A Forty Year History

I clicked out of the streaming app once the end credits started to roll. Moving to my side, I reached over and jabbed at my alarm clock’s buttons, putting it ahead one hour for daylight saving time. Eyelids weighing heavily, it didn’t take long for the warm blanket of sleep to fall over me. 

I don’t know how much time has passed. However, naturally my mind started cranking to work. I’d learned to trust that perhaps I’d woken up a few minutes before my alarm and with eyes closed I searched blindly for it. The metallic sound that paired itself with my intake of air made my eyes snap open before shutting suddenly as water invaded them. Jerking back, my body hit a wall with a thin thud. Blinking, I squinted through the water. Feeling the mask that covered my face, my arms stretched to the barrier, a cylindrical container that I was weirdly trapped in. 

“Morgan Dramer, welcome to Posh.” A voice cooed in my ear as I flinched before realizing it was coming from a headphone. “You must be very afraid and confused at the moment. Do not worry. You were one of the special few individuals who fell asleep and found themselves waking up years later than intended. This strange anomaly still has many of us perplexed as to how it happens but what is important is that you are here with us. The people you see before you are nurses and doctors specially skilled to help make your adjustment easier.” 

The water started to drain and as it did, the glass became transparent. Just as the voice explained, I began seeing lab coats and silhouettes clear into specific images of people around me. “All will be explained in time. Please allow us to help you.” The voice went silent after this and for the most part so did the mask that’d been ventilating air to me. The door opened as a woman with a cotton candy pink bowl cut approached, her smile warm and inviting despite the contrast to the cold room. 

“I took no drugs or alcohol before bed so explain to me why my mind is making up this weird, borderline terrifying mess of a nightmare!” For that being the first thing that came to mind and passed my lips...could’ve been worse.

“Hello, I’m Aelina. I’ve been the one taking care of you throughout your slumber. How do you feel?” 

“Fine?” Hesitantly, I tested my feet on the ground with a pleasant result being the fact that I didn’t fall or wobble as I’d expected for someone out of hibernation. “Woah!” I hopped back when I could see the color of her eyes. Bright, nail polish pink. “Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-I was just-okay please explain to me how you have pink eyes. Not that they aren’t cool!” 

Aelina chuckled; it seemed this question had been asked before. “I will explain it all while we head to the next room.” Ushering me out and away from the other scientists who only briefly glanced at us, I was handed a dry set of clothes. Pushing me gently behind a curtain, I set the clothes on a small chair and started to undress. The mirror showed me just as I was yester-I’m still confused about all this. 

Aelina continued to talk from the other side of the curtain as I pulled my hair from the shirt and adjusted my pants. “Your physical evaluation was taken while you were in hibernation. Now we’re going to take you to another doctor who will assess you mentally. Just to ensure there was no mistake while you woke up, no amnesia or sudden stuttering for example.”

“That’s a normal thing that happens?” I pulled back the curtain and followed her down the hall with its glittering walls and clear floors. 

“More than you’d believe.” 

She continued walking past a large wall made of only clear glass but I remained standing in front of it. The city below us was teeming with life. People in an array of clothes and styles milling on the ground below, ships flying like mini airplanes, and architecture like the Sydney Opera House. “Well this is a mistake.” I was faintly aware of how dazed my eyes were becoming but did nothing to stop it. Instead, they remained on the picturesque image of the city outside, something relatively similar to all the science fiction movies I’ve seen before. 

A white lab coat came up next to me, a tablet tucked under their arm. A hand stretched across their side, “I’m Doctor Herch.” 

“Hi.” Faintly replying, I shook his hand but remained transfixed on the view. 

“You’re oddly calm.” He noted with a tenor voice, mild pleasure sprinkled in. 

“Oh, I’m in deep denial that any of this is real right now.” When I briefly turned to look at him, chartreuse yellow eyes flickered at mine. I had to turn my head away just to avoid showing how wide my eyes went. Clearing my throat, I dared to look at him again. “Fair warning, I don’t have time for any watered down explanations. I want the truth of everything.” 

“Duly noted. The truth can often hurt worse if it’s laid in plain view however. Often we’ve found many prefer a lighter version of it.” 

“I don’t have time for that. Now who are these others you talked about?” 

“We have an area designated for people called Nappers, like yourself, who somehow manage to find the loop and…”

“Wake up forty years in the future?” 

“Precisely, and I see Aelina caught you up on the timeline.”

“Oh my god, I was being facetious! It’s really forty years from 2020?!”  

“Apologies, Miss Dramer. Yes it is. Now back on the subject, this nation is set exactly like the time period you came from so as best to acclimate and avoid culture shock. Technology, clothing, all of it. The rest of the world has a peace accord as well, no one attempts to harm the island as we understand what you’ve gone through is rather…”

“Traumatic.” 

“You understand.” He waved a hand with a pleased smile that plumped his cheeks. “Now, you will be given the necessary vaccinations before being sent there. Do you hold any grievances with this?” 

“No, sir.”

“Wonderful. In that case, I’ll have the nurse come in and get that done for you. We’ll have you out of here in no time. Thank you for being so calm."

"I've seen enough movies to know that this could have gone far worse than it has right now." A deep honeyed laugh emitted from his throat. For a brief second, his eyes sparkled in an almost mechanical way as he shook my hand and left. When Aelina returned, her eye color had changed from a bright neon pink to a dull gray. “What's wrong?” 

The cotton dried my skin after she used the alcohol wipe. “Oh nothing. My boss has just been a bit mad with me today.” 

“At least that doesn’t change in forty years.” She snorted at my response allowing me a moment to flex my hand and relax my arm for the second needle. 

“I did notice that there was another Napper from the same time as you. A Michael Zordon?” 

I blinked in shock. “You’re kidding.” 

“Do you know him?” 

“We have a complicated history.” 

“Oh do tell! I love hearing stories from Nappers. It’s better than the whitewash they put on the reality television shows nowadays.” 

With a short chuckle, I nodded. My pinky flicked after the third and final needle exited my vein. “We have been close friends since middle school. Then we started dating in high school and part of college till I caught a girl making out with him at a party. We’ve tried to patch things up since but we’re in that awkward friend zone again.”

“Fascinating!” 

“That’s one word for it.” She wrapped my arm with a soft, mulberry fabric. “Now let’s get you downstairs. There’s a Napper who will help escort you.” 

Her steps were slightly faster than mine. Futuristic Vans were fitted to her feet and muffled her footsteps on the ground as we went down a staircase to the main floor. She swiped her ID badge on a console like Union Station and led me out to where the sun was shining on sandstone pavement. “Here they are!” She waved at a tall figure wearing a dull blue denim jacket despite the warmth of the afternoon air. 

I stopped in my tracks, jaw falling open. “No way."

The pair of Aviator glasses was taken off to show piercing blue eyes and a smug grin I knew only belong to Michael Zordon. “Good to see you too, Morgan.” 

"You've got to be kidding me."