I think I might have been drifting.
What I thought was a simple occasional blink of heavy eyelids, shaved away more than just a single second when I'd next open my eyes.
The LCD display ticking away towards 6:59 in the evening was what brought me to this realization.
Because the last time I checked, it was 6:55.
So I was blacking out. But I wasn't falling asleep. The aches and swells that came and went were like the blaring alarm clocks on a very nice sleep. Except much more painful.
A second blink, three more minutes gone - in a literal blink of an eye.
Third blink. Fourth blink. My blank periods were getting stretched longer and longer.
In the fifth, I awoke to a sky tinted warmly in a glow of orange, and a breeze of cold wind ruffling my hair so calm and serene.