The Insomniac Book Club

By Sky Locke

Charity has lived her life as an insomniac, and life has been the harder for it. But Charity is older now, and lives a quiet, peaceful life with her golden retriever. Through this story, Charity reminisces about her struggles with insomnia, how she found peace in the silences and loneliness that permeated her nights, and how she found friends in unlikely places.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Sep 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9780228895961

Book preview

Copyright © 2023 by Sky Locke

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-9595-4 (Hardcover)

978-0-2288-9594-7 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-9596-1 (eBook)

Dedication

To my brother, who has always been there with me in the silences. To my girlfriend, who encouraged me endlessly every step of the way, always patiently listening to my ideas and helping when I got stuck. And of course, to the ever-graceful Moon, shining down on forest glens and snowy peaks, guiding us all back home.

Preface

I must admit, I don’t know very much about being an insomniac. I have been a student though, and know about days and weeks of little sleep, and the deep exhaustion that can set in at these times.

I did not write this because I thought I knew what it was like, but simply to try and put a quiet story into the world.

I do have some experience with silence, however. I guess one could say I have been a connoisseur of silence in the past. Oh, nothing like the silence a monk knows, or the quiet a woodland creature lives in all its life, but the silence of late nights, early mornings, and a peaceful mind; of sunrises in the summer, and moonrises in the winter.

So, my deepest hope with this book is that it might help others find some peace and silence in their lives.

A note about the flow and rhythm of this book: This was written from the perspective of someone remembering their life. The story jumps between the present, and the memories that the main character is thinking about. This can make the story non-linear at times, reflecting the nature of remembering—which is never completely linear. For example, most of the memories take place in Charity’s early thirties, but some are from her fifties.

Snow fell softly on the town and the fields that surrounded it. It covered the roofs in the town and trees in the fields. If there had been people out walking or animals out hunting, it would have covered them too, but there were not; the people of the town and the animals of the fields were all sleeping. All, that is, but Charity.

Charity could not sleep, not that that was new, having fought with sleep all her life. When she was a little girl, she had accepted it as normal, and wondered why everyone else left her alone to play by herself all night; she had gotten so bored back then. Once she learned that not everyone stayed up for days, she tried to hide it from herself and others. But Charity was older now, and had come to accept and enjoy her long nights.

She had not been able to sleep for a few days; her insomnia had been getting worse. It always did in the winter months, when the long cold nights seemed to stretch on forever. Once she missed a night of sleep her mental state went off-kilter, causing her to spiral. She no longer became depressed in these months, not like her younger self at any rate, but it was a near thing at times.

Charity sat in her house staring out her front window, absently thinking how she should shovel her driveway. She had been doing that for some time when she had a sudden jolt of wakefulness break through the fog. It might be nice to be out in the snow, she thought, it looks peaceful and beautiful out there, and the moon is up.

An involuntary shiver reminded her how cold it would be outside, and her attention drifted to