Photo: Martin Adams on Unsplash
She’d appear out of her bed
As if in dream.
An apparition in their kitchen.
A small figure levitating up the stairs
From the nursery,
A flannel nightgown sweeping over the cold floor
And her bare feet.
They might’ve wondered
Why she had become
A somnambulist,
Had they not needed to keep
Any odd thing
Completely clandestine.
So they latched the front door
High,
And kept the very secret
Of her night-walking
Under the covers
Of unspoken sleep.
For the Weekend Writing Prompt: Somnambulist in 78 words
Na'ama Yehuda 
What great descriptions of sleepwalking! And a little creepy in their secrecy.
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Yes … and should be a little creepy … 😉 Thank you for the comment and I’m glad the creepy-factor got communicated!
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Like that they latched the door high. Says much about the sleepwalker’s age
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Indeed it does! Glad it caught your eye and added ‘height and age’ visualization to the character … 🙂
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Had an episode with my daughter when she about 7 yrs old 🙂
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Love it, my kind of a maybe spooky story! If interested, check out my prompt party (bottle – 65 words), open March 10 to 20.
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Thanks, Dee! “Maybe spooky story” is a perfect descriptor here! 🙂
I’ll check out the prompt tomorrow! 🙂
Na’ama
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Great, sounds good, looking forward to reading it!
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Not your everyday sleepwalker! She is more of the otherworldly kind, in small format, though if locked doors suffice to keep her in, then, maybe not so otherwordly…
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Yeah, not quite otherworldly in the physical realm, but perhaps a little otherworldly in the spirit/soul/re-living kind of way …
Not the everyday sleepwalker, especially considering she’s probably sleepwalking at night … not the day … 😉 (teasing you, in that last bit … 😉 )
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I did assume the walking was at night…
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In general, I’ve seen people dissatisfied with their life in some way turn somnambulists. Guess it becomes a cover for doing what they like, and they can always say they didn’t know what were they doing.But your description of a child makes it all the more intriguing. Why?
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The episode has been narrated in such a relatable manner.
Hopefully she recovered from the habit
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Thank you, Ruby!
Sleepwalking is not rare in children, though my understanding is that it can denote underlying stress and is a good thing to check with one’s doctor about to see if there are underlying issues there that ought to be addressed. In families with high dysfunction and high secrecy … it may be a whole other kettle of fish altogether, as neither the sleepwalking nor the underlying issues may be addressed … But, yes, I hope she no longer sleepwalks AND that whatever was causing it was resolved/healed from…. 🙂
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Na’ama Y’karah,
Apparently the little sleepwalker has traveled to places she shouldn’t. The secret they’re keeping sounds a bit on the creepy side. Ambient and well written.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Mine’s on the lighter side. https://rochellewisoff.com/2020/03/15/weekend-writing-prompt-somnambulist/
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Yes, she was certainly ‘exposed’ to things that she shouldn’t have been ‘exposed’ to … As for the creep-factor, it’s there … Thank you for the comment! I’m going to hop over to read yours now! Na’ama
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