Lost in a different world: A dream or reality?

By Shubhi Saxena

When I woke up today, my entire room looked different. My bed had moved and my bookshelf wasn’t in its usual place. It felt like a room that wasn’t mine. I walked out of my room, searching for something familiar, but even the bathroom was different. None of my shampoos were there. I wondered if someone had broken into my house while I was sleeping, but the door was still securely locked. I had to go to work, so I went to take a shower. But when I opened my closet, none of the clothes were mine. I couldn’t wear someone else’s clothes, so I decided to freshen up, and check if my house was the only thing that looked different or if everyone was facing the same problem.

When I walked outside, I saw that none of my neighbours’ houses looked the same either. I decided to talk to them about the situation, but when I asked if they had any idea why everything looked different, they looked at me with confusion and said, “What do you mean?” No one else thought it was strange that everything had changed overnight.

As I headed to my car to go to work, I looked in the mirror and saw a face that wasn’t mine. I was scared. Could I be living in another world? I didn’t want to overthink the problem, but things were getting serious. I couldn’t even call my friends or family because the phone next to me wasn’t mine. Even if everything was real, I wondered whose life I was living.

I decided to go back home and investigate. Maybe it was someone I knew? I searched the room to find something familiar, but everything seemed like things I would never use. The clothes, books, and decorations were all completely different. It felt like a room designed for someone who was the opposite of me.

Things were finally starting to make sense, maybe this room wasn’t a stranger’s room, maybe it was mine from a different universe. I knew that what I was thinking was a bit crazy, but everything that had happened to me today was too weird for my mind to comprehend. Maybe the neighbors were giving me a weird look because I wasn’t in my ‘usual’ look.

I went through the phone, searched through the contacts, and the names didn’t seem familiar to me at all. Then, I heard the doorbell ring. I was nervous because what if my friends were at the door? I would not know how to talk to them and about what, but luckily it was just a courier. The weird thing about it was that it had my name on it. Now, I was sure that I was just a different version of me, but I didn’t know how to go back because I liked none of the things I had seen so far.

I opened the courier and it had a note that said, “Meet me at the place at 5 pm.” It was already 2 pm, and I didn’t know what the sender meant by ‘the place,’ so I checked ‘my’ phone and searched the chats. I researched a lot, but I could not find what they meant.

Then, suddenly, I got a notification from an unknown number, and it had an attachment of the menu of the local cafe with a couple of drinks and pastries highlighted. Time passed very quickly, and it was already 4:30 pm. So I left the house, got into ‘my’ car, and asked the people I saw for directions to the local cafe.

After roaming around for a while, I finally reached there. I saw many people at the cafe, but I didn’t know who the letter was from. So, I just went in and ordered the things that were highlighted. When I made that very specific order, the cashier told me to follow him and said, “There is a very important thing that you need to know.”

I was excited and very curious to know what he wanted to say. Suddenly, my eyes opened, and I saw the calendar, and it was the end of my winter holidays. I had no time to submit any of my assignments, but I was already more than angry because the ending of my dream got ruined.