The Cocoon has surrounded me again, the euphoric warm, fuzzy safe feeling, makes me want to curl into a fetal position and sleep no matter where I am. My head feels as if floating. I doze off not wanting to talk or even think. Just float in this bliss. I've been sleeping twelve to sixteen hours a day. Some say I am depressed, but I am actually at peace, Calm and Relaxed, the tingling in my head like a thousand bees. Maybe it's because when I dream, you’re all there: family, all the dead I've lost, or maybe it's just wanting to shut down, not feel, just become. Some can say depression, but I say eternal bliss. I am feeling this right now in the dark, fighting to get this all down, to be understood but really not wanting to move. This catatonic state is calling, pulling this. I want to embrace, feeling hands across my head that aren't real, not associating with the sounds outside my door. I am at peace in my dark safe cozy cell, all alone, not wanting or needing no one — feeling happy, feeling loved. Welcome sleep, good night to all!

//Tanya Willhelm is a contributor to The Periphery.