Before I Sleep

The first morning

Waking up to a certain time as per schedule is one of the important things for Anne.  Today is a beautiful *not so sunny, not so gloomy* kinda day. Usually Anne wakes up at 10 in the morning. Right now, it's 1 o'clock but no sign of Anne coming down the stairs singing and calling out her brother Melvin in weird names. Melvin got worried, thought for awhile and then went on to her room to check if she was alright or not. There she was, sleeping peacefully with pillows all around her. The blurry sunlight fell on her round shaped olive complexioned face and beautiful brown hair making her look like a Goddess as Melvin slid the curtains wide open. But she didn't move a bit in spite of so much light and brightness, she laid there with a still face. Melvin was scared for a bit but he let his thoughts go away. He walked up to the side of her bed, pulled out the stool and sat on it. He called out, " Anne baby, wake up! It's afternoon already and you're still sleeping!" Anne didn't respond, nor move a bit. This time Melvin was sure that something's wrong. He shook her up, called out to her as loud as he could, nothing worked. He started panicking and called his friend Adel crying to come over as fast as he could. He ran downstairs and came back with a glass of water, started sprinkling it on her face but Anne didn't wake up. He thought her to be dead, he broke down on floor crying while holding her hand. Adel came up, seeing them like this he got scared and started asking Melvin what happened. Melvin told him everything and Adel decided to call ambulance. As he was about to call, Anne woke up breathing heavily almost as if she saw a ghost or was in sleep paralysis. Melvin shouted, "Anne! Oh my god baby I was so worried. I almost thought for a sec that I lost u forever!" Adel blurted out a sigh and smiled at Anne. Anne didn't say a word yet, she sat there looked all over the room with confusion in her black yet hazy brown eyes. Melvin asked Anne " what happened? are you okay?" That's  when Anne spoke out the words for which Melvin and Adel wasn't prepared at all. " where am I? What is this place? Melvin I thought u were in Darwin, how come you are here?" She looked over at Adel. His black hair makes him look some kinda mysterious but his eyes tells a different story, almost as if he has gone through a tough time therefore he has a soft corner but With all the six packs and biceps, he sure looks like a strong tough headed bodybuilder. She points at Adel "And most importantly who's that guy?"
Melvin and Adel was quite for a sec and then they laughed out saying " are you kidding? This is so not the time to crack a joke. Please get fresh and come downstairs. We already had a tiring day." Having saying that Melvin and Adel walked up to the door bf Anne jumped out and blocked their way. " I'm not kidding ffs! Please tell me what's happening here. Where is mom, dad and Norah? Please tell me I feel like I'm going insane!" "What do you mean? You don't remember anything?"  " what are you talking about? Remember what?"  Melvin looked at Adel and then again looked at Anne, he came to Anne and said" Anne, sit down. This is crazy. You're here in Darwin with us. Why would our family be here, they're in Sweden. You got here last summer for your higher studies." " what! But all I remember is that Norah got married, you came to visit and then went back after sometime." This time Melvin got worried af he sat in the corner trying to process everything that happened in the last few minutes. Adel came forward " do you know what year it is?" " yes, it's 2017" " holy shit! No, it's 2024!"  Melvin stood up and walked up to Adel "Adel let's go downstairs. Anne please freshen up and come for breakfast. We will talk about it later."

Anne sat there in confusion, looked around all the corners of the room. The room is all white with white curtains, a vanity beside the bed. Right over the corner, there is a bookshelf with many books. She checks out some of the things, trying to figure it all out, trying to remember. She feels nothing but heavy in her head. She proceeds to go to the washroom. She comes to the mirror, sees herself and gets surprised. This isn't how she remembers herself. To her, she is still a 13 year old with messy short hair. She gets more frightened. She comes out and goes downstairs as fast as she could. " oh you're here, come sit with us."  She sits beside Melvin. " I know something's up. I still feel like this is joke but if it's not then I need you to tell me everything. What happened to you while you were asleep, why weren't you waking up and responding to me, what's the last things that u remember and everything that u want to tell me." "Look I know this looks very messed up because it is but I swear I'm not kidding. I don't remember anything that happened in the last few years. But something weird happened to me while I was asleep. It was almost like I was dreaming of several scenarios, places and memories that I have been before. All these were going so fast that I don't even remember it but I feel like it was going on rewind, on backwards. It was getting hard for me to breath. I kept trying to wake up but I ended up in another dream. This kept happening again and again and suddenly I woke up even before I could process everything or realise what was going on. I woke up but it was like I lost a part of me, like I didn't feel complete."  "What's the last thing you remember?" " as I said, I remember being in 2017. I finished my study for the math exam at school tomorrow. I had dinner with mom, dad was still at work and Norah was at her in-laws. So I went to bed early. That's all I remember."  Melvin stayed quite for sometime and then started sobbing hugging Anne. This all feels like a big nightmare. Anne tries to console him but at the same time she is worried af as well. Adel spoke up, " I think we should take Anne to the doctor today. This is a big problem. We shouldn't make delay. I'll take an appointment today evening. I have to go to work now. See y'all this evening." Adel goes over to Anne, pats her "don't worry. We're here."