The Night Shift

I'm working the night shift at ESRF in France for the next week. 8pm to 8am. This afternoon in the middle of the "night", I woke up to find myself in pitch darkness in my underwear. I had absolutely no idea where I was or how I had gotten there, or how to get out. I thought I was outside, and I was feeling around for the wall. I found my clothes on the ground and picked them up. I walked one step at a time with my hands blindly in front of me, terrified. I was pretty sure I was in a dark alley of some kind. So I kept thinking that somebody was going to come running at me, or jumping out at me, or that there were bugs or animals out there in the night that I couldn't see. The only thing I could see was this ledge behind me, about waist high. I stumbled for another foot or so, looking around and panicking. I started to think I wasn't going to be able to get anywhere in this darkness. I felt so alone and scared.

At some point I was looking at the "ledge," and thought, "wait, is that a bed? What is that doing out here?" So I stumbled over to it and felt it, and I thought, "wow that's a bed!" Then I looked around some more, and FINALLY I realized I was in my hotel room. I laughed and got back into bed and went back to sleep. Sleep-walking at its finest.