Caecilius est in 2019

Out from the Ashes

A few moments later, he opened his eyes. Everything was strange and fuzzy. It took him a few seconds to really be able to see what surrounded him. There was a town, and there were people. But where was the fiery mountain? Where was the ash? Why was everything back to normal? He looked a bit closer. "No, it wasn't back to normal" he thought, "the buildings are ruined, and people aren't wearing togas, tunics, cloaks, or anything practical and sensible." " I've never seen clothes like that before, all brightly coloured and women showing so much skin!" This can't be Pompeii, where are my family, where are my friends, why aren't I dead and where on earth am I?

One man and his wife walked up to him, and asked him if he was ok, and why he was lying on the floor looking dazed. Of course Caecilius couldn't understand a word she was saying, and just stared, speechless. "Ok, well um, nice costume." The woman said, her and her husband snickering as they walked past him. Caecilius decided he should probably get up, before getting more stares and drawing a whole crowd in laughing at him. So, off he went in search of more people, surely someone could speak his language? And maybe answer some of his questions too.

Finally, he met someone wearing a toga,  feeling incredibly relieved to find someone like him in this alien land. The man was leading a large group of strange people, speaking to them and pointing at buildings and statues. Caecilius's heart sank. He was speaking in another language, different from that he'd heard from the woman he'd met earlier, but it wasn't latin. Still, he decided to give it a try and introduced himself to the man and asked him where he was and what year it was. The man stared at him, he was obviously very embarrassed, and didn't know what to say to this crazy man. Still, he tried to turn it into a joke and announced  to the crowd of people "this is" he paused, "Romulus! He's my assistant and will be demonstrating" he paused again, thinking hard, "how to speak latin!"

All eyes were on Caecilius. He had no idea what was happening. Then the man spoke to him. In Latin! Caecilius's heart leaped with joy, thinking, yes! Finally, someone who can actually understand me. So Caecilius introduced himself, " Hi, nice to meet you, my names Caecilius, I know it sounds really strange, but bear with me, I need to know where I am and what year it is." The crowd were amazed, he could speak Latin perfectly and fluently. The man laughed, and repeated what Caecilius had just said but in another language. The crowd laughed with him. The man turned to Caecilius "Well," the man replied, still speaking in Latin , "we're in Pompeii, and it's 2019, now you'd better get back to your villa, you wouldn't want to  worry your wife Metella and your son Quintin, would you!" He translated what he'd just said to the audience and they burst out laughing. Though Caecilius had no idea what was so funny, he didn't really care. He was too busy processing what the man had just said. "How did he know the names of my wife and son?", "and 2019, what does that even mean!"he muttered under his breath, "Why, it was 79AD just half an hour ago. He must've been joking, surely!'

He was still taking in this information when the man said a few words in another language and the crowd clapped. The man spoke to him in Latin, telling him he was hilarious and complementing him on being such a convincing Roman, he was then told he could go back to his work. Caecilius told him it was no problem ( though he had absolutely no idea what the man was on about) and walked away.

Though a lot was on his mind, he decided to get some food before doing anything else. He was awfully hungry and thirsty and maybe it would help him think straight and possibly make sense of his situation. A lot of crazy, unexplainable things had happened that day, and he kept having to reassure himself that he wasn't the one going insane. Still, he had to carry on and make the best of it, I mean, what else could he do?

Soon, he came to a fast food van selling hot dogs and burgers. Caecilius of course had never seen a van, a hot dog, or a burger before, so at first he didn't actually recognise it as food. He was just about to walk past it when he saw people eating this peculiar food, so he decided to give it a go.

He waited in line, once again receiving complements on his amazing costume, until he was ready to order. He pointed at a hot dog, asking for it in Latin, the server chuckled, thinking he was staying in character as a Roman. Caecilius handed over a silver coin, little did he know the currency was different in 2019. But the server didn't mind because everyone in the tourist complex had exchanged their money for fake Roman coins, so at first glance she couldn't tell the difference. If only Caecilius knew his silver coin was a whole lot more valuable than the coins we have today.

Caecilius hungrily took a bite. It was unlike anything he'd ever tasted, beef wasn't popular with the Romans so he'd never tried it before. He'd never eaten processed food either, so as you can imagine, he really wasn't  sure about it at first. However, it was his first taste of fast food and the more he got used to it, the more he started to like it.

Feeling satisfied and slightly less dazed and confused, Caecilius set off to the nearest town (Naples). There was no point staying in Pompeii, and, well, it wasn't really Pompeii. Not the one he remembered anyway. It seemed strange, alien, and almost fake. It wasn't a normal town at all, no one was living in the houses or working in the shops, the buildings were disintegrating and everyone was speaking different languages. It was an old town, trapped in time. It didn't belong, and neither did Caecilius.

Now that Caecilius had decided where to go, he just needed to work out how to get there. He spotted a train zooming past noisily. Caecilius just stared. Gaping. "Wha", he stuttered "what on earth is that?" It was a lot to process. The first thing that went through his mind was, whatever that is, it looks incredibly dangerous and could kill someone at any second. For the most part, he was right. Trains are dangerous, but if he wanted to get to Naples, he had no choice but to get on it.

He soon realised there were people in it, which did comfort him slightly, and walked towards the station. Of course he didn't have a ticket, so he improvised and climbed over the gates and whatever obstacle lay in his way. Although he was a bit confused why people were chasing him and shouting at him, he just dismissed it and caught the train as soon as possible. After all, he thought, everyone and everything acted odd in this strange world. So, nothing really seemed important to him anymore, all he could do was accept and carry on, if he didn't, he would probably end up going insane.

Off he went, surrounded by people in brightly coloured clothes. Though their clothes were bright, their moods were not. Not one of them were smiling, they were just staring vacantly into nothing, (or staring at their phones) until Caecilius sat down, then their attention was drawn to him instead. It wasn't really a sight they were used to, a man wearing a toga; but, they soon got used to it, and carried on doing nothing.

Caecilius however, was in a very different mood.