Chapter 22 - Waking Up
With a thought I'm back in my office. I need to keep focused of the task at hand and stop letting myself get distracted. I take the thumb drive that the computer gave me in the future and I go to the computer room and upload it. It takes a few minutes and then it's done. I've won. The game should be over now.
After a moment I wake up. I'm in my bed. I can see the constellations on my ceiling. I look around and there are a bunch of people looking at me. Mom and dad are here. Nia and Lidia and Jake are here. Wait a second! What is Jake doing here? He doesn't belong here and then I see the Doctor. I'm not quite sure why he looks familiar but he does. Jake being here is definitely not right though. I must still be in the game. With a thought I stay right where I am. I don't disappear. I don't go anywhere.
"Katy, how are you feeling?" The Doctor asks me.
"I feel strange." I tell him. I feel different somehow. I'm not sure how to explain it.
"You've been in a coma. You snuck into the arcade to play that new Virtual Reality game. While you were playing it you collapsed and you've been in a coma ever since." The Doctor explains, "We didn't know if you would ever wake up."
What?! Everything I've experienced was all in my mind!? I wasn't even really playing a game at all? I can't accept that. Something is up. But everyone that was in the game is here, everyone except Lisa that is. I am so confused.
"Is Maddie all right?" I ask, "Maddie played the game too."
"Maddie is fine." The doctor assures me, "She's been worried sick about you though."
"I'm so glad you're awake." Nia says, "I've been so worried about you. I thought I lost you forever."
"I'm sorry" I tell her, "I just got it in my head that I had to find out what all the fuss was about."
"We'll if you ever do that again I'll kill you myself." She says trying to smile through the tears.
"We should all give Katy some space to collect her thoughts." The Doctor tells everyone,
"It's going to take her a little bit of time to make sense of everything." After saying that everyone leaves the room except for Jake. Jake takes my hand in his.
"Hey, you had me really worried." He tells me as he reaches down to kiss me on the lips.
"What are you doing?" I ask him as I push him away.
"I'm allowed to kiss my girlfriend." Jake tells me. Girlfriend!?!? Jake and I are boyfriend and girlfriend! That's not right. Now I know I have to still be in the game.
"What are you talking about?" I ask him.
"You don't remember that I'm your boyfriend?" Jake asks, "How Nia kept rejecting me and then how we found out we liked each other?"
"That's not right." I tell him, "That can't be right."
"You're not as pretty as Nia but you are attractive and smart and you're the nicest person I've ever met." He explains.
"I don't even know you." I tell him.
"We've known each other for years." He says correcting me, "You don't remember how shocked Nia was when we told her. We thought she was going to pass out."
"I'm sorry. This is a little much for me to take in right now. Could you go get Nia?" I ask him.
"Yeah, sure." He says. He leaves the room and a few minutes later Nia comes in.
"Nia, please tell me I'm not crazy." I ask her.
"You're not crazy." She tells me, "I need to get back to the village."
"What?!" I ask her.
"I need to get back to the village. You've got to take me back." She begs, "I don't belong in this future."
"I must still be in the game." I say out loud.
"There is not a game." She says, "I know you don't need a time cube. Just take me back to the village."
"I can't" I tell her.
"Why not?" She asks me.
"Because I've already tried to go somewhere else and it didn't work." I tell her.
"What are we going to do?" She says starting to get frantic, "You should have listened to me! Now I'm stuck here. I was going to tell Jake that I love him but instead he loves you!"
"I'm sorry" I tell her, "but I don't know how to end the game."
"For the last time, this isn't a game!" She yells at me, "When are you going to realize that?!"
"If this isn't a game, then why is Jake here and why can you still remember everything that happened when I was supposed to be in a coma." I ask her.
"I don't know." She answers.
"I finally did what you said. I picked starting over." I tell her.
"What?" She asks.
"I listened to you and I picked what you wanted." I tell her again.
"But you're not my Katy." She says.
"But I still love you." I say. She puts her arms around me and starts crying.
"What are we going to do?" She asks.
"I don't know." I tell her, "I'm sorry about Jake. I have no idea why he thinks I'm his girlfriend."
"That's not important, what's important is figuring out how to fix everything." She says.
"The last thing I remember is uploading the data the computer gave me. After that I woke up here. I thought that would end the game and I would have my old life back." I tell her, "But I guess I was wrong."
"The Doctor remembers." She tells me.
"What?" I say stunned.
"The Doctor remembers. He said that you lost the game." She tells me.
"What do you mean he said I lost the game?" I ask again.
"He looked at me and told me that you lost the game." She says again.
"How could the Doctor remember? How could you remember? Why doesn't Jake remember?" I ask.
"I don't know." She tells me.
"Where is Nia?" I ask.
"What?" She answers.
"My Nia. Where is my Nia?" I ask her.
"I don't know. I haven't seen her." She says.
"She's got to be here somewhere." I tell her.
"Maybe she's not." She says.
"Don't say that." I tell her, "I want to talk to Jake again."
"Okay" She says and leaves the room.