Falling

We've all felt it.
You're up late.
Working, studying, watching a movie, reading on the computer.
Doesn't matter what you're doing, it's the feeling you get.
You're tired, your eyes burn and have the gritty feeling you get after not sleeping for a while.

Okay.
You can't crawl into bed right now, but close your eyes for a couple of minutes?
Try to get a little moisture back into your eyes.
That couldn't hurt anything, right?

Then you're falling.
Like stepping off a cliff, you're in free fall, though your body isn't even moving.

Then like a bungee cord snapping back, you're jerking awake.
Your heart is thumping a little faster, blinking quickly and wondering what happened.

Doctors call it a hypnagogic jerk.
A natural reaction, they say, to your brain thinking your dying,
When your heartrate and breathing slow as you fall asleep.

What they don't know is, your brain is right.
Every time you let yourself nod off,
Every time you feel that 'falling' sensation,
you're not falling.
You're being pulled down.

And one day, your brain won't be able to pull you back up.