Waking Up to a Nightmare

“Congratulations and welcome back, Mr. Fredricks,” the doctor apprehensively approached the side of the hospital bed. His movements were cautious as if the slightest wrong gesture might send his patient back into the deep slumber from which he just emerged.
“You are a miracle. No one has been in a coma as long as you have and woken up. Do you know your name? Do you know why you’re here in the hospital?”
Elliot looked at all the wires and machines that had been keeping him alive. He noticed the numbers flashing on the monitors and listened to the constant sound of beeping that filled up the white, sterile room.
The doctor proceeded to write something on his clipboard as two nurses entered the room, eyes wide as they stared at Elliot in disbelief. One fiddled with the IV hooked up to his arm while the other whispered something to the doctor.
“I know this may come as a shock to you, Mr. Elliot Fredricks,” the doctor began, “but you’ve been in a coma for over fifteen years.”
Elliot felt his face, skinny and sunken in. He cleared his throat as if ready to speak, but had no idea what to say.
I must be dreaming, Elliot thought. This can’t be real.
“Elliott, I’ll leave you some time to digest all of this. I couldn’t find an emergency contact number in any of your records, so I have no one to contact on your behalf. Your nurses and I will ensure you’re stable before we discharge you. Do you have any questions?”
The question lingered in the air before Elliot replied with a firm “No.” It was the only word he could muster. Of course he had questions, but he didn’t know where to begin.
Elliot spent some more time in the hospital regaining strength from the muscular atrophy and being closely monitored and tested. He was visited by some of the country’s top medical professionals who couldn’t believe they were witness to the man no one believed would ever wake up. But he did and he had full cognitive abilities, except for some memory loss around the accident itself. Amazingly, he remembered much of his life before the accident.
Elliot was discharged with a plastic bag filled with his belongings, scripts for several prescriptions, and multiple hospital bracelets encircling his bony wrists. Now he was faced with the arduous task of relearning life.
Elliot walked through the hospital on unsteady legs and feeling butterflies in his stomach. Over fifteen years. He couldn’t fathom how much he missed and what things in the outside world must be like. He felt nervous excitement, like an explorer stepping unto new ground. He also felt the pain of loss as he wondered which of his loved ones were still around.
Elliot walked past the hospital waiting area filled with people in serious need of medical attention. There was a man gushing blood, a woman who looked like she would pass out at any minute, and a child crying in agony. None of the hospital staff looked overly concerned, especially the woman at the front desk checking people in, appearing almost bored as she multitasked between her conversation on the phone and thrusting intake paperwork in the faces of desperate people.
Just as Elliot was about to make his way out of the giant automatic doors, a teenager arrived gasping for breath and collapsing right next to him.
“Ma’am! Excuse me ma’am! Help! This young girl needs help!” Elliot raced to the front desk as if it were his own daughter in need of medical attention.
“Sir, everyone here needs help. We don’t have any rooms available at the moment. Don’t concern yourself. Everyone will be seen eventually.”
Elliot tried to initiate a sense of urgency with the woman in hopes she would page a doctor or nurse — anyone who could help, but he could see his pleas were falling on deaf ears. It was out of his control, so he helped the girl to a chair when she came to it and took his first few steps out of the hospital doors.
He remembered his address from where he lived before the accident, but wasn’t sure how to get there. With $20 in his wallet he picked a direction and just started walking. He didn’t want to look back at the hospital he emerged from. He just kept thinking about putting one foot in front of the other.
Everything was so different now. There were so many things surrounding him — buildings on top of buildings, mega stores, billboards. Even though he was outside, he felt claustrophobic. He hadn’t noticed a single tree since he began his trek.
Then there were the people. It was as if the world had been taken over by zombies. People barely looked up from the thin little rectangular devices they held inches away from their faces. Their fingers would move across the little rectangle with great speed and it seemed to produce light and sound. People were so engrossed in the little boxes, multiple people almost ran straight into Elliot. Wow it’s dangerous to walk on the sidewalks now, Elliot thought to himself. He wondered if they were some sort of hypnotism devices.
After yet another near collision, Elliot stepped to the side to check out a little newsstand, outside of harm’s way. The man working the stand was on one of the little boxes, swiping his finger all across the front. Elliot was determined to get to the bottom of the strange devices in due time. He noticed the headlines of different newspapers:
President is Running an Illegal Gambling Ring
President Has Never Gambled in His Life
Support for the President is at an All-Time High
Support for the President is the Lowest it has Ever Been
“Excuse me,” Elliot tried to get the man to look up from his hypnotism device long enough to hear his question.
