The diner was buzzing with people, mostly teenagers, who were trickling in in packs. There must have been a football game because everyone was cheering and wearing red and white, the local high school's colors. Although I personally hated high school, I couldn't help myself from smiling, watching everyone enjoy their meals with their friends.
"Deidre!" The head cook and manager was scowling as he held a plate out towards me. "Get yer' head out of the clouds and get to work! Run out the remake order for table seven. Hustle!"
I took the plate with a shaking hand. I knew that Paul was probably just stressed out, but he was like a father to me, and when he raised his voice, it really tore me up inside. I hated to feel like I'd let him down in some way. "Got it, boss! Sorry." I turned around to grab silverware and began heading towards the table with an older woman and man.
Teens were running up and down the walkways, meeting up with friends at other tables and I seriously had to watch my step. I loved their energy, so I bit my tongue and let them have their fun. A few tables away, I heard a voice yell, "Mikey, watch out!"
I barely had time to take in what had just happened when I was suddenly on the ground, my head hitting a table on the way down.
My eyes popped open, ready to face a world of embarrassment but instead I couldn't see anything save from the tiny specks of lights coming from every angle. I wasn't sure where I was, but I sure as hell wasn't at Dina's Diner anymore.
I opened my mouth to call for help but was interrupted but an abrasive male voice coming through a speaker near my ear. "Sorry! Due to technical difficulties, the simulation has been interrupted. Normal services will resume shortly."
My brain ran circles. Simulation? What simulation? How hard did I hit my head? "Hello? Did you say simulation?"
There was no reply.
I tried to sit up but found myself stuck, strapped to a table of some kind.
Is this some kind of joke?
I found it hard to breathe as I struggled against the straps for another few seconds, hoping to loosen them at least. I realized quickly that I was just wasting my energy so I reluctantly tried to relax my body.
Okay, Deidre. Relax. This is just a concussion dream.
I tried to calm myself down, a large part of me didn't believe this was a dream—it felt too real.
As my eyes adjusted, I was able to make out more details of my surroundings—the main one being that I was trapped in a dome with a square glass panel above my head. Blue lights twinkled both inside and outside the pod, though I couldn't make out much else. It was dark outside, and I couldn't hear anything aside from my heavily beating heart.
"Hello?" My voice echoed around me, hoarse and weak. "What the hell is going on? Where am I?" My eyes darted around hoping to see some form of life outside the window, but I was left alone. "Seriously, this isn't funny." I seemed to be talking to myself, left again without a reply. I was alone, in a weird alien-like capsule,, and I couldn't move. The voice that spoke when I had first woken up had yet to say anything more. He'd mentioned a simulation though, and that was just crazy talk.
Unless it wasn't.
"Hey! I'm here and—" I tried calling for help once more but was cut off again by the same voice from earlier.
"The Simulation will begin in three...two...one..."
"Diedre!" I opened my eyes and immediately felt the pounding in the back of my skull. "Diedre, thank God you're awake!" One of the other waitresses, Kathy, hovered over me along with nearly everyone else in the restaurant. Paul was knelt by my side.
"What happened?" I sat myself up and looked around, a few of the people returning to their meals and a few sticking around to see the drama play itself out.
"You got run over." Paul turned to glare at a teenage boy.
"I didn't mean it!" he started. Paul threw daggers at him.
"You hit your head and passed out for about three minutes."
Suddenly, the memory of the pod came rushing forward. Was that just a concussion dream or had that actually happened? "Three minutes?"
"Sweetie, you should really go to the hospital to check for a concussion." The middle-aged waitress knelt down beside me on the other side of Paul, examining my head with her thumb. "At minimum, you're going to have one nasty bump in the morning."
I looked over at Paul, not wanting to leave my crew short-staffed. "Go to the hospital, Deidre."
At this point, I was being helped into a boothby my head cook with a glass of water shoved into my hand. I took a sip and instantly felt nauseous. "Are you sure, though? I'm sure I can go after work or—"
"Go." Paul gave a warm yet firm half-smile. "Do you need a ride?"
"I think I'll just drive myself so I can head home right after."
"How many fingers am I holding up?" Kathy pumped a fist in the air and lifted her index and middle finger.
"Two." I forced down another sip of water and had to tame my upset stomach with deep breaths.
"Alright, hun, just get there in one piece and let us know what the doctor says." Kathy brushed her hands on her apron and gave me a smile. "Feel better, girlie." The redhead hustled towards the kitchen where trays of food were waiting to be served.
Paul stayed seated in the booth with me for a moment. "Text me later and let me know how you're feeling, okay?" As he stood up to head back to the kitchen, he gave me a pat on the shoulder.
I took a minute before standing up to try and wrap my mind around everything that had just happened, but I was honestly too overwhelmed to focus on any specific thought. I was still the center of attention, and I didn't like it, so I put my apron away and grabbed my purse from the back office, quickly shuffling through the store and heading out to my beat up Dodge.
My car wasn't anything special on the outside but inside...it was also a mess but she drove. Barely. Her windows were stuck rolled down which wasn't an issue yet but the Winter time would bring trash bag-windows for certain.
My head began to throb more as I cranked the steering wheel with all my might, the lack of power steering draining what little energy I had. Once I was on the road, the wind blew black ponytail all around me, small misplaced strands tickling my ears.
My trip to the ER wasn't eventful. As it turns out, flying into a table headfirst will absolutely cause swelling and a concussion, but the attractive doctor reassured me that I'd live to see another day based solely on my test results. I couldn't seem to shake the feeling that something was off, though, and, at the risk of sounding crazy, I decided to bring up my incident with my nurse.
"So, you had hallucinations when you passed out. Can you describe what you saw?" The woman stood in front of me with her clipboard, scribbling as we talked.
"I mean...it was more of a dream because everything around me was different. I was strapped to a cold metal bed, and there were flashing blue lights, and there was a voice in a speaker, talking about a "simulation.""
The woman nodded as I recounted my time in the pod, most likely assuming I had some underlying issues.
At this point, I'd rather have a head injury than deal with the possibility of multiple dimensions.
The woman clutched the clipboard to her chest and smiled at me. "Honey, I think you just hit your head hard and had a little dream. Is this the first time something like this has happened?"
I nodded and gripped the bed sheets.
"Then you should be fine! Every head injury is different, and it looks like yours caused a very intense hallucination. However, if they persist, you should definitely see your primary doctor."
I released my grip on the sheets, relieved that I wasn't losing my mind from a medical standpoint.
By the time I got home, my roommate was hidden away in her room, which took a weight off of my shoulders because I didn't feel like talking anymore tonight. I just wanted to go to my room and collapse in bed.
Before getting ready for bed, I made sure to grab my prescription from the hospital and set it next to my bed. I knew that I wouldn't have the energy to search for it if the headache came back full force. I also grabbed my phone and went to send a quick text to Paul.
Me: Just got home. It's a minor concussion. I'll be back to work tomorrow.
He replied almost instantaneously.
Boss Paul: Take the day to rest and come back when you're 100%. Take care of yourself. Seriously.
His kindness made me smile, mostly because Paul wasn't the type to openly show affection of any sort.
Me: Thanks, Boss. :)
I clicked my screen off and climbed into my bed after changing into an old t-shirt and some leggings. My room was cold despite the fact that the vent was blowing out hot air. It didn't do a great job at circulating, so I cozied myself into my pile of blankets and attempted to fall asleep.
The night had been a hectic one, though, and my brain wouldn't shut up now that I finally had time to think. Everything seemed to remind me of my experience in the diner from the breeze in my room to the steady blue light of my laptop charging across the room.
Obviously, I hit my head pretty damn hard, but the hallucination felt too real to be just that. I mean...I could still feel the table beneath my palms and see my breath fogging up the glass. I'd never blacked out before, but from what I'd read and heard from friends and TV shows, it was supposed to be just like a deep sleep with no imagery. Yet I experienced something so vivid that the skeptic in me had doubts.
The voice in the speaker had said something about a simulation — that it had failed and then been fixed. Could that even be possible? A simulation? I've heard of conspiracies around such an idea, but I never really thought much of it. Conspiracies are just shots in the dark that there's something else out there. This — whatever this was — , was real. It had to be. I was fully lucid and able to use all of my senses. I'd never been able to do that in any other dream, even ones where I was fully lucid.
I went to reach for my phone, hoping that I could distract myself with some mindless social media scrolling, but after an hour on Facebook, I was still focused intently on the idea of being inside of a Simulation. It was 1:42am when I set my phone down and I tried to fall asleep. I didn't have the energy to try and figure out something so...complex out right then and there. That was an issue for future Deidre.
There was a part of me that was hoping my dreams would bring me closer to some answers, but I highly doubted it. So, by the time I was finally close to sleep, I'd managed to convince myself that the "Simulation" was nothing more than a very complex hallucination. Whether I believed it or not, I was able to calm down enough to eventually fall asleep.
(Huge shout out to MC for helping me get back into the swing of things by bringing this contest into my life and for encouraging me to keep going as always!)