12.18.25: Sleep Debt

They started quantifying sleep in 2034. Eight hours earned you eight credits. Miss a night, you owed. The system seemed fair until people realized the wealthy could buy credits from the desperate. My neighbor sold three years of sleep to pay rent. Now he works nights at a factory, bags under his eyes, trading rest he'll never get back. His daughter asked me why daddy always looks so tired. I told her some people carry heavier things than others. She's too young to understand that the heaviest weight is the one you can never set down.