Check Yourself

Jennifer’s world was getting too hard to live in. Day after day, the state of life’s problems were too much burden to bear. Lying awake every night staring at the ceiling, her mind raced. When she came to work one day wearing a suit jacket and pajama pants, clutching the coffee pot like a lifeline, a friend offered her a CBD gummy to help her sleep. “Take half at first and then if it doesn’t work after a few hours, take the other half,” her friend Candice said. Jennifer took the small cellophane bag and put it in her purse, forgetting about it. When it was bedtime, she put the gummy bag on her nightstand and prepared for bed. She brushed her teeth and stared at it. She put on her pajamas and stared at it. She turned on late night TV and stared at the gummy bag again. She couldn’t get it out of her mind. There it was, the magical sleeping potion. It all seemed too absurd. “How can this piece of candy put me to sleep?” she chuckled with disbelief and put it down. Three hours later with no indication of tiredness, she changed her mind and picked up the bag. “It seems harmless. After all, it looks like candy. How bad could it be?” Jennifer said. In one gulp, she swallowed the gummy whole and laid down in bed waiting for its effects. Within thirty minutes, she began to feel light, like the weight of her body was gone. Slowly waving her arms around bewildered, she drew figure 8’s in the air with her fingers. “I can move, but I can’t feel anything. Is this supposed to happen?” she wondered in calm amazement. Then she smiled as she began to see objects in front of her. “Oh look, there’s a tree, but it looks like a cartoon. And there’s a purple dragon with big blue eyes and long black eyelashes sitting on the tree. In the sky, there’s a rainbow and a white unicorn with a pink horn riding down it like a slide.” Suddenly Jennifer sat up and shook her head. “Wait, dragons and unicorns aren’t real. Am I dreaming? Or maybe I’m hallucinating. I need to check myself and get my head clear,” she said getting out of bed. Jennifer walked to the kitchen to get some water, but the endless hallway didn’t lead anywhere. Confused, but unannoyed, she curiously put her arms out and waved them in front of her feeling no walls on any side. “I’m not getting anywhere, it’s like an infinite loop,” she said, turned back around and went back into bed, fearing she’d injure herself. She laid down in bed and closed her eyes tight while pulling the covers up to her chin. “I’m just going to lay still and drift off to sleep,” she said. Then she heard the song Dancing Queen and pictured herself floating in the stars wearing elevated platform shoes and a shiny gold jumper with blue-colored glasses on her face. As the music got louder, she shook her head again. “I need to check myself, again,” she said with a puzzled look. She opened her eyes and looked around the room. A hint of daylight was seeping on the side of her blackout curtains, when she saw her phone light up on the night table next to her and picked it up. “Where are you? You didn’t show up at work,” the caller’s voice said. “Candice? What do you mean? What time is it?” Jennifer asked rubbing her eyes. “It’s noon!” Candice shouted. “Noon?” Jennifer said looking at the time on her phone. “I slept for twelve hours. Wow, that gummy really packed a punch. I’ll be there right away.” “Never mind, I’ll tell them you’re sick,” Candice said. “At least you have the other half to sleep again tonight.” “Well…not exactly,” Jennifer said. “No wonder you slept so long,” Candice laughed. “I thought it wasn’t going to do anything. Boy I was wrong. I saw the craziest things. I’ll never call it candy again,”  Jennifer said.