Shyira Shake.

Last week, Thursday night I believe, I woke to the sound of rattling. Then, I realized my bed was shaking under my body, so steadily that my body began shaking too. About two seconds after I sat up it stopped. Under the comfort of my mosquito net, in my silent room, I sat and waited to see if I heard another rattle, or felt another shake. Nothing. It must have been a dream, I thought.
Much later through the night, I woke again. This time I heard another subtle rattling. I realized my headboard was shaking against the wall. Much more alarmed at this reoccurrence, I jerked my shaking body up in bed and waited for it to stop. However, sitting up didn’t make it stop. Could this be a dream? Absolutely not. I was sitting straight up in my bed. After fifteen seconds or so, it stopped. Now, this may not seem like a long time, but let me assure you, to a woman- in a silent room, alone in an apartment, in an remote village, without electricity, waking to her bed trembling under her in the middle of the night- fifteen seconds is long enough to induce heavy concern.
So, I began wondering. Are Katie and Miriam experiencing this in their apartment? Have I lost my mind? Then, I began to reason and hypothesize what could be happening. As I lay back down, my mind surged from one idea to another. Then, it came to me. What had I felt? A tremor. What makes a room tremor? An earthquake. I began thinking about the three volcanoes we can see from Shyira Hill. There is even one in the Congo, as close as thirty kilometers away. VOLCANIC ACTIVITY! Of course that wasn’t the first thought in my mind! I’m not crazy- I’m just not used to volcanoes waking me from my sleep! With my mind at ease, I fell back into a nice rest.
The next day, I decided to ask Katie and Miriam about their nights. I didn’t feel quite as secure in my reason, sharing my theory of volcanic activity. Turns out, neither of the girls felt the restless earth shaking their beds. Not to worry, they’re heavy sleepers. So, we sat around trying to figure out and debate the possibilities. We came to two conclusions. 1. There was a reoccurring, volcano induced quake last night and I was the only one stirred. OR… 2. The malaria meds I have been taking are causing me to have hallucinations. “No.” I told them. “It couldn’t be hallucinations. I was sitting up in my bed and continued to hear and feel the shaking!”
Katie said, “Well, I think it’s ideal to be at the top of a mountain for one of those.”
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Well because the bottom of the hill has everything sliding down on it.”
“But, what do you think is sliding down onto it?”
No response.
Finally, two days ago, I asked Louise about the volcanoes and the night quakes. She graciously told me that she couldn’t be sure, but highly doubted it was an earthquake. She offered me a different medicine to ward off malaria, and told me that one out of four people have to get off this medicine! It is hard to believe that hallucinations can be so clearly audible, so tactile, and that twenty-five percent of people on these meds know exactly what I mean! However, seeing as there are no news reports to support my theory, and the earth has stopped shaking in Shyira since I started new meds, I concede to the fact that I have had drug-induced hallucinations.