Wednesday July 5th, 2056 - I

The wind is howling, and the rain is pouring outside. A dark grey sky fills up the atmosphere, with not a single strand of blue to be seen. Andrew wakes up from the noise of the rain. He looks at the clock. It's seven in the morning.

[Where am I?]

He looks around the room, and searches for a switch. Upon turning on the light, he realises it is just his room, with the desk, bookcase, and bedside table with the three letters.

[I was on vacation. Was that a dream? It felt too real to be a dream.]

He pinches himself in his hand. It stings.

[This is reality, I know that. But that holiday wasn't a dream, it did happen, I'm sure of it.]

A lightning strike lights up the room, followed by a loud thunder clap shortly after. However, Andrew isn't fazed by it.

[Déjà vu doesn't work that way either, but it felt like it. I want to believe it was just a vivid dream, but it felt way too real for that. People touched me. I was touching things. It all felt real. Too real.]

A second lightning strike shocks Andrew out of his thoughts.

[It was just a vivid dream. A lucid dream, and nothing more.]

He gets out of bed and dresses up. The thunder clap comes from further away this time. After dressing up, he heads out of his room and goes down the hallway, headed for the cafeteria.

No one is in the cafeteria. Andrew orders his food and settles down on a couch.

[It's half past seven. I shouldn't have expected anyone here at this hour.]

He starts on his breakfast, all alone, illuminated by the strips of TL lighting.

[I wonder what that dream meant. Maybe I'm subconsciously longing for that life again, which isn't even that far-fetched. I've been here for only three weeks now, but everything from the past is already catching up to me.]

He finishes eating and lifts his glass to take a sip from his water.

[When can I drink something like lemonade? I've had enough of water.]

He finishes his drink and takes away his plate and glass.

[I should play some card games again today, maybe that'll rest my thoughts. And I'm guessing it is normal for most patients, longing for the past lives they lost. They have it worse than me, I shouldn't complain.]

He leaves the cafeteria, but in the door opening he encounters Helen.

"Finally, I've found you." She says.

"Finally?"

"Well, I only looked in your room and here. I wanted to see if you were okay."

"I'm good." Andrew says. "My mind was a bit jumbled up with thoughts in the morning, but I was able to sort them out."

"Are you sure? Because it must have been a lot to handle in just one night." Helen asks worriedly.

"Yeah, really. I'm fine." Andrew responds. "I had a dream about a vacation I had with my family, and May and Sarah too."

"Was it a good one?" Helen asks.

[I would've said nightmare if it wasn't.]

"It was, we just arrived on our vacation spot, and drank soup and set up our beds. After I went to sleep in my dream, I woke up here, because of the rain, which felt a little odd."

"That dream was really lively then, if you remember that much." Helen says. "I've had more patients with such vivid dreams, ones they could remember in great detail too."

[So I was right, this is a normal occurrence.]

Andrew doesn't give a response.

"Anyway, the others are already awake and in the recreational area. Shall we go there?"

"Sure." Andrew replies. They walk down the hallway to the recreational area.

"Hey, Andrew." Wilhelm greets him. The others greet him and Helen as well. "How'd it go yesterday? I hope you took my advice?"

"I did." Andrew responds. "And, well… I couldn't hold it in even if I tried."

"In a way, that's good to hear." Wilhelm says. "You can pull through, I'm sure of it."

Andrew sit down and Helen leaves the room. She looks back right before leaving.

"Someone's visiting today, so I'll talk to you later." She says.

[There must be people visiting their friends and family here, best of luck to them.]

"A beauty, isn't she?" Wilhelm says.

[Where did that come from?]

"If I were twenty years younger, I'd marry her." Wilhelm continues.

"As much as don't want to, I have to agree with you." Chris says. "But it just feels wrong."

"I get it." Wilhelm responds. "But none can stop us from dreaming."

"She's not my type." Mike says.

"No woman is your type." Wilhelm responds. "We know that."

Mike looks away and doesn't respond.

[Should I say something? It doesn't seem like Joe is trying to say something either, so I guess I can stay out of this.]

"What about Joe, what do you think about her?" Wilhelm asks.

[I spoke too soon.]

Joe makes some signs in quick succession, while Chris reads them.

"He says she's attractive, but he doesn't feel that kind of affection towards her." Chris lays emphasis on the word 'that'. Joe nods.

"And you, Andrew." Wilhelm says. It doesn't sound like a question at all.

