Wake Up

B110-901

B110-902

B110-903

B110- …

The cursor blinked slowly at the end of the hyphen. Blink… Blink… Blink… He wasn’t sure how long he sat there looking at it. An urge surfaced in his mind to just quit. It happened every couple of months. This wasn’t what he wanted to do with his life. Re-numbering wires. Literally, changing the number on a wire, of countless wires, from one number, to a different number. Hours a day. And this was probably the more interesting part of his job. He’d been here for 7 years. Re-numbering wires wasn’t the only thing he did. His assignment would change every few months to a year and it would be interesting for about a week, until he figured out how to do it quickly and efficiently,

He craned his neck to look up at the ceiling. He looked slightly to the right. Ceiling tiles. All a bit different, due to water damage, but otherwise the same, disappeared behind the edge of his cubicle wall. There was some analogy to Plato’s cave here but he didn’t care to find it. He tilted his head to the left. A light fixture. Three of the lights were working at the m-, wait no four are- nope, three again. The fourth flickered every few seconds in an irregular, indiscernible pattern. Maybe it was Morse code. The man huffed through his nose at the thought.

Just for the hell of it… He began to write down when the light would turn on and off as a series of dots and dashes, separating them when it remained off a little longer than normal. Surprisingly, the breaks were at semi-regular intervals. He shook is head. That really would be something.

He found a Morse code key on the internet and attempted to translate it.

A. Well that’s not surprising, with all the flickers there was bound to be one letter somewhere in there.

T. That’s just a dash, probably a coincidence again.

G. Hmmm… That was dash-dash-dot. Not out of the realm of possibility but that’s three letters in a row…

E. Just a dot, not impressed.

T. Again, just a dash.

O. Dash-dash-dash…

U. Dot-dot-dash

T. Dash…

G.

E.

T.

O.

U. He could feel goosebumps forming

T. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

G.

E.

T.

O. He could hardly write his hands were shaking.

U.

T.

G.

What the… The man grabbed the paper, crumpled it and threw it into the trash. His heart was racing. The biggest dump of adrenaline hit his system. He stood, not knowing what else to do, he began packing up his things.

“Hey Charlie, I-“

He nearly jumped out of his skin and looked up to see a man standing at the entrance to his cubicle. It was Phil. “Woah, Charlie, you don’t look so good.”

“I was just leaving.” Was all he could say. As he pushed past Phil, he didn’t look back.

Charlie dropped everything as soon as he got inside his house and headed straight to the fridge, grabbed a beer, and walked over to his couch. He finished the beer before he got there, however, so he turned back to get another, and maybe a third.

Once he finally arrived at sat down on his couch, he hit the button on his remote dedicated to his favorite streaming service. It popped up after a couple seconds and the home screen was advertising a movie called “Get Out.”

The beer slipped out of his hands onto the floor, spilling into the carpet. He hit the power button on the remote, stood, and began pacing. “No no no no no…” he paced back and forth in front of the TV.

His doorbell rang. He stared at the front door, somehow envisioning it transforming from a simple gate to the outside to a portal to another dimension. Its appearance, unchanging. He pulled out his phone and opened the camera stream from the doorbell. No one was there. Curiosity overcame him. He approached the door and opened it slowly. Still, no one was there. He stepped out and looked around, still, seeing nobody.

“Hello.” A scratchy, breathy, inhumane voice said. He jumped, backing toward the door.

“Wait! I’m here to help.” The voice said. Charlie’s eyes darted from side to side, not seeing anyone. The voice sounded so close though… He looked up into the tree just in front of his porch and on the lowest branch sat a raven. He stared in disbelief.

“You found me.” The bird said, stretching his wings out like a human would with his hands in a form of surrender. The raven tucked his wangs back to his sides. Charlie was speechless. He blinked, dumbfounded. “No…” He mumbled to himself. “This is too much, this isn’t real…”

“Ah… There it is.” The bird said. “You’re a lot faster than most.”

Charlie found himself replying, as if he was on autopilot and he was just an observer. “There what is?”

“The truth.”

“What?” Charlie half whispered.

“The reason we do it this way. Your mind has to arrive at the conclusion by itself. Revealing more and more fantastical events leads the mind to find the truth on its own. That’s the best way to discover it, to find it on your own.”

Charlie just stared, blankly. After a long, few seconds, he repeated, “What?”

“You’re in a dream, of sorts. That’s the simplest way for you to understand anyway. You see, all this,” The raven waved his wings around. “It isn’t real. It’s a program designed to prepare your mind for the real world. Believe it or not-”

“I don’t.” Charlie interrupted, slowly shaking his head.

“Ha! I don’t blame you.” The bird leaned forward slightly. “But you’ve already concluded that all this is too strange to make any sense. That’s all your mind needs to begin to accept the real world, to question this one.”

Charlie absent-mindedly shut the front door behind him and sat down on the ground. There was a chair next to him, but that didn’t seem appropriate for the situation for some reason. “If, suddenly, I’m led to believe this world isn’t real, then why wouldn’t I question any other one that I suddenly become a part of?”

“Oh, don’t worry. You’ve only known this reality, but once you wake up in the real world. It will feel much, much more real. Much more like home.”

The last word perked his hears up. He wasn’t sure why. “Like home?” he repeated, half mumbling.

“Yes.” The raven paused. “Unfortunately, some of the side effects of this preparation, of using this world to mature your mind before being introduced to the real world are feelings of loneliness, isolation, depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses. They usually clear up after waking up.”

“Usually?”

The raven shifted a bit, ruffled his wings. “More analytical individuals can typically adapt better to the new, real, environment. Others, it takes more time to accept. You don’t display any characteristics that would make us think you would have significant difficulty, but everyone is different.”

“Us?”

“Of course. I’m not the only one with the job of waking people up. It’s a respected career, and I’ve been doing it for about ten years now, so I’m relatively new.”

Charlie found himself nodding slowly. “Fantastic.” He said sarcastically.

The raven cocked his head. “Don’t be like that. There aren’t any health risks to the actual process. You’re in good hands. Awakeners are mostly just a guide for the mind, to bring you into the real world as smoothly as possible.”

Charlie blinked. “So they sent a talking raven instead of just some guy?”

“You like animals, and ravens are one in particular you like, right?”

“Well… Yeah.”

“But it would be pretty strange to have a conversation with one…”

Charlie could tell he was being led to a conclusion on his own. “So I would be thrilled to find a talking one, but still in disbelief, leading me to question my sanity.”

“Well, hopefully not your sanity but-“

Charlie snorted.

The raven spread his wings out. “Point taken, but…” folded his wings back up and ruffled his feathers again. “Hopefully you realize you’re not crazy, but that reality isn’t, well, real. Not this one anyway.”

“Wait, there’s like, eight billion people on the planet. Do they all have someone waking them up?”

The raven shook his head. “Most of that is just part of the simulation. There are only about three-hundred million people on our planet. Most of these other humans are just part of the dream, to give you experience interacting with a variety of people. But we awakeners are still very busy. In fact I have another appointment in a couple minutes, so if we could-“

Charlie’s mouth opened slightly in disbelief as he looked up at the raven. “Kidding. Sorry, bad timing.”

Charlie stared at the ground for what felt like ten to fifteen minutes. To the raven’s credit, he never seemed impatient with him. If what he was saying was true- Wait, that’s absurd. There’s no way… Unless… Charlie couldn’t shake the thought that what the raven said about mental illness and being in this other-world. It made sense. “Why? What’s-“

“The point?” The raven interrupted.

“Yeah.”

“Have you ever encountered people and thought, ‘How are they even alive right now? How are they so stupid? How did they get to where they are? Is this person even real?’”

“Yeah, actually. All the time.”

“They’re earlier other sims or other people earlier on in the process than you. Sometimes it takes multiple lifetimes to train an individual to be... Well… Not like that. Some pick up on it quicker than others. We try to get them out as quickly as possible, or the depression and isolation can take longer to heal. Do you remember reading in history about brilliant individuals that suffered from depression and died young?”

“Yeah. It seemed there were-“ Realization came over him. “You’re saying they were…” Charlie searched for the words. “Awakened earlier because they were catching on that something wasn’t right with the world?”

The raven nodded his head. “Sometimes it was because they started on a path that wasn’t beneficial, so their experience was restarted. Others, it was because they learned all they needed to learn. Or at least they learned enough that it was most beneficial to wake them up. They generally learned how to function well in a society that wasn’t this one, and for that reason, they seemed odd to people here. But once they were awakened, they were home.”

Home. That word the bird kept using. The way he said it. It made Charlie’s heart hurt. Every time he heard it, the void in his soul was discovered to be larger. It was already there, Charlie just kept feeling that he was realizing how large it had always been.

“Home…” Charlie felt homesick for a place he had never known. “And it’s my home as well?”

“Yes. Of course.” The raven said with a small bob of his head.

Charlie’s eyes welled up with tears.

“If you’re ready-”

“What’s it like?” Charlie asked.

“Very similar to this reality, actually, just better. Things look a little different. But people look like people. People act like people, only better. The biggest difference you’ll notice is most likely that everyone communicates much better, they’re more empathetic, and understanding. There are other differences of course, but that is what you’ll notice first.  We made this program to be as close to real life as possible. If it wasn’t, that would sort of defeat the purpose.”

That made sense as well. Everything this damn bird was telling him made sense. The situation was too bizarre. Even if nothing happened, he woke up from this dream in the same world he had known his entire life, he would never stop wondering. It would probably drive him insane, wondering if there was a better reality than this one. One where things didn’t feel wrong. A reality where he felt like he was made to fit into it. At this point he decided he’d rather not wake up at all than continue here.

“So all I’ve ever known, experienced…” Words eluded him. “It’s just a training exercise?”

“Yes. If you decide you’re ready and you’re ready for the real world, you can leave now. We decided you were at the point you are ready to integrate into society, and if left in the simulation longer, it would do more harm than good.”

Charlie thought for another minute or two, and finally said, “Get me out of here.” Charlie looked at the raven, eyes beginning to water again. “Please.”

The raven cocked his head, and everything started getting hazy. Charlie felt like he was about to pass out. It felt exactly like waking up from a dream, actually. Everything got dark for a split second, and then he opened his eyes.

The bed he was in was comfortable, but normal looking. The room he was in was decorated just like he would have decorated it, dark, clean, minimal, but cozy. Charlie had an overwhelming sense of belonging. His soul felt like the piece he didn’t know was missing was just put into place. It was how he imagined arriving back home after being lost at sea for months would feel like, only more somehow. It was like reality itself had accepted him for who he was and wanted him to know that he was welcome in it. The connection to- he didn’t know to what, but it felt like something he was missing his entire life.

He recognized the man standing next to his bed, somehow. When he spoke, smiling warmly, his voice sounded just like the raven’s only more human. “Welcome home, Charlie.”

The End