2022 Going 1990

Chapitre 1

  "It can't be. It cannot fucking be."
You were pacing back and forth in the room – well, more kind of turning on yourself as you were in a tiny cupboard.
You suddenly stopped and looked down at Jon, sitting on an overturned mop bucket.
"But you know me. So I'm not completely mad."
He scratched his head, wincing embarrassingly.
"I said I recognized you. I told you; it was a dream-"
"It wasn't!"
"Fine! I thought it was a dream, but you just made me... hesitate..."
"Say it again."
Jon gulped and looked at you, something like soft pity in his eyes. He took a breath and repeated what he had said two minutes earlier:
"Last March. We were in a hotel in Cleveland, after a gig. I felt weird, it was the strangest dream I had ever done – it had felt so real. Especially how it ended; I was doing a show with Axl Rose and Nikki Sixx, and I suddenly vanished... I mean, I suddenly woke up in my bed in the hotel. But I'm telling you; the whole day I felt really weird, nearly sick; the dream had been so vivid. It had happened in... 2020? Yeah, 2020. But everything around me looked well like 1988, so, I quickly forgot the details of what had happened; I only kept flashes. And... ten minutes ago, when I saw you in the living room..."
He stopped there, looking for words.
He looked up and cleared his throat.
"So, hum... How's 2020?"
You took a breath.
"You don't want to know..." You gasped suddenly. "Mike!"
You stormed out of the cupboard and nearly sent the door into someone's face, bumping into everyone on your passage to the stairs; not that they complained, everyone was plain.
You found back the room you woke up in in two minutes and stopped at the doorstep.
There was still a silhouette laying down, intertwined in the sheets.
The room was still dark, and you couldn't see anything anymore as your eyes were used to the light now.
"Mike?"
No answers. In your back, Jon arrived and looked above your shoulder.
"Who's Mike? Wait... Isn't it... Shit y/n, it's like in my dream- There was this guy you liked..."
You made a hesitant step in the darkness of the room, your eyes still guessing the body.
It was Mike. You were sure.
You had woken up, something like twenty minutes ago, next to Mike.
Or... was he?
It was like there were two people battling in your brain as you walked uncertainly towards the bed: one sure it was Mike in this bed you had woken up in, and a second one revising the process of your awakening scene by scene, desperately looking for the moment you had effectively seen Mike's face.
Your knees were touching the mattress now, your shadow making your guessing even harder... until the light suddenly switched on and illuminated the room.
Your guts dropped, but all reaction from you was muffled by Jon's:
"Dave?!"
The body in the bed shifted, grunted, and turned towards the voices, still eyes closed; but you didn't need to see his look to know it wasn't Mike.
At all.
You turned on your heels and stormed outside, Jon moving just in time. You descended the stairs for the second time, and stopped at its end.
The music was so loud the walls trembled, people were talking, shouting, singing heavily and happily – but all you could hear was an intense buzzing in your head.
You put your hands on your temples and closed your eyes, but your impression of being on a boat in a storm increased.
"Are you alright?"
You opened your eyes – a woman was looking at you eyebrows furrowed, chewing frantically.
"The exit? Where is the exit??"
She pointed left and you hurried under her interrogating gaze.
The freezing air of January bit your whole body – you were still in an extra-large t-shirt only. The concrete of the ally was covered with ice under your bare feet and your first reflex was to wrap yourself with your already cold arms, but you carried on towards the road.
It was empty, of course.
The cold slowed your movements, but at least your focus was attracted to something else – but it wasn't enough to soothe you.
Why?
Why you?
Why them?
What did you do for that?
Questions submerged you and it was too much for your brain.
Your body gave up and you fell on the sidewalk.