A short story I'm working on (WIP). More coming soon...
Samantha Ariana, extremely alarmed, suddenly stood up. "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?". The bus had just turned a corner. For Samantha, visually, everything had suddenly changed. And it looked very wrong.
She had never seen anything like this before. Everything was recognisable – the other passengers, the seats, the bus itself. But it was all made up of groups of many connected, thin, neon green outlines. They formed the people, the seats, the bus itself, and all the other things on it. Between the lines? Just black.
Panicking, Samantha attempted to run. She wanted out of this situation, whatever it was.
"Woah, what are you doing, you're going to fall and hurt yourself?!", shouted a concerned nearby passenger. A few moved in and guided her back to her seat.
Even if all she could see were people made up of green lines, Samantha could see she had accidentally gotten their attention. "Don't you all see it?!", she shouted, standing up once again. "See what?", said the passenger in the seat next to her, "come on, sit down".
Still alarmed, the bizarre world of green lines still all around her, Samantha managed to calm herself... slightly... and take her seat. "D... don't you see it?", this time, directly addressing her fellow passenger. "I don't see anything? What's going on?", he replied. Everyone was still watching, whispering amongst themselves.
"The... the green lines?!", asked Samantha. The fellow passenger looked around. To him, everything was normal. "Green... lines?".
Samantha, shaking, suddenly became aware she was the only one experiencing this strange visual event. She looked out the window and observed everything was passing by - buildings, people, trees - was also effected. For about half a minute, Samantha just sat there, stunned, her mind racing. Was this some kind of hallucination? Had she fell asleep and this was a dream? Was she ill? Will it stop?
Fortunately, that it did. As the people on the bus lost interest in her and returned to their own conversations, or just waiting patiently for their stop, the bus turned another corner. As instantly as the green lines and darkness appeared, everything returned to normal. Samantha sighed, relieved that at least, this wasn't permanent. But the questions were still circling in her mind and she was still very uneasy. What just happened? Why did it happen? Will it happen again?
The rest of the trip home was uneventful. Everything was normal, except her concern whatever just happened might repeat itself. Fortunately, she managed to get home without it happening once again.
Samantha had a work and social life. She was not a lonely person. But she lived alone. She needed someone to talk to. Considered phoning a family member or friend. But what on Earth would she say? "Oh, hi I'm just calling because on the bus today everything turned into green lines.", she imagined herself saying. It sounded ridiculous!
*purrrr* - Samantha's only companion at home, and frankly, one of her best friends, her cat, "Tom", slowly walked over. Actually, it was incorrect to say she lived alone after all!
One of Samantha's daily habits was talking to Tom about her day. He was always a good listener. Of course, being a cat, he clearly didn't understand, but it always helped her to offload to someone who paid attention and seemed to care.
Samantha immediately proceeded to tell him about everything that happened. As always. He listened, he cared, as much as a cat possibly could. "Thank you, Tom".
Samantha felt calmer. More rational. Tomorrow, the search for answers would begin.
Maybe what happened was medical thing? Maybe others had experienced something similar? The day after the event, Samantha phoned up and arranged the soonest possible doctor’s appointment for a few days later.
Samantha arrived for her appointment. In the waiting room, she found herself rather anxious. How would she even describe this? Would it sound ridiculous? “Relax”, she thought to herself. Today her appointment would be with Dr Sheridan, a doctor she knew a little from previous appointments when she had occasionally fell ill and visited over the years. He was a to-the-point kind of person, but always non-judgemental. Samantha felt like this is exactly what she needed right now.
“Samantha? Please, come in.”
“So, according to the notes from your initial phone call, you have experienced a visual issue, is that right?”, asked Dr Sheridan. Samantha had intentionally described it vaguely when making that phone call, saving the details for the Doctor himself.
“That’s right… I saw something VERY unusual. This is probably all going to sound a bit… odd.”.
Dr Sheridan could tell she was a bit uncomfortable. “Alright, Samantha, don’t worry, I’m here to help. Just start at the beginning and tell me exactly what happened, step by step.”
Samantha told him what had happened in a very factual manner. Focusing only on what she saw and how long it lasted, leaving out the details of her interactions with the other passengers.
Dr Sheridan paused for a moment. Samantha got the impression what she had described was unusual, even for him. “Okay Samantha, let’s run a few standard tests and check your physical health.” Dr. Sheridan proceeded to check the usual stuff, heart rate, blood pressure, a basic vision check, stuff like that.
“Well,” Dr Sheridan said with another slight pause. “I’m pleased to tell you, from what I can tell you are in very good health! Your blood pressure is slightly elevated, but that could just be down to nerves, I wouldn’t worry about it. How are things going for you lately? Is anything stressing you out? Perhaps at work, or family issues?”
“Hmmm not really. Work can be a bit overwhelming at times, but nothing serious.”
“Have you experienced the issue or anything like it since the other day?”
“No, not at all!”
“Alright, good! For now, I would like to refer you to some counselling. Stress can sometimes build up slowly, and catch us off guard. And this can manifest itself in different ways. This counselling is designed to help us target and resolve the causes of stress. It’s very relaxed, calm and I think it could help you with your issue. I’ll give you the information package with the contact details and you can refer yourself whenever you’re ready. In the mean time, if you experience the issue again, I’d like you to contact the practice and make another appointment immediately. How does that sound?”
Samantha wasn’t really convinced by the counselling, but felt like pursuing things here wouldn’t get her any further. She gave a polite smile. “Thank you Dr Sheridan, I’ll give the counselling some thought.”
“Excellent. I really do think you should give the counselling a try. Is there anything else you’d like to ask me, or any other health issues you’d like to discuss?”
“No, that’s all, but thank you. Goodbye doctor!”
“Goodbye.”
Later that day, Samantha returned home and switched the TV on for some background noise, but paid no mind to it...
*puuuuuurrrr* Tom the cat did his usual and made his way over.
Samantha looked at Tom, then the counselling package, then back to Tom again. “Ohhh Tom, what should I do? The Doctor wasn’t really any help at all! Could it have been a psychological thing?”
“Meow”, replied Tom, listening intently.
“You’re a good cat.”
Samantha proceeded to relax in front of the TV.
“Yes, we call this simulated universe theory”…
*** more coming soon... ***