Alex started to wake up, his head feeling fuzzy. He felt extremely uncomfortable, almost like he was sleeping on the ground. He knew hospital beds were awful, but not this bad, right? He tried opening his eyes, but was immediately blinded by the light. He groaned as he sat up.
He managed to crack his eyes open and take in his surroundings. He wasn't in the lab anymore. He looked around frantically, fully awake now. He started hyperventilating. His thoughts were panicked 'Why am I in a ditch?!? What happened? Where am I? What did they do? Why am I so stupid?' He was a few feet from a road. As he crawled towards it head swimming with questions and pain, he noticed it was old and cracking like it wasn't used much.
"Great. Now what am I going to do?" He looked up and down the road he had no clue where he was. He let out a frustrated sigh. "Oh god." He mumbled. He pulled up his shirt slightly to check they hadn't taken his kidneys. He seemed fine. He made a mental note to check just what happened later.
He just wanted to go home, was that too much to ask? He placed his head in his hands as he thought of how nice it would be to just be back home. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed to be real. He could practically smell the unique scent of his home and hear the fridge as it turned on. The thought of those tiny details made him smile.
He opened his eyes, astonished at what he saw. He was sitting in his living room. In his living room. He didn't know what was happening. This had to be a dream, right? This couldn't be his home... or could it? He pinched himself.
"Ow. Okay so maybe this isn't a dream." He rubbed the spot on his arm as pain flared up. He stood up and walked around checking for the slightest disturbance in his house. Everything seemed the same. He glanced out the window seeing his girlfriend's car was absent. 'I just can't catch a break, can I?' He thought.
"How am I supposed to get to work now?" He mumbled while walking to the pantry to get some cereal. He recalled what had happened earlier. "Would it even work again? Or was it a one time thing?" He pondered while pouring the cereal from the glass container into his favorite bowl.
He shook his head. He was still confused about how that worked. "It couldn't be scientifically possible... could it?' He finished fixing his cereal the way he liked it and sat down to eat. He glanced at the clock and noted that he was late for work... again. It's a wonder that no one had fired him yet. As he finished his cereal he thought of walking to work, but decided that the 15 mile commute would be a tad excessive.
He could try to teleport again. He bit his lip while pondering it. On one hand he could get to work, on the other... well was it really safe? It could be killing him slowly. Nah. He decided to try again. He's too paranoid anyways. It's not like anyone could see him fail. What could he lose?
'Would it work with my eyes open?' He tried to envision his office perfectly. The details falling into place almost magically. Everything from the swirly wood grain of his desk to the squeaky wheel on his chair. The world around him bent and warped, stretching to fill the new place. He fell back into his office chair with a huff.
He placed his hands on the desk in front of him to check that it was real. When he didn't phase through he thought it was safe enough. He looked up at his computer and cracked his knuckles before starting the mind numbing task of computer filing. 'Could my job get any more boring?' he wondered.
