A Sudden Shift

'18 months, huh?' A black haired youth thought to himself as he looked at the calendar on his phone. The time showed clearly that it was 8:43 in the morning, and the birds outside his window chirping away only further proved that fact.

A little over 18 months ago, Allen Bright had been diagnosed with fatal insomnia. An exceedingly rare condition which, must like its little brother, caused sleep issues and worse after extended periods of unrest or little of.

Unlike insomnia, though, the final result was always death.

'That doctor may have been wrong..' He thought as he got up from bed and let out a long sigh.

He took a step and nearly tripped before catching himself on the nightstand beside his bed. As he looked back up, feeling shaky all over, something moved in the corner of his eyesight, but when he looked, there was nothing there besides his desk beside the closet.

"Hallucinations and loss of balance..if that doctor was wrong about my diagnosis, then I for sure have normal insomnia at the least." He spoke softly, yet there was a hint of hope in his tone as he balanced himself and stepped out of his room.

Allen wasn't scared of his diagnosis, but he surely didn't want to die. He had plans, and now that he just started to attend college and is working towards making a name for himself before his diagnosis, he was rather unwilling to let it end in such a way.

All he could do was hope he'd either been misdiagnosed or that somehow, he was lucky and became the first survivor of such a fatal and mind breaking disease.

While walking through the hallway of his home, what looked to be small spiders kept skittering over the walls in his vision. He tried to touch one, seeing as he's never been afraid of spiders, but when he did, they faded away like they never existed. Transforming into the little spots that were arranged on the wallpaper of the house.

'I'll never get used to that..' He thought, running his hand on the wall and watching a line of spiders fade back into the same spots as he moved. Looking back, he could see the spiders start to slowly reform, but what made him freeze was the dark figure of a man behind him, standing nearly 8 feet tall and unmoving.

'Holy shit!' He thought, before suddenly facepalming and picking up a ball meant for a dog and tossing it at the figure, which faded away as soon as the ball came in contact, or lack thereof, and phased through the figure.

"This just keeps getting worse, huh?" Allen turned back the way he was going, following the alluring scent of food being cooked in the kitchen and finding his seat at the table.

"Good morning Allen, did you manage to get any sleep last night?" A woman in her late forties asked with a worried and sad tone from the kitchen, seemingly being the one making breakfast before Allen went out of his room.

Allen looked at his mom and gave a sad smile, letting out a sigh before rubbing the back of his neck.

"No, mom. I wasn't able to. I'm sorry.." He spoke softly at the end, and his mother shook her head and brought out the plates, setting the table. A total of five plates were set on the elevated circle of wood.

Allen's mom hugged him afterward and kissed the top of his head.

"Don't apologize, sweetie. I know you can't control that, but I do hope you know you're not alone. You have me, your father, and your two little siblings all rooting for you!" She smiled and flexed her arms in a joking manner, hoping to get a laugh out of her eldest son.

It worked wonders as he smiled and laughed lightly, nodding soon after.

"I know, mom. Thank you for being there for me." He smiled with his words and watched as the rest of his family entered the dining room and sat down to eat together.

A little girl with black hair and blue eyes, around the age of nine, sat to Allen's left with a dark purple dress on, kicking her legs due to being unable to reach the ground when sitting and smiling up at Allen.

Soon after, a little boy with brown hair and brown eyes, around six years old, tapped Allen, causing him to look down at him with a smirk as he already knew what he was asking.

Allen picked the boy up and set him on his chair, wrapping his arms around the two little ones and ruffling their hair.

"How are my two favorite siblings doing this morning, huh?" Allen teased as he saw the pouting face of his little brother due to hair being messed up and the giggling voice of his sister who always enjoyed these greetings.

"We're your only brother and sister, Allen!" His sister giggled and hugged him.

Allen put a finger to his chin and looked up as if in thought before looking back down at her.

"Hm..and how are you so sure, little miss Rebecca?" He smiled as she widened her eyes and looked at her parents seated at the table with shock, who only laughed upon seeing her reaction.

"Mommy and daddy would've told us.." His little brother spoke with a yawn, still waking up from his sleep, leaning onto Allen's shoulder and grabbing his fork to start eating.

Allen smiled and moved the plate closer to his brother, chuckling lightly.

"I suppose you're right, Max. Maybe you'll be smarter than me one day, huh?" His smile never left his face as he interacted with these two.

He grabbed his own utensils and began eating the breakfast made by his mother. Bacon, sausage, sunnyside up eggs that were a little crispy just how he liked them, and two medium-sized pancakes.

"How are things progressing so far, son?" His father spoke out and looked at his eldest with eyes that showed wisdom as well as worry.

Allen looked up and cleared his throat due to eating and sighed lightly.

"I'm seeing things. A lot of things now, actually. Spiders on the walls, figures in the dark. I'm pretty sure I'm starting to lose balance more frequently now, too, since I almost fell getting up earlier." He spoke slowly, but he kept his words calm so as not to further worry his family more than he thought, or knew, they were already. He couldn't bear seeing them fear more than they do.

It hurt him seeing their looks of guilt, shame, worry, and sadness already.

"I see.." His father looked up and let out a long breath before looking back down and managing the best smile he could, however faint it may be. "Then I'll have to ask you to stay home today. If you can do your chores and want to help out, you can, but don't force yourself or try to do more. You don't have to any of them as well even if you feel capable to." His father spoke with more of a demanding tone now, hoping to ensure his sons safety as best he could these days.

Allen nodded and smiled at hearing his dad's attempt at keeping him safe.

"I'll do what I can, dad. I won't push myself, but I have the strength to water the garden after breakfast, so don't worry too much." Allen smiled, finished his breakfast, and got up to wash his plate.

"I trust you then, Allen, but I mean it when I say don't push yourself." His father spoke again, and soon after, everyone finished their meals, and Allen washed their plates for them, hoping to show he was still reliable and able to function better than they thought.

His father soon got himself changed and ready, leaving to work and bringing his two siblings to school.

"Mom, I'm gonna water the garden now, ok?" Allen spoke with a smile again as he genuinely enjoyed gardening. He dried his hands and hugged his mom, who was watching him to ensure he didn't fall.

"Alright Allen, but let me know if you need help." She hugged him back and watched him approach the back door of the house that led outside.

"I wi..ll.." His hand was on the doorknob as everything started to distort and swirl in his vision. He looked back at his mother, and only one sentence escaped his mouth.

"Help..me.."

He saw his mom start to run towards him, but it seemed incredibly slow as he noticed his position start to change.

'I'm..falling..?" He thought, as he soon hit the floor being unable to hear anything.

He saw his mom saying something while holding him tight. Well, it seemed more like crying and shouting, trying to get him up, but he couldn't tell without being able to hear. He did see the tears, though.

Allen tried to speak, but his mother could only hear a whisper.

"I..love you guys..thank..you.."

Those were the last words he spoke in front of his mother and family that day, before everything went black, and Allen felt, saw, and experienced his consciousness fade away.

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(A/N)

Hello hello! I wanted to ask what your thoughts are on this chapter, seeing as it's my first attempt to portray an illness of some kind in as much detail as I can to attract interest in the topic.

Do you think I did decent?

I also wanted to mention that chapter releases may be slow for some time. I want to get into the habit of writing multiple chapters and have some stored so I can get to a steady release rate for you all to enjoy.

If you have any thoughts, comments, or jokes to say, let me hear em as I'll take any recommendations I get into account for this story.

Happy reading everyone, and thank you for your time!

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