In a city in the centre of the world, an odd illness is spreading. They call it the Eternal Dream. People are going to bed at night and never waking up. They aren't dead, and they're not in a coma; they're just dreaming. Escaping reality. Living in fantasy. Eternally.

It's been a few weeks since the first patient popped up. Gave everyone a fright! I bet their parents and family were worried sick!

Except… apparently they had none.

No friends, no family, no grandparents, they didn't even have a partner to confide in. I guess they were just too lonely. So lonely that they decided to go to sleep and never wake up.

Doctors expected them to wake up within the first 24 hours, confident that no-one could sleep that long without being a coma patient. Except they didn't wake up. They just kept lying in their beds, comfortable enough to sleep forever, determined to ignore all responsibilities placed upon them.

I wish I could do that. Ignore all my responsibilities, I mean.

That would be great! No more deadlines to meet, friends to see, clients to appease. Nothing. Only me and my dreams, floating freely through space, ignoring everything and everyone. Content to dream forever.

That would be my version of heaven.

Except I'm awake, drowning in responsibility, barely able to stay afloat.

I wish I could be like the first patient, or even one of the many that came after them, but I can't. I know why I can't I have too many people surrounding me to be truly lonely. And that's what all the other patients had in common, a loneliness so deep that nothing could fill it.

I'm not like them, I will probably never be like them. But I want to be. I want to be so lonely that I could give up on this world without a second thought or worrying about the people I left behind.

But I'm not lonely, I'm surrounded by people every single day, flocking to me like their lives depend on it.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

So I'm not lonely. Not truly. How could I be? How could my loneliness compare to that of the patients? How could my loneliness be deep enough to fall into an Eternal Dream? How could it?

It can't.

That's a fact.

It could never be deep and desperate enough for me to give up on this world, no matter how much I wish it could.

But that's nothing new.

Even before the Eternal Dream came along, I knew I was lonely. But I wasn't lonely enough to give up on the world. Not just yet.

I still have many things to do, projects to complete friends to meet.

So I can't give up, not yet, not truly.

How could I ever give up when I have so many people depending on me? So many people demanding my help.

I'm tired of them. Tired of their whining and complaining.

Is this how the first patient felt? Unsatisfied with their life? Wishing for more, dreaming for more?

I wish I could Dream Eternally. Join their ranks. Sleep alongside them, dreaming of everything and nothing.

Feeling fulfilled.

But I'm not lonely enough to succumb to the Eternal Dream. Not until I finish everything and am left feeling tired and lonely. More than I currently am.

And I'm not lonely, not truly.

How could I be?

I'm surrounded by people.

I could never be lonely.

Not truly.

Not ever.

They still need me, and I still need them.

If I give up, they'll need to fend for themselves, and I can't subject them to that!

What if something happens to them?

What happens to me?

Will I ever be guilt-free? Able to sleep without worrying about others?

Able to forget my worries and sleep forever?

Will I ever be able to do that?

I hope so, but I doubt it.

I'm surrounded by too many people vying for my attention to be able to go to sleep and dream forever.

I wish I could have the Eternal Dream.

Then I could escape everything.

But I know that will never happen.

I'm not lonely enough.

Maybe when I'm old and grey will they allow me to succumb.

Assuming I've lived that long.

Assuming I've helped a lot of people.

Assuming nothing went wring along the way.

Maybe, just maybe, I might be able to get a good nights' sleep then.

And maybe I'll Dream Eternally.

Maybe I'll be lonely then.

Lonelier than I am now.

Maybe I'll find peace.

But that's all just a dream.

And dreams will stay just that; dreams.

Never interfering in life and staying just out of reach.

Teasing me and taunting me with their existence.

Goading me into thinking that I might achieve them.

But I know they're just dreams.

I know they're unattainable.

But it doesn't stop me from dreaming, from wishing, from hoping.

They stop me from feeling lonely.

Because I can never be lonely.

Not truly.

I'm surrounded by too many people.