[Do I seriously have to think about this, after yesterday that is. I don't want to. I never even thought about her that way. She's just a friend to me.]

"She's… just a good friend, to me." Andrew responds.

"Just a good friend? So nothing about her looks?" Chris asks.

"I told you the newer generations were getting softer with the ladies." Wilhelm says.

"Guys let him finish first." Mike interrupts. "Continue, Andrew."

[Do I have to?]

"I just… never really thought of her that way." Andrew starts. "May is still my girlfriend, even after thirty-seven years, and I just don't want to give up on that."

"That's… a very noble reason to say the least." Mike says. "Well, let's move away from this topic for now. What do we want to play?"

They decide on a game and Wilhelm starts shuffling the cards.

They are playing Poker again, as per usual. Wilhelm wins most of the time, but there are a few other winners in some of the games too. Andrew doesn't win one game, however. At around eleven, they stop with the card games. Andrew and Mike decide to head outside, into the Garden. They asked the staff about it and got permission.

Once outside, they sit down on the bench next to the pond.

"So, what did you want to ask?" Andrew asks.

"About Helen. I didn't want to have the other guys around, since they sort of have a crush on her. It's a bit creepy in my opinion." Mike tells him.

"I don't know whether to agree or not." Andrew responds. "They can have those thoughts if they want."

"I don't really agree, but whatever, that's not the thing I wanted to ask." Mike says.

"Before we move on, what about you not liking her?"

Mike gives Andrew a confused look.

"No, wait. I didn't mean it in a mean way. I'm just curious." Andrew quickly adds on the sight of Mike's stare.

"I'm gay." Mike responds.

"Oh, I see. That makes sense then, I think."

"Or a faggot, as Wilhelm likes to say."

[That escalated quickly.]

"That's another reason why I didn't want any of them around." Mike sighs. "Unlike you, and your generation, they don't accept me for who I am. And like you, I also see Helen as just a great friend, but for a different reason obviously."

Andrew is looking at the lake, being unresponsive.

"Sorry for using that word myself, I despise it too. I wanted to use it to get my point across."

Andrew snaps back to reality.

"Huh? Oh, no, it's fine. Well, the word isn't of course, but…"

"Yeah, I understand." Mike interrupts. "I just wanted to know if you understood that we and you are from completely different generations. Keep that in mind."

Andrew looks at him. Mike gives him a smile.

"I will." Andrew gives a slight smile back.

"So, about Helen." Mike continues. "I wanted you to know something, beforehand."

[Beforehand? About Helen? She doesn't seem like the person to hide anything.]

"Allow me to explain." Mike says, before Andrew can respond. Andrew nods.

"Some time in the near future, you will be expelled. Expulsion means that you're, well, expelled from Hulive, meaning you're allowed to leave the building whenever you want."

[I never thought about it, but that seems like something that'll happen soon enough.]

"With your expulsion, the support Hulive gives you mostly stops, and your caretaker gets assigned a new patient. In your case, and in mine, that caretaker is Helen."

[I never expected Helen to stay with me forever either way, but...]

"Now, after I was expelled, I never talked with Helen again. Maybe I said hi to her in a hallway, but I never got the peaceful conversations you're probably having right now."

[So she's… never going to talk to me like that anymore? And give the hugs and stuff. That doesn't make sense, she wouldn't be the person to just straight up leave someone like that. But, Mike sounds serious, and convincing.]

"But she's sometimes talking to you now, isn't she?" Andrew asks.

"That's only because of you." Mike responds. "When you get expelled, she probably won't talk to you and me anymore."

A brief silence falls upon them, as they watch the sunlight sparkling on the water's surface. Mike is quick to break this silence.

"It's probably just another hump of information for you to process, sorry for that."

"Well, it kind of is." Andrew responds.

"My point is, make the most out of your time with her the next few weeks. She really is a nice person." Mike says. "I wanted to spare you most of the oncoming shock, one that I experienced when I got expelled."

Andrew stares across the lake, processing everything he just heard.

"Thank you." He responds. "I really appreciate it, I can prepare for that 'oncoming shock' a little bit more now."

"Don't see her in a different light." Mike says. "She will still be the same person, at least for the time being."

"Yeah, and I want to make the most of that time." Andrew replies.

From the window, one connected to the staff area, someone is watching them. Her ponytail lays on her shoulder, and she is looking down at the ground.