I suddenly noticed the unknown caller’s number. It was rather strange, 2013-09-24-0020, like a date or something.
2 years and 4 months had already passed since that incident. Every day I would strain myself to remember some detail of what had transpired, but it was all cloaked in elusive haze. The dreary routine of a 9-6 corporate job didn’t leave me time or energy to worry about it though.
I woke up at 7 a.m each morning and rushed to be on the city bus by 8. A cup of bittersweet coffee to kick start my day at work was the last thing I would register before the daily mind numbing work load that I would tiredly run from at 6.
It was Friday, which meant that the weekend was right around the corner but, as usual, I had nothing planned. All I had to look forward to was fixing a door of my beat old apartment. Anyway, 6 pm came around and I hastened towards the bus stop, taking a back alley to shorten my commute.
The street was empty and dark, unusual for that time of the evening. 5 minutes brought me to the bus stand, I could see only a few people waiting for the bus which would take off after 15 minutes. I boarded the bus and grabbed a window seat at usual. Soon the evening breeze would be upon my face and music playing on the headphones plugged into my ears. A pleasure I could never deny myself.
Suddenly my phone rang. It was unusual for me to be getting a phone call at this time and I quickly looked at my phone screen and saw it was an unknown caller. Hesitantly I answered the call, only to hear the sound of a loud siren in the background and a barely audible voice saying “It’s time”, that was the only thing the speaker at the other end said before disconnecting the call the next second.
I was 20 minutes away from my apartment when it started raining heavily, the moment the rain started pouring I suddenly felt overcome by a feeling déjà vu, which left me puzzled. As I was walking back to my apartment, I thought about the phone call and wondered what the speaker meant by “It’s time”. A prank call probably, is what I thought to myself.
After reaching my apartment, I took a hot shower and prepared myself a meal. Going through my phone, I suddenly noticed the unknown caller’s number. It was rather strange, 2013-09-24-0020, like a date or something . ‘Weird’, I thought to myself.
I didn’t realize the time passing by as I was watched the night-time TV shows one after another. One look at my watch and it was already way past midnight, which was quite late as I had to wake up by 7. As I got into bed, I got another call from the same unknown caller.
It was annoying as it was already way past bedtime, but something inside me was curious about the call. I picked it up and sure enough, “It’s time”, said the caller and disconnected. I was annoyed by his words and his timing, then just after a few minutes, I got the same call again. I picked it up just to hear him say the same words in a much louder tone, “IT’S TIME”, and disconnect the call again. Annoyed and angry as I was, I still had to wake up early for work, so I just tossed my phone aside and switched off the lights. Just as I closed my eyes, I felt something, the feeling of something uncertain and unusual. I closed my eyes tighter to let it pass. 5 minutes passed and I was more or less asleep like a dead log. “It’s time, it’s time, it’s time it’s time…” those words kept playing in my head even though I was unconscious of what was happening. The next second my eyes opened and I saw people standing around my bed. I was confused and scared, with no idea what was going on.
30 minutes later, the explanation of a lifetime was put forward to me. I was baffled at the stories and events narrated to me. I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming or if it was reality, vivid though it seemed.
Exactly 2 years and 4 months ago, I had met with a terrible accident and was in a coma ever since. Today marked exactly 2 years and 4 months after I went into coma. How could this be the reality? How could it explain all the events that happened all these years? Questions after questions popped into my mind, with no answers to any.
I had been dreaming my own reality ever since I went into coma. The reality I thought I was living was an enigmatical dream I unconsciously created to make myself believe that I was living, and not in a coma. And, ‘the phone call’ was my summons to actuality, a new start, and a new beginning to living outside of my dreams.
Looking around the room, I saw people talking and whispering. I got myself up, and as I rested myself on the hospital bed, I thought to myself, “it’s time” indeed.
