SLEEPY TIME - SADHVI JAWA

SLEEPY TIME
By Sadhvi Jawa

Joanna is spending time with nature as usual. She is talking to a little flower that has come to life just today. Children of her age generally spend time playing with other kids but she is different.
Joanna’s mother died when she was a day old. Since then George is Joanna’s mother-father, brother-sister.
“Dad, where are you? Where are you?”
She slides down through banister, quickly runs and opens the door with a jerk.
“Dad… Dad “, passes through the fog coming out of acids and finally comes to the vision.
“Dad”, she is panting.
“Hey Joanna.”
“Dad, I met Joe again last night. She said she knows you very well. She is with you for the last so many years. Why didn’t you tell me that?”
George looks up with a grave face.
“Joanna, you have started living more and more in a fantasy world. Joe is just not…”
“You never believe me. Joe is my friend. She is real,” says Joanna and runs out to the garden.
“Joanna, Joanna, where are you going?”

_______________________

“Hey Joanna, I have cooked your favorite meal”.
Joanna looks up then continues to draw again.
“Sorry, my little princess”, she holds his ears and oanna smiles and hugs him.
“Oh,come on now. It’s dinner time”.

“Yey! I love you Dad”
“Hey Dad, cCan I tell you something? You won’t get angry with me?”Joanna nibbles on her food.

“Of course not, Joanna, tell me what is it?”
She ponders for some time.
“Joe said that you are going to lose something very precious.”
“Joanna, I told you not to…”

Joanna continues to speak … “and she said that you will get trapped in a past time which even you don’t know about and your time experiment will be dangerous”.
“Joanna!! You should listen to me”.

“WAIT! What did you say? My time experiment? Joanna, I have told you not to come to the lab. It’s dangerous. Go to your room and sleep now. And I don’t want to listen any more to Joe stories”.
“Time experiment?” he thinks to himself.
“Joe”, he sighs
“When should I put my life long work into practice? I think tomorrow is the day when everyone is asleep and then …”
__________________________

“I hope it works. This is my hard work of many years. This has to work”
“Click” and he switches on the button.
“Now I have to wait and see. Another 6 hours and I will know”
He kisses Joanna on her forehead while she sleeps “I care for you.”
6 hours pass by.
“It is still dark at 6 in the morning. I think it is working. It has stopped. Yes it has stopped. The cyclical movement has stopped. One more hour and I will be more than 100 percent sure that it is working”.
WAIT.
“But everything seems still, the birds are not singing, people are not awake like on the other days,” he ponders
“Joanna is not awake like before, she’s not talking to birds, flowers.”
“Joanna wake up. Your friends are in the garden and have woken up already. You are late.”
Joanna lies unconscious but breathing.
“Joanna”
“Joanna”
George panics.
“Is everything going parallel with the movement? But the movement has stopped!!!”
DIZZY
What is happening?
VISION BLURRED, FOG, WHITE, BLACK, RED
MIRROR, A VOICE
Joanna won’t get up. You have to pay for that.
You have to pay.
DO YOU REMEMBER?
Do you remember me? You know me? You really know me?
You will lose something precious. Very precious.

START, SWEATING, VISION
It was a dream. It is just a dream. It was not real…that …that, that voice, that blurred face, those colors.. very precious to me…..

JOANNA!!!!! WAKE UP
WAKE UP JOANNA…
JOOAAN….DIZZZZZZYYY
BLANK, REFLECT, VOICE
IT’S YOUR KARMAS.
K-A-R-M-A-S
What you are now is the result of your past deeds, feelings, thoughts.

KARMAS.
You had left me. You were precious to me.
EVERYTHING SHOULD RETURN.
George bumps into the wall… wh…wh who are you?
Stop playing these games. “I am not afraid “, he shouts,sweat dripping, voice trembling.

JOANNA WAKE UP!!!

EVERYTHING SHOULD RETURN.
“JOANNAAA wake up”
Dad is calling you. Wake up. What is this happening? Am I dreaming? I wish it is just a dream. I wish I am asleep. I wish …..
Joanna! Come back. I will be left alone. I love you Joanna.
I cannot lose you…

“I will get exactly what I think and feel”
“I have to choose my thoughts carefully. Everything in the universe is energy.”
I am with you Joanna. Can you see me? Feel that I am with you. I can feel that I am with you. Hold my hand. Joanna! Can you hear me?
“Joanna”
“Dad?”
WHITE
“Joanna! Where are you?”

I am with Joe, Dad. I told you she is real. Do you want to meet her? She knows you very well.
I can hear you Joanna. I want to see you come close to me. Where are you?
YOU CAME BACK. WHERE HAD YOU GONE? YOU LEFT ME AND WENT AWAY.YOU WERE PRECIOUS TO ME.YOU JUST LEFT ME WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING.AND I KEPT WAITING FOR YOU. YOU WERE NOT FAITHFUL TO ME.
NOW EVERYTHING SHOULD RETURN.
Joanna is coming with me, into my world.
“JOANNA, we should go back.”
“But Dad I want to spend more time with Joe.”
“Joanna, Dad loves you. We have to get out of here. Remember your friends are waiting for you, that little flower who has just come to life, those creatures whom you have made in the open space, your friends from cloud shapes; they are all waiting for you. They want to talk to you. They are calling you.”

“But Dad, Joe doesn’t want me to leave. I cannot leave her alone here. She needs me.”
“Joanna what happens to your other friends? They are waiting for you. We have to go back.”
“But… Dad.”
“I…”
i… can’t go back. I am unable to go back. It’s dark here, Joe cannot be seen. Dad, I am scared. Where are you Dad? I cannot see anything. I am scared, Dad. I want to come to you. Dad, help me.
“Joanna, think that I am with you, feel that I am with you. Hold my hand, Joanna.”
“Think that you want to be with you friends, you are talking to them. “
“Think about what you want. Feel what you want.”
WHITE
BLAST
“I love you little one. One more flower is coming to life. You are so beautiful. I have a secret to tell you all. I know you will not reveal it to anyone. Nobody believes in your reality. They think that they are real.”
But last night was real. Very real. It was a world where I touched everything but my hands didn’t realize it. I was seeing everything but I was not seeing it. It was a world not like this but still very much like ours. That same darkness but accompanied by a spark of light. Same closeness but surrounded by aloofness. Am I being influenced or you?
It’s afternoon.
I will wait. Wait for the evening and then for the night.
Wait for the sleep.
Sleep.
“I will meet you Dad… in my sleep.”
(end)