Day in, Day out.
Tick, tick, tick.
Wake up, get ready, go to work, come home, go to bed.
Wake up, get ready, go to work, come home, go to bed.
Wake up, get ready, go to work, come home, go to bed.
Wake up, get ready, go to work, come home, go to bed.
Tick, tick, tick.
Day in, day out.
Unchanging, static, safe.
…Boring.
Wake up, get ready, go to work, come home, go to bed.
Wake up, get ready, go to work, come home, go to bed.
Make it stop.
Boring
Wake up, get ready, go to work, come home, go to bed.
Static
Wake up, get ready, go to work, come home, go to bed.
Safe
Wake up, get ready, go to work, come home, go to bed.
Make it STOP!
Flashing lights followed by the sensation of the air being kicked out of my lungs. The world tilts on its axis. Off-kilter.
I wasn’t unaccustomed to vertigo. I experienced it a lot growing up and even now as an adult. Anemia and low energy were old friends (enemies). This, however, was different. I must have stood up too quickly and fallen over. It’s never happened to me, but I knew it was always a possibility.
Groaning in pain, I slowly willed my body to move and respond. The roughness of the concrete scraped against my palms and cheek. I’ve definitely fallen forward and onto my front.
‘Sheesh… I hope I didn’t hit my head too hard or scrape my face.’
Wait…
Concrete?
Blinking a few times, the world slowly came back into focus. My eyes slowly looked around and caught sight of my breath in the cold air. This was not the carpeted studio I was familiar with seeing every day. I was cold and my clothes were wet from landing… in a puddle?
Letting out a pained grunt, I carefully pushed myself up onto all fours before I stumbled up onto my feet. It was not my most graceful moment, as I stumbled and smacked my shoulder into the nearby brick wall.
“Fuck..” I hissed in pain.
Taking a couple of breaths, I paused as I gathered myself and straightened up. Taking inventory of myself I found that nothing was broken and I wasn’t bleeding so that was a great start, but what in the heck was I wearing?
Black cropped pants with blue decorative straps, a black, sleeveless, crop top with a faux turtleneck, and an oversized dark purple jacket with pink accents. The look was finalized with some black and pink boots. What the hell? No wonder I was cold.
Adjusting the jacket, I covered my shoulders and looked around. I was in some alleyway in the middle of a city. It was dark and overcast so I couldn’t really get a sense of the time and there were no notable landmarks to point out WHICH city I was in…
Had I been kidnapped? Drugged and tossed out in the middle of some unknown place?
That couldn’t be… I didn’t have enemies and I wasn’t memorable enough to even warrant someone being remotely interested in me… Bizarre.
Slowly, I made my way out of the alley and onto what looked like the main street of a very crowded city. Then, all at once the sounds of the world rushed into my brain like a bullet train. My ears finally caught up to my eyes. It was a cacophony of things I had never heard and visuals that I could never have imagined.
There were people everywhere. Or at least I thought they were people. All dressed in a similar fashion to what I woke up in. It looked like it was straight out of some high-tech video game or maybe even a sci-fi film. Hair of all colors, clothes of all kinds, but the things that stuck out most were the additions some of these people had. A cybernetic plate taking over half of a man’s face, making them look like some futuristic phantom of the opera. Another person with some kind of metallic collar? Whatever it was, it projected a holographic screen in front of them as they walked.
That couldn’t possibly be safe…
Finally, I look up and away from the masses. Advertisements of all kinds… Floating holograms projecting them into the sky and onto sides of buildings. At least the gross amount of consumerism wouldn't change no matter where in the world you were. Was that something to even take comfort in?
This was every major city on Earth dialed to 100% and combined into one. I was amazed that I was even able to see the cloudy sky from the sidewalk of this place! Bringing my attention back down and away from the tops of all the surrounding buildings, I continued to let my eyes soak in everything around me. I was somewhere between overwhelmed and fascinated. A place of twisted curiosity. Everything was out of this world and fantastical and so very terrifying.
Where was I? How did I get here?
The sense of panic started creeping its way up my throat, sitting there like a lead weight. My hands beginning to lose sensation and become numb. Signs of an impending panic attack. Taking a couple of shuddering breaths, I turned and started walking… Where to? I wasn’t sure. I walked and walked and walked. Everything was both too bright and too dark, neon, and strange. I needed to stop and ask where I was, what time it was, and possibly even when it was… There was no way I hadn’t been abducted by some kind of alien and then just left in some strange world.
A shock of bright blue caught my attention in a passing shop display.
I stopped abruptly and turned to look back. Tentatively, I walked over and looked at the glass. My eyes not looking at the display but instead focusing on my reflection… Long, electric blue hair, soft grey eyes. It was me… But not.
That was my face. A little messy, but it was mine.
I know what my I look like, but it wasn’t what I was used to seeing. This person was bright as opposed to dull. The eyes sparkled and the blue of the hair seemed to shift in a gradient. Light at the top and darker at the ends.
“What in the hell?”
“Hey, you,” a soft voice said to my left. A young woman with soft yellow hair dressed like a doll stood at the doorway.
“Are you alright? You’ve been staring at the display for a while… Trust me, there’s more to choose from inside”
“Oh! I’m sorry… I wasn’t actually- Um… I’m so sorry, but I need to ask a very strange question” I respond.
“Okay?” she said as she gave me a very skeptical look.
“Where am I?”
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