Dissonia

A work-in-progress novel

A depressed, drug-addled insomniac drives to his late father's countryside property seeking refuge from his crumbling life in the city, but discovers something deeply wrong when he arrives at the small town of Lageado at dawn. What begins as odd encounters - a gas station attendant who won't wake up, empty streets that should be bustling - escalates into a surreal nightmare as he realises the entire population has fallen into an unnaturally deep sleep. From his caretaker to random families, from beggars in the town square to the priest at church, everyone is unconscious and unresponsive. The only conscious person in a world of sleepers, he finds dark irony in his situation: after weeks of desperate insomnia, he's trapped in a place where sleep has claimed everyone but him.