Until I Wake

10...

”Are you ready?” She smiles.

I take a deep breath, feeling my chest slowly rise as I inhale and fall as I exhale. I return the smile. “Yes.”

9...

My grin turns into a frown when I look away. A seemingly unending row of vacant glowing capsules follows mine. I suppose that I’m their “test subject”. I won’t be able to have that feeling again until ten years go by... am I making the right choice? I hesitate for a moment, but shake my head and step up on the platform.

8...

No, of course I am. I don’t have anything left for me, after all. What’s the problem with losing a couple of years? I take one more step up the platform.

7...

I’m doing the right thing. Besides, even if I didn’t want to do it, it’s for an experiment, and they’re paying me for my services. I’m already here, so there’s no backing out. My next step is shaky, and I take another breath. There’s no backing out anymore.

6...

And, you know what? It’s not just to escape. It’s the feeling of curiosity and wonder, too. I like not knowing what awaits me on the other side of the door. My leather boots clang against the metal stairs as I take another step up.

5...

Yeah. It’ll be pretty cool to wake up in the future, won’t it? Maybe we’ll have flying cars or we'd all have a personal points system tracking our lives. Though that would be a bit hard for me to adjust to, it would be interesting.

4...

Another step. But... is it worth the thrill? Is it worth the rush of excitement? I’ll waste a decade of my life frozen in a block of ice. What about all the things I could do in that decade instead of being here? 

3...

Maybe I could have my dream job and become a preschool teacher. I'd teach my students how to spell and read and write. Maybe I could finally put my driver’s license to good use and go on a road trip. Maybe I could learn to make the fluffy Japanese pancakes I’ve always wanted to try. 

2... 

My lips make a slight curve, and I take another step. My smile quickly fades. It's no use to wonder. As I said, there's no going back. I'm here now. In front of me is a large capsule. "Whenever you're ready," The woman says from below. She smiles once more, and I smile back for the last time.

1... 

I take one last deep breath, feeling my chest slowly rise and fall, and step into the capsule. The woman comes up and gently closes the door. "Good luck," she mouths. I nod back. I take one last look outside my capsule and shut my eyes tight as everything around me dissolves into a cold mist. It doesn't matter anymore if I'm happy doing this or not. An icy tear rolls down my face. Good thing she can't see it. Until I wake, this is where I'll be. 

Author's note: Hey guys! So this was very different from my first story, but I hope you guys like it! I am really sorry about how short it is, lol. Uhhhh so the italicized parts are the main character’s thoughts if you weren’t sure (lol not gonna lie, this whole story is just their thoughts though). By the way, I did not state the main character’s gender or name, so just imagine what you want, I guess? Also, this did not fit the word count so here are a lot of annoying extra words (sorry lol)

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