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Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Sleeping Beauty (revised+complete)
They tried their best to keep me comfortable. The doctors I mean. My wife was there. So was Mother. Andrew, my son, held my hand, but that sensation too came to pass. I knew I was dying. Surrounded by family, and all I could think about was when I’d wake up again.
The last thing I remember is the light. The light was so bright, and warm. I was sure it would be the last thing anybody would see. I remember how I eyes refused to close, no matter how much I willed them to. It was as if I was retreating further and further into my own body, losing control of all functions. Feeling no pain, no cold, just grateful warmth around me.
23 months ago, Marie, my wife, suggested I get a check up. I was feeling a little bit under the weather. So I reluctantly agreed. They took my blood and ran it through a fancy machine, and out of this fancy machine came an un-fancy result.
Cancer.
They gave me 7 months…
Marie had us try everything. Experimental treatment. Chemo. Even black magic. In the end I ended up losing 90 pounds, all of my hair, my job, my ability to walk on my own, and all hope. I knew I was dying.
Marie refused to give up though. Before my hearing had abandoned me on that bed, I heard her agreeing to something. Signing something, whimpering and saying, “All I want is for him to live… no matter what. No matter when.”
That’s when she looked over me and whispered into my ear. She told me how I would wake up and everything would be better.
Slowly, she backed away, and that’s when I lost it. I couldn’t hear anything in the room. I looked around frantically and realized how hard it became to breathe. The numbness started in my legs and gradually worked its way up to my face. I didn’t want to say anything. I knew there would be no point. No point in delaying the inevitable. I felt my body expel the last bit of air from my diseased form. That’s when I began to focus on the light. That blinding hospital lamp. Convincing myself that that was the famed light at the end of the tunnel. I knew I was dead.
At least I thought I was. Marie was right. I woke up. Unfortunately she was also wrong, everything was not better.
My name is Vincent Wohl. Born in Virginia 1994. Died in Michigan 2041. Resuscitated in United Nations capital No. 52 formerly known as California 4623.
I am known as “Sleeping Beauty”.
I came into the world slowly. The first thing I remember was the bright light. The light ebbed away to reveal a field of sunflowers. In all directions, just endless fields of sunflowers, and a sky so blue it was as if a painter entered my reality and decided to do some decorating. I was standing. At my feet was a pond and inside the pond was Marie. She was so beautiful. She levitated above the water, lying down on air. Breathing calmly.
I decided to make my way over to her. I took a step and found that the same air holding Marie held me as well. I didn’t know any better really. I thought I was in heaven. And for the sake of my sanity, I let myself believe that.
When I was close enough to her, I laid myself down next to her. She was in nearly transparent sleepwear. Her hair flowed in the air, suspended by an unseen force. Her head looked like an anemone. I reached out to touch her, to see if she was really there. She was. Her skin was smooth, clean, and warm. Whatever force was flowing through her began to make its way through my fingertips and up into my chest. It felt alive. I could feel it traveling through my system, intricately working itself into all parts of me. That’s when I felt myself take a breath. My chest expanded to three times its normal size, and it held for the longest time. My sigh was matched by Marie’s exhale. She was awake. She sat up to hug me.
That’s when things changed. After Marie hugged me, she pulled back and told me how proud she was of me. She told me to live my life. Told me all the things you’d expect to hear before a farewell. I knew I would never see her again. She stood and turned. Before I had any say, she dove into the pond. It was strange… Soon as she was submerged, the pond became an ocean. The ocean glowed with the same force that occupied my body.
The sky started to turn into night, and I had a strong urge to dive in after her. The uplifting air slowly dissipated, and I was lowered into the water. Like a lobster into boiling water, I tried to fight my way out. That’s when I heard the applause. My ears resonated with the noise. Skin slapping against skin. It was such a foreign sound. I felt cool and comfortable. I opened my eyes. They didn’t take everything in immediately. Yellow petals, multiple suns, and blue outlines. I thought I was in the field again. I heard warbled voices, and saw floating shapes. I thought I was sucked into purgatory or something.
“Vincent Wohl? Can you hear me?”
I turned my head and uttered Marie’s name.
Again, the foreign noise paddled my eardrums, louder this time. I fell asleep.
When I woke up, I felt fantastic. There wasn’t the throbbing pain of diseased lungs, no more headaches, not even gas. The room I was in was clean, crisp, and cool. I looked down at myself. I looked like I had been going to the gym. My torso was beautifully toned. My hair was cut short, my nails were done, even my toes felt like they had received some treatment. I was beginning to wonder how this all came to be when a man walked into the room. As soon as he made eye contact with me, he shook with glee. A massive smile spread across his face.
“You’re awake. It’s a pleasure to meet you Sir, I’ve been watching your resuscitation period from the moment you were found in that underground lab.”
I gave him a quizzical look. His accent was foreign, from what I could tell. He had brown skin and short black hair. He wore strange black arm gloves that worked into a one-piece suit. He didn’t look like any nurse I’ve seen. I realized I was staring at him, so I spoke.
“Where am I?”
The words came out of a sore throat. It felt as if I hadn’t spoken in a long time. Using my vocal chords again felt like trying to ride a new bike.
Soon as the words came out, he was in awe. Before he could answer me, he rushed out of the room and was gone.
I felt very uneasy. Everything about the room I was in looked foreign, yet somehow familiar. I sat up. All the equipment I was hooked up to was gone. Instead there was what looked like a monitor built into the wall next to me. It glowed with readings. I realized the readings were synonymous with my own life signs. When I breathed in, I saw a section of what looked like a heart speed up slightly. I didn’t see any electrodes on my body.
“It’s a Life-Monitor. State of the art health surveillance system created just for you.”
I turned around and found myself staring at a woman. She looked like a doctor. She had all kinds of gadgets hanging around her neck and waistline. She looked more like a miner, minus the headlamp. Her eyes met mine briefly, and then moved behind me.
“Your immune system is very different from ours”, she lowered her voice suddenly “quite inferior really, so we have to watch you very carefully.”
She went on with the details of my resurrection. She referred to herself as the “Prince” and how I was the first one to be brought back. Her name was Dr. Priscilla Patel. A leading doctor in the UNC 52.
When she was done explaining, I could only ask one question.
“Why?”
She looked puzzled and waved her hand in front of her. Her glove emitted lights and I noticed the hologram she was projecting was my medical file, and the health plans that were attached to it. One of them stood out to me, it was a word I only heard or read about in science fiction. Cryogenics. The sudden realization hit me hard, harder than I ever suspected.
“It… it worked?”
I sat on the floor of the room. She sat in front of me. Attempting to establish eye contact, she told me about the wars that took place after my passing. She told me how the UN gradually took control over the world. How entertainment has grown to a level previously unanticipated. In the ruins of Michigan State, archeologists found the remains of the facility that practiced cryogenics. The whole excavation was being covered by Discovery channel and when my tank was discovered untouched, they sent in a team of the world’s best doctors and anthropologists to bring me back. I took a second look at my body.
“Does this mean I am cured?”
She smiled. Broadly.
“When we successfully restored your body to normal temperatures, you were kept in a medicated coma for a few weeks while we enhanced your physique and replaced those organs that were cancerous. Even though you were in a suspended animation, the cancer slept with you.”
She waved her hand again. A video of the surgery played itself out between her and I.
“Here is where we were able to replace your lungs. Can you see it?”
She twisted her fingers and the video shot forward a few hours.
“This is where we began treating your marrow. We wanted you to ‘catch up’ as much as possible.”
I leaned to the side