"Are You Real or Just a Dream"

“Doris, Doris, can you hear me? Can you hear me Doris?”

Doris feels dazed as she slowly opens her eyes. As she starts to wake up it takes her a few minutes for her eyes to focus and adjust to her surroundings. Initially she is unsure where she is and feels alarmed by the sound of the voice calling her name.

Finally, as her eyes start to focus properly she realises she's in hospital. Standing by the side of the bed is Mrs Berg, who is gently calling Doris' name.

In her dazed state the voice had sounded distorted, exactly like she'd originally heard in the auditorium and later in the school corridors. Now though the voice has returned to Mrs Berg's soothing tones.

Mrs Berg smiles: "Are you feeling okay dear?"

Doris sits up in bed and nods: "Yes, but my head hurts a little. Where am I?"

Mrs Berg: "Don't worry dear, your safe now. You collapsed and they brought you to the hospital."

Doris starts to feel alarmed: “The Hospital?”

Mrs Berg: “Don’t worry dear; it’s just a normal hospital”

Doris starts to feel relieved, then for a moment her attention is caught by a loud voice urgently calling over the speaker system: “Dr Reid Code Blue, Room 421. Dr Reid Code Blue, Room 421”. She can hear lots of people rushing around in the corridor outside her room, but her attention soon turns back to her own situation and she looks at Mrs Berg.

Doris: "But what about agent Crane?"

Mrs Berg gives a comforting smile: "There's no need to worry he's gone and can't hurt you now."

Doris relaxes and places her head back on the pillow, closing her eyes for a second. An image of Greg Crandall comes into her mind. She hadn’t thought of her old drama teacher in years and it felt strange for him to suddenly come to mind. As she opens her eyes again she notices figures standing behind Mrs Berg. She squeezes her eyes tightly to try to focus but can’t quite make them out.

Doris: “Mrs Berg who’s that behind you?

Mrs Berg turns and looks but remains silent. Doris notices some spectacles lying on the table next to her and quickly puts them on. The 2 figures fall into focus and to her surprise she sees Mr Shorofsky and Mr Crandall. For a moment she is confused as Mr Crandall had died last year but then she realises that she must have moved in time again to when Crandall was still alive.

Shorofsky calls out: “How are you doing cookie? You gave us a little scare back there”.

Again Doris feels relieved: “I’m okay Mr Shorofsky, you needn’t worry.”

Crandall gives a smile: “But Doris, we’re always going to worry about you, you’re special.”

Doris gives a smile as she remembers how much she liked Mr Crandall, he’d always been a bit of a sweetie. It was nice to see him again and she remembers how upset she’d been when he died.

Crandall continues: “Doris we want to talk to you. These things that you’ve been experiencing recently shouldn’t be happening. You shouldn’t be in the past reliving all these memories. You being here is creating a problem in time. It’s not just you, now others are experiencing and seeing things they shouldn’t be. If this continues it could cause a huge problem. You’ve got to correct it.”

Doris listens carefully to her old teacher. She had no memory of telling him what had happened to her but maybe Mrs Berg had told him.

Doris: “What can I do to stop it happening? I don’t even know how I got back into the past, so I certainly don’t know how to get back to my present? If you know what I can do, then please tell me and I’ll do it.”

Crandall sighs as he exchanges glances with Mrs Berg and Mr Shorofsky:

“You’re the only one who can change this Doris only you...”

At that moment he is interrupted by someone entering the room. A plump woman, who looked to be in her late 50s approaches the bed. She smiles a comforting smile at Doris and says:

“Hi, my name is Sally and I’m your nurse. A lot of people have been very worried about you so it’s nice to see you back in the land of the living.”

Doris smiles back.

Sally continues: “Do you know what happened to you?”

Doris shakes her head: “No, not really, I just remember being in the teachers’ lounge at School. They were worried I was a security risk what with the President visiting the School and then everything went black and I think I passed out.”

Sally looks a little puzzled: “What School do you work at?”

Doris laughs: “No I don’t work there, I’m a student. Doris pauses: “Well, I was a student. It all seems rather complicated now.”

The smile returns to Sally’s face: “Well not to worry about that now. I’ll get the Doctor to come in and speak to you and make sure you’re okay.”

There is silence for a moment and Doris notices that apart from herself and the nurse the room is empty. She didn’t see them go but thinks that the others must have left the room.

Again a voice can be heard over the speaker system: “Dr Phillips to Maternity please. Dr Phillips, Maternity”

The nurse then continues: “It must have been exciting having the President come to your school; I’m a big fan of his.”

Doris nods: “I guess it was, but none of us actually got to meet him or even see him. Dwight had written a letter inviting him along and he was only coming because it was raining and the game got called off but then the rain stopped and he changed his plans back again. Besides, it was all so long ago now.”

The nurse is confused again as she looks directly into Doris’ eyes.

Sally: “A long time ago, what do you mean? I thought it was only yesterday?”

Doris takes a deep breath, wondering what to say next. She was remembering what happened 20 odd years ago, but she had been reliving it so yes to the people around her it must have been yesterday.

Doris: “Oh, I guess I’m a little confused after blacking out. Besides although it was a big deal at the time, I personally was never a big fan of Reagan.”

Sally: “Reagan? Ronald Reagan? Don’t you mean Obama?”

Doris is shocked by the sound of the name, as a feeling of excitement tingles through her body.

Doris: “Obama, yes. Sally this may sound weird but what year is this?”

Sally: “Why it’s 2010 of course. Are you okay?

Doris puts her head in her hands and laughs: “2010? then I’m back and everything is normal again. I can’t believe it.”

Sally smiles courteously: “I’ll get the Doctor to see you.”

The nurse turns to leave but at the door she stops and calls back:

Sally: “Your daughter is waiting outside shall I send her in?”

Tears of joy roll down Doris’ face at the thought of seeing her daughter again.

Doris: “Yes, yes, please send her in I really want to see her.”

As the door closes behind Sally, Mrs Berg hands Doris a handkerchief to dry her tears.

Doris thanks her and wipes her face: “Mrs Berg did you hear that I’m back in 2010. I did it”.

Mrs Berg smiles: “That’s nice dear.”

Doris looks at the old woman and she suddenly stops as realisation dawns on her.

Doris: “Mrs Berg, where did you come from? You weren’t here a moment ago. How can this be?"

Mrs Berg gives a confused smile as Doris continues:

“Come to think of it you look exactly the same as you did in the eighties, wouldn’t you be nearly 90 now? Yet you haven’t aged a bit.”

Doris pauses then continues: “Now wait a minutes, didn’t you die in 1999? How can you be here with me in 2010? Is this real? Mrs Berg what’s going on what’s happening to me?"

Suddenly Doris feels strange and everything fades to black as the heart monitor that she is hooked up to starts beeping loudly.

To be Continued....