Is this a dream?
I’d always been alone. In fact, I preferred it that way. After the loss of my parents and my boyfriend cheating on me when I was 23, I moved far away, to start anew. This is why I was alone. I only had Jade, whom I grew close to.
I met Jade at the current company I worked at, Strike. It was a company that made robotics parts and sold them to larger corporations. It was a fairly new firm, that was being acquired by a tech giant, Circinus. Circinus built spaceships for short-term travel and sold tickets to trips in space. It was new exciting territory for me, or at least I thought so at the time.
I mean, I’m currently 26. I worked my way up the corporate ladder and I am working in HR. All just on pure spite and ambition. I’m a strong, independent woman. I need to work, even though my parent’s life insurance money cushioned me for a life where I don’t need to work a day in my life. I want to work. I need to keep my head busy so I don’t go insane. The voices in my head, my demons, are trying to sabotage me at every single step. Self-doubt is a serious bitch.
Something happened to me, something I wouldn’t ever have imagined in my wildest dreams. Truly, even as I now sit and think about it, it sounds bizarre. The worst part is? I can never tell anyone. Nobody would believe me.
***
I sat and smiled, drinking my cocktail in this pretentious bar my new boss had rented out.
My head pounded.
Sloshing sounds. Garbled, frantic speaking.
Flashing lights.
I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. The flashing lights were just the ones at the bar, lighting up the dancefloor.
“Everything okay, babe?” I heard a loud feminine voice in my ear. I turned towards the sound. Looking back at me, worriedly, was Jade.
“Yeah, just a headache,” I responded.
“Wanna get out?” she asked, gently caressing my arm with her fingertips.
I nodded and stood up from my seat. My legs were wobbly underneath me.
“I’ll get an Uber to your place,” Jade swiftly grabbed her phone to get us a ride with her right hand while supporting me with her left.
I felt like I was drowning. This strange translucent liquid surrounded me. My lungs filled with water.
I couldn’t scream, it hurt too much.
“Whoa, Vicky, let’s get outside to fresh air. Seems you are drunk as a skunk,” Jade chuckled slightly, but I heard the nervousness behind her laughter.
“I am sure Gordon fucking roofied me,” I said while keeping myself composed. Bile was building up behind my throat and I felt that I couldn’t breathe.
I pawed around me. I saw hazy figures through the liquid I was in. When I reached out my arms my fingers brushed against a glass-like material.
I opened my mouth to scream and it was quickly filled with the liquid I was swimming in. I was choking.
Outside the bar, I gasped for the fresh air, to only be met by the city stench. I dry-heaved to try to get the bile out of my throat.
“Fuck, this place sucks,” I spat and sat down on the curb, waiting for the driver.
“Man, you are so not made for this city,” Jade laughed and sat next to me, “But hey, I don’t think Gordon roofied you. You would be much more out of it if that were the case.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” I sighed and leaned against Jade. My head was still swimming.
“So, what was that about? You seemed really… spaced out.”
I shrugged.
“It wasn’t PTSD, but it seemed similar,” I began but then just as I felt normal again, the migraine-like sensation started.
The attack hit me again and this time, I felt as if I was transported into an alternate reality.
I heard strange voices, unlike any language I have heard before.
I pounded against the glass in a panicked state and the barrier keeping me separate from the real world disappeared into the ground. Falling on my knees, I began to cough out the iridescent liquid that seeped into my lungs.
“What the fuck?” I blurted out as I began catching my breath again. The scene that unfolded in front of my eyes was absolutely nothing I had seen ever before.
Two man-like creatures standing tall above me, with features no humans have.
“Where the fuck am I and who the fuck are you?!”
