die. And though she managed to get 10 hours of deep rest, she woke up still aching in the chest as well as struggling to breathe and a throbbing migraine.
Then two days later, the migraine turned into a cluster headache. That had been the worst pain she had ever experienced in her life. She had collapsed and wailed in agony, fisting her hands into her hair as she waited for death to take her.
A full 15 minutes of tribulation on her kitchen floor.
She had risen from that shaking and in tears, feeling more lost and broken and defeated than ever before. Thankfully, she lived away from her family so her poor mother did not have to witness such a scene.
She knew how stressed her mother already was. A cheating husband, a pregnant mistress and then her daughter's health taking a dip. One after another. A trifecta of heartbreak and heartache.
Withdrawing from her memories, Simone clutched her pillow tighter. Her eyes hurt so much. They practically screamed for rest. Sitting up, she grabbed the large bottle of Biotrue Hydration Boost, twisted it open it and squeezed three drops into each eye. She then closed her eyes firmly so not a single drop would be wasted.
Eyedrops were more important to her than food at this point.
Again she contemplated making her concoction and just dealing with the pain that came after, but today was different. And she couldn't.
She had to meet her little sister. She had promised.
Even though she was furious with her father for his infidelity, she had maintained a good relationship with her half-sister, Mina. She had held off on meeting her for the longest time out of loyalty towards her mother, before finally relenting 2 years ago.
Eleven year old Mina was the sweetest and cutest girl imaginable. It had simply been impossible for Simone to not form an attachment. She had so much energy and happiness within her.
Simone felt a little melancholy at times when she watched her sister's happiness. She had also been that way once.
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Looking at the clock, she realized she only had 2 more hours to get any kind of sleep before she had to get up and travel to see Mina.
Simone lay back down and released a long sign. By the gods, she was miserable! But she would hide it well enough and make an effort to only smile and laugh when she saw her sister.
Rebecca, her father's mistress, or rather his wife of 6 years now, her step-mother of sorts had told Simone to only talk about happy things to Mina. Although a part of her was irked to listen to anything the shameless home wreaker spouted, she agreed it was for the best.
There was no reason little Mina should have to know about all the ugly details surrounding her birth. At least, not yet. Hopefully never, but there was no telling if she didn't eventually find out.
Simone wouldn't ever say anything. If in the future, Mina ever asked, she would just tell her that her own parents had peacefully separated and Rebecca and their father had met way later and married out of love.
Of course, Aunt Susan may have other ideas.
Simone groaned in pain as another headache formed. Rubbing her temples, she finally managed to doze off.