‘BOOM!’
That is the first thing I hear as I quickly re-enter the world of the living. I slowly realize what had just occurred as I shift from the land of dreams back into our reality.
I was sleeping peacefully and I heard a loud sound that woke me up. That is all it was.
Whatever I was just dreaming about is already gone at this point. The sound made sure of that.
‘Why does this always happen in the middle of the night?’ I think to myself as I look over to check the time.
It was currently 3:27 AM.
As I lay there wide awake in my pitch black bedroom I start to think about what I need to do the next day to mentally prepare myself.
…But the more that I think about that I realize that I have no idea what the answer to that question is…
I try to remember what happened earlier that day and what I was doing before I went to bed that night.
…I unfortunately draw a blank on this as well…
…I start to panic as I realize that I don’t remember anything…
I can’t picture a single thing that has happened to me before I was rudely awoken by my house shifting in the middle of the night.
Not a single memory is able to be located in my mind no matter how long I think about it.
I can’t picture what any of my family or friends look like. I can’t recall what school I went to when I was younger. I can’t even remember what I ate yesterday.
It then occurs to me that I don’t even have any idea how old I am.
Am I an adult? A child? Am I old? Am I a boy or a girl? None of these things have an immediate answer to me which I find weird.
Everyone should know these things about themselves.
Everyone does know these things about themselves!
…So why don’t I…
Okay, okay. Snap out of it!
Since I am aware of these concepts then that means I must know them from somewhere. I know that I am alive and that in order to be alive there are a few basic requirements that have to be met for that to continue to be the case.
Everyone that exists is born so that means to exist you must have parents. That also means that I must have eaten food and drank water at some point relatively recently otherwise I wouldn’t be alive to think about what I am thinking about at this very moment.
Beyond that I have no idea though.
I look over to the clock again.
It still says 3:27 AM.
I think that there is no way that could have still been the case.
So I close my eyes, wait a couple seconds, and open them while looking over at the clock again.
It still says 3:27 AM.
I take a deep breath, close my eyes and begin to count.
One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand…
So on and so forth until I eventually count to sixty.
There is no doubt in my mind, sixty seconds have absolutely passed.
After reassuring this to myself I open my eyes to stare at the clock again.
…It still says 3:27 AM…
…There is no way that should have been possible…
I know for a fact that time exists.
I don’t know how I know that, but I do.
Also, the only reason that a clock exists in the first place is to tell you what time it is.
That means that if a clock exists, then time also has to exist.
Alright, I could just get up and turn on the light to my room. If I do that I could at the very least see what I am doing…
…and confirm without the shadow of a doubt that I do, in fact, exist.
…But as I try to move…
…I quickly realized that I can’t…
Either I can’t move my body at all for whatever reason or…
…Wait a second…
…Do I have a body?
…I don’t know the answer to this question either…
What I do know is that I am turning…something…to be able to change states between being able to see and not see the clock…
…Which still says 3:27 AM by the way…
…I turn towards the clock again and stare at it for a moment before turning away again…
…I decide to keep turning in one direction to see if anything different eventually ends up happening…
…But as I continue to turn my head in one direction for long enough I realize that…I see it again…
…I see THE CLOCK AGAIN!
…
…
…
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!
…That doesn’t make any sense…
…It shouldn’t be possible…
…If…if I turn my head in one direction long enough then that would break my neck…
…The neck attached to the body that I am not sure actually exists…
…So I am staring at the clock again…
…3:27 AM…
…Just to make absolutely sure I try doing the same thing but in the opposite direction…
…Which of course leads to the same conclusion that I already drew before…
…I just turn for what seems like a few minutes at least…
…Only to eventually be staring at the exact same clock yet again…
…Which still, in fact, says that it is currently…
…sigh…
…3:27 AM…
…I continue my experimentation…by trying to do the same thing in different directions than just left and right…
…Directions that by all known laws of the universe shouldn’t be possible ways for a human body to move…
…I try doing so anyway…
…Which…
…works?
…I try doing so both up and down with both ending up with the exact same results as before…
…After a couple of minutes of my…something…turning through a seemingly infinite inky blackness my…eyes?
…Whatever it is that I have…eventually reaches the clock again…
…3…
…27…
…A…
…M…
Since I am seemingly unable to do anything else I just continue to stare at the clock for who knows how long.
I mean, what else could I possibly do in such a scenario?
My…mind…I think I have one of those…otherwise I wouldn’t be thinking these very thoughts…imagine what possible things would be able to explain what is going on with me right now…
…Am I still asleep?
…Am I in a coma?
…Am I…
…Am I dead?
…
…
…
…Is this all there is?
…
…
…
I eventually drift off to sleep again…I can’t tell you when this happens or how long this takes…
…Actually I can…but there is no point for me to explore that any further…
…I mean, I could try, but what is the point?
When I eventually drift off to sleep again it still says the same time.
What time am I referring to exactly you may be wondering?
…3:27 AM of course…
…Like it has apparently always been…
…and always will be…
When I am asleep I don’t dream about anything…or maybe when I wake up I immediately forget what I was dreaming about…
I honestly can’t be sure at this point.
‘BOOM!’
I have awoken yet again.
I try to make out where I am to no avail before I eventually remember what was going on again.
…I really don’t want to do this, but I feel like I have no choice in the matter…
…sigh…
…Here goes nothing…
…I look over to the clock again…
…
…
…
…3:27 AM…