To those who sleep.

This happened a few years ago. You may have heard rumors if you're on campus.

Some even circulated online. Nobody knew what really happened because

well I'm the only one who knows and I keep quiet for a multitude of reasons.

None of the matter now. Here's what really happened.

The four of us were hand-picked in this experiment by Professor Richardson because we had all studied

under him, worked under him, and as much as anyone can, earned his confidence.

He said this one was different.

He had to keep it quiet.

He wanted to keep details to a minimum. All he would tell us before going in was that he required

a month of our lives and that if he succeeded, sleep would never again be necessary. Think of it, he said. Six to eight additional

hours every day. Your month will be paid back before the year is out. If he was right, you'd have a

Nobel Prize for sure, it would change the world. We believed in them.

Sleep would become a hobby. Imagine that. We felt lucky to be a part of it. We went in with the highest of hopes. We were so excited for a new future, for humanity, and for ourselves.

I was the only one to leave that place.

Week one. Professor Richardson brought us out to the location in his van, explaining along the way what we were to do.

For the purposes of the study, we were asked to remain in the compound, as he called it.

We'd be locked in, in fact, and deprived of windows and

Wi-Fi, other than endure patiently. We didn't have to do much of anything.

My machine does all the work, he explained.

It uses a complex mix of sound waves to disrupt the process of sleep,

evolutionary appendices from the days before civilization. The most immediate

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