Then Night came down like the feathery soot of a smoky lamp, and smutted[9] first the bedquilt, then the hearth-rug, then the window-seat, and then at last the great, stormy, faraway outside world. But sleep did not come. Oh, no! Nothing new came at all except that particularly wretched, itching type of insomnia which seems to rip away from one's body the whole kind, protecting skin and expose all the raw, ticklish fretwork of nerves to the mercy of a gritty blanket or a wrinkled sheet. Pain came too, in its most brutally high night-tide; and sweat, like the smother of furs in summer; and thirst like the scrape of hot sand-paper; and chill like the clammy horror of raw fish. . Eleanor Hallowell Abbott
About This Quote

The passage above is the account of a sleep which is trapped in an endless, tormenting dream. But the main focus of this section is the description of the physical sensations which are experienced. Most people have experienced this type of dream which can be broken up into three main parts. The first part is the dream itself, where the reader is able to experience everything that happens in the dream.

The second part is the night-time atmosphere. It's described as being dark and smoky, which could be worse than just being awake, but it does give a sense of something being amiss. The third part is the sensation of being outside of your body, or what I would call “out of your mind” or “in your head” when you are physically awake but mentally asleep at the same time.

This feeling is one which most people have actually experienced.

Source: Molly Makebelieve

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