Chrysalis

The orphans were playing in the street below and Enid smiled to see their carefree antics. One of the older girls caught her eye through the window and waved cheerfully, flashing a broad grin when Enid waved back. It soothed her old heart, watching the young ones play. Goodness knows she wouldn't be around much longer, but little moments like this were a reminder of why she worked so hard. Everything they did in Renewal was to provide a better future for the displaced people who had made a home here, and none had suffered more than the orphans.

She frowned. If only she could protect them from the shadow that now lay over the town. She'd seen it, that hesitation in the evenings when the tradesfolk where contemplating working for a few more hours. Or the wavering hint of fear in the eye of the farmer as they counted the hours of rest they'd had the previous night. So many had disappeared, vanished from their offices, fields or, somehow, even from the street in broad daylight!

She'd been talking with Mr Hollin the smith about the lacking supply of raw iron as they walked toward his shop, only to find the man had been abducted right next to her mid-sentence! The fact she hadn't heard or seen a thing only made the effect all the more chilling. She'd even taken several more steps, wondering why the usually talkative man would cut off so suddenly.

"They are causing havoc," she growled to herself.

"Who is?"

Enid jumped then realised her assistant had entered the room as she brooded on the emergence of these 'Sleep Police'. Her surprise only added to her growing resentment. They had her jumping at shadows!

"The sleep enforcers, whatever you want to call them," she grumbled. "People are scared of their own shadows, they record their hours of rest daily to ensure they remain above the threshold. It's a reign of terror is what it is!"

She slapped the desk in front of her for emphasis.

Jonathan watched her antics with an air of resigned amusement. It was far from the first time he'd heard this rant from the mayor and wouldn't be the last.

anything to do with the fact that you

snapped, "this is about the wellbeing of

embarrassed at being abducted from her home when trying to get some extra paperwork done. She'd been operating on five hours of sleep a night for weeks up to that point. If they were going to grab

sighed and began to roll out the same arguments he'd employed the previous

attack on the wellbeing of the people' when they are literally being forced to sleep. Productivity is up. People report being happier and more content. Crime is down, which I didn't think would ever happen, given how low it was to start with. The number of

of benefits that people had been experiencing,

to be afraid. How secure can someone really feel when they are terrified of vanishing from their

desk and dumped another handful of papers

night's rest, a cup of tea, a massage

where a plush and fuzzy ant with a fierce

in

"It's fluffy," she said.

"Of course."

beside

stubborn

we have today without them. Forget that, we wouldn't even