PROJECT NIRVANA | ONC2020 ✔️

Chapter 14.

Blinding lights and sharp colors flashed before my eyes as my consciousness floated on a running stream of confusion and thought. What was real and what was not, blended together into an outlandish mass that could not be identified. I was lost in the gray area where mysticism and realism met, unsure of which realm I belonged to.

When I gained awareness of my surroundings, I found myself lying on a feathery surface, the sensation of soft cloth against my bare skin, calming my previously tangled thoughts. All was quiet and peaceful, a stark contrast to the turbulent events I had experienced before, but I could feel the weight of a warm body pressing against me.

Alarmed, I rolled over bed to find Avron lying beside me. What had happened? Why were we here together? I sat up and shook him awake.

"Avron. What's going on?"

He groaned and rolled over, trying to fall back asleep.

I shook him again. "Avron."

He turned around and blinked his eyes, surprise emanating from his face. "Why are you here?"

"That's the question I wanted to ask," I said. "What are you doing in my bed?"

Avron raised an eyebrow. "How is this your bed...?" His voice trailed off.

That was when we took a moment to look around the room. We'd been lying on a king-sized bed that had been pushed up against the wall. The room was furnished with expensive furniture and decorated with elegant ornaments.

But the thing that immediately caught our eyes was the framed picture that hung opposite of us. It was an image with me in a wedding dress with Avron standing beside me, sporting a black tuxedo. Our faces radiated joy, despite me not remembering anything of the type.

I looked down at my finger to find that the engagement ring I had been wearing had been replaced by a silver wedding band. So it was true. We were married now. But how had all of this happened? I was sure that we were back in Nirvana, but it felt as if a time skip had occurred. As if we had never left in search of our memories.

Was this some kind of cruel joke? A glance at Avron confirmed one of my fears. He too remembered what had happened, the tragic fate between our parents. Despite our return, the events of the real world were still fresh in our memories. Dr. Morgan hadn't bothered to erase them.

This singular detail made it seem as if this was her way of punishing us. Or maybe this was just a game. But whatever it was, I wasn't sure whether I would be able to survive it. We were back at square one, only things were worse now.

I rolled out of the bed, suddenly embarrassed about the situation. Avron's face had turned into a deep shade of red, despite him not really being the shy type. We had jumped from sharing our first kiss to lying in bed together as a married couple. This would get some getting used to.

"I think we should go get something to eat first," I mumbled. We had made significant progress in growing our relationship, but things were starting to feel awkward now. It felt as if I had lost my footing while climbing steadily up a mountain.

"Yeah." Avron agreed.

We went downstairs to the kitchen and I searched for some food in the fridge. Avron grabbed a frying and turned on the stove and we started making some omelets. While cooking, I could pretend that this was a normal morning and that Avron was just visiting.

I could close my eyes and pretend that I was back in my parents' house and that everything that I had discovered was just part of a very lucid dream. If only I hadn't paid attention to the glitches.

But the decorations and furniture gave it away. The modern accessories, a grand piano that most likely belonged to Avron, and my old paintings on the wall. This was neither I nor Avron's family home. It was clear that everything had been arranged with our union in mind.

The opulent furnishing strangely fit my taste despite the fact that I didn't remember ever coordinating anything. Dr. Morgan must have tapped into my brain using one of her strange technologies.

This would have pleased me in the past but now, I just felt tricked and violated. Although I had once agreed to it, the information had been gathered by using intrusive methods

"Is being married to me that bad?" asked Avron. "You look kind of angry."

"I'm not angry," I said. "Just really confused."

"What do you think we should do?" Avron asked. He must have been just as confused as I was

"We should go to Dr. Frazier," I replied. "He'll have the answers to our questions."

"But Dr. Morgan told me that he's no longer here," said Avron as he toasted some bread..

"Where could he have gone?" I asked. Nirvana was particularly large, so it wouldn't take long to find him.

"She said that she decided to bring him back to the real world. Probably so I can't get any more answers to our questions."

I dropped the cleaning rag I was holding. "Then how are we supposed to return to the real world?"

Avron looked at me incredulously. "You want to leave? But I thought you wanted to stay here?"

"The reason why I wanted to come back," I said. "Was because Dr. Morgan said that you decided to come back to Nirvana."

"But the only reason I decided to come back, was because she said that you'd decided to return to Nirvana!" Avron exclaimed.

I sighed. It looked like once again, we had been duped.