Silence.
“Excuse me, sir,” Elliot almost shouted, “How do you know which one of these newspapers is true?”
The newsstand worker kept his head down toward his little rectangle, but lifted his eyes up toward Elliot.
“Huh. Which one is true?”
“Yes. The headlines say opposite things. How do you know which newspaper is actually right? Which one is true?” Elliot repeated.
“Bro, no one knows that. None of them could be true. It’s the media. You know, man, like fake news. Just pick whichever one you feel like believing and go with that.”
Elliot’s head was spinning. Fake news. How did people get information these days? How did they learn about the world? How could people just accept the fact the media spun whatever story they wanted to, possibly perpetuating lies and deceiving the public? Elliot considered the possibility the media had always been like that — playing off the naivety of the public. But if people knew about it now, why did they simply accept it?
Elliot was more determined than ever to find his was back home. He had only been out in the modern world for an hour and already he was feeling overwhelmed. He continued his walk, hyperaware of any passing zombies that might crash into him.
He noticed all the cars weaving in and out of traffic and heard the shouts, curses, and horns blaring. He had seen cars, but not so many crowding the streets and causing that amount of congestion. He noticed how people turned into angry monsters in these circumstances, as he witnessed a man actually get out of his vehicle and pound on the woman’s car door in front of him. She had a baby crying in the back, but the man appeared to be possessed and overtaken with rage.
What is happening? Elliot wondered. Why are people so angry and mean? Where are they rushing off to?
Elliot noticed a “Pharmacy” sign on the upcoming street corner. It didn’t seem like a pharmacy — it had grocery items, toiletries, and even clothes. He lost his way walking through the maze of aisles, eventually making it back to the pharmacy area.
“How can I help you?” The woman behind the counter asked without looking up from some big cube in front of her.
“Hello. I need this medicine, please. The doctor said I should fill this immediately.”
“Insurance card, please.”
“Oh no, I’ll be paying out of pocket for this,” Elliot replied, knowing full well he had no insurance to his name after so many years spent unable to participate in society.
“I see,” she said as she tapped in front of the big lit up box, “Well that will be $252, then.”
Elliot picked up the script, folded it into a square, and put it in his pocket. His face was flushed as he quickly exited the massive pharma-store. When did medicine become so expensive? How do people survive these days with prices like that? The new world was already taking a toll on the man who was simply trying to find his way in a strange land.
Elliot was growing tired and hungry just as he stumbled upon a diner. The place didn’t fit with its surrounding as it seemed small and almost mom and pop-ish. He was worried what the cost of food and a coffee could have grown to, but he would soon find out.
He ordered the cheapest thing on the menu and was pleased to find out his coffee included free refills.
“You know, you look kinda familiar,” the server said as she set down the container of cream and sugar caddy.
Elliot said nothing, giving a weak smile in return.
Minutes later she returned, almost running with a hot coffee pot, to refill his empty mug and exclaimed, “Oh my God! You’re the coma guy! I saw you on the news and read about you in the newspaper. I can’t believe you’re alive!”
Elliott wondered what fake news might have said about his story, but he was too tired to find out at the moment.
“I just can’t believe this. Here you are eating and drinking coffee like nothing ever happened. You’re a miracle!”
Elliot didn’t feel like a miracle, though. He felt lost and confused, as if the whole world had moved on in strange, threatening ways and society had no place for him.
“So tell me,” the server couldn’t contain her excitement or care to notice that Elliot was in desperate need of peace, “What do you think of the world now? I know so much has changed.”
Elliot was unsure how to respond. He could only describe the things he had seen, so far and followed up by asking why things were like that now.
“Why are things like what, hon?” The server inquired.
“Why are people so fast and distracted? No one makes eye contact because they’re on their little box things. The newspapers are confusing and there are too many options at the pharmacy — it used to just be medicine. Speaking of which, how do people even afford medicine? There are hardly even trees anymore and everyone seems so annoyed and angry, especially when they are trying to get somewhere. I’ve woken up to some big nightmare.”
“No, darlin,’ It’s not a nightmare. It’s progress,” The server cleared Elliot’s empty plate before walking away.
Elliot realized if that’s what people actually thought, his nightmare in the modern world was only just beginning…

