CONFUSION

I woke up with a start lying face down not being able to breathe properly. Rolling over on to my back, I stared at the blue sky above me.

‘’Where the hell am I? ’I murmured to myself.

Sitting up I looked around and found myself on a sandy beach facing the sea with not a soul in sight. Suddenly without warning an excruciating pain stabbed at my chest, I felt as if I was having a heart attack. Closing my eyes I heard strange pinging noises and saw flashes of red then everything went black. I had a feeling of floating, the pain that I had experienced was gone. Opening my eyes the beach seemed different, so I stood up and looked around.

There was a line of palm trees and behind them in the distance snow-covered mountains. As I walked towards the trees, I heard a helicopter approaching me, flying very low along the shoreline. I waved my arms as it flew by but noticed to my amazement there was no one in the helicopter. It suddenly it changed course and headed towards me low across the sand. I was horrified and sprinted to the sea and dived into an approaching wave. As my head surfaced, I looked around but the helicopter was nowhere to be seen.

Wading out of the water I felt cold and started to shiver, looking down I was shocked to see that I was naked. There were people all around me lying on the sand and strolling on the beach. Feeling embarrassed, I covered my nakedness with my hands, but no one seemed to notice me.

Without warning my chest exploded with a surge of pain, struggling to breathe I opened my eyes. I could hear a wailing sound and through a haze I could make out a strange face staring at me.

“Keep breathing, “a voice shouted.

I closed my eyes as the sounds slowly got fainter and fainter then darkness.

“The rugby match is going to be played on the bottom field, ’said the coach. I felt disorientated as I pulled my player’s jersey over my head.

“This can’t be happening I thought to myself, I’ve had my knees replaced and not done any training for years,’’

As I walked slowly down past the familiar Villagers rugby club house to the playing fields a car stopped next me and I got in.

“We going to Forrester’s Arms pub for sundowners.”

I recognized the driver but not the other passengers.

Looking out of the window the countryside had changed, we were on a dusty road. Suddenly an ostrich darted out of the brush on to the road in front of us. “Look out.” I screamed.

“Hold him down.” Someone shouted.

“Sir, please lie still.” Said another voice.

I could hear a waling sound and saw red flashing lights, then everything went dark.

Opening my eyes, I found myself looking at the road ahead and saw a large truck had overturned spewing crates of beer everywhere. Walking around the debris of broken glass I looked down to see I was bare footed but strangely felt no pain. Everything felt normal even when I saw someone with a broom starting to sweep the glass to one side of the road.

Suddenly, I found myself in a large bar room looking around at a crowd of people dressed in dark clothing. I recognize some of the faces, but no one said anything to me. They all seemed to be waiting for something to happen.

“What’s the holdup.?” I heard someone shout.

“Bloody traffic won’t get out of the way.’’

“I’ll try and get through on the left.’’

“Can you believe it, looks like a three-car pileup. How many more people are going to try and kill themselves tonight?”

“Don’t stop for anything now, we need to move on to get this guy to hospital.’’ ‘’I can only do what I can and finding it difficult, to keep him stable.’’

The hotel lobby had luggage piled up in the middle of the entrance and no one seemed to care. Pressing the button of the lift that would take me to a room it suddenly stopped with the doors opening and showing only the bottom half of the exit. I reached up and pulled myself on to the floor. Looking around I noticed there were passageways disappearing into the distance. There didn’t seem to be any doors to the rooms. Out of the gloom I saw a man walking towards me. He took no notice as he passed, walking off into the darkness. I could feel my heart pounding, feeling terribly confused and utterly alone.

Then it struck again, my body felt a searing pain tearing through my chest.

With the shock my eyes opened and I cried out but my voice seemed muffled.

“That’s it, well done, keep breathing it won’t be too long now. My body ached as I tried to move but I felt so weary and confused, then darkness flooded over me.

I could feel ripples of horror creeping down my back as I ran. Something was chasing me, but I did not know what it was. I could feel it grabbing out at me and the fear I felt, pulled at my chest. Then without warning I was in the sun light and looked around me. The thing that was after me was nowhere in sight, but I still felt the dread in my stomach.

There was a house in front of me that I recognized as the house I grew up in, but it looked different. As I walked through the front door, I saw my mother in the kitchen standing at the stove stirring something in a pot. She smiled at me and did not say a word but I somehow knew that I was dreaming as she had died years before.

There was a hard sudden jolt and a loud screeching sound which made my eyes open.

“Dammit! ’a voice shouted,” we have just side swiped a car.”

‘’Keep going we can deal with that later; we can’t lose this one now.”

“Okay! hang on there here we go, how’s our boy doing.?”

“l am amazed he is a tough one.”

A constant beeping sound woke me. Opening my eyes I saw a white ceiling. Touching my face there was something covering my mouth and nose. As I moved it to one side it produced a hissing sound.

“l think he is waking up,” said a familiar voice next to me.

I turned my head to see the smiling face of my wife.

Moving the mask to one side, my mouth felt so dry, but I managed a whisper.

“What’s happened to me, where am I.?”

‘’My darling, you were in a terrible accident and had to be cut out of your car. The doctor said the paramedics had to start your heart several times which I am truly grateful.’’

‘’I am feeling so confused.’’

“You have several broken bones, but the doctors performed a miracle putting you back together. It was touch and go as some of your internal organs are damaged, but the doctors say in time you should make a full recovery. You will have a lot of scarring as a reminder of what you went through.”

“l had the weirdest dreams, it felt as if my life was out of control. Nothing made sense, yet all seemed normal.”

‘’Don’t worry you are not dreaming now, I could pinch you but the thought of injuring you a little more is out of the question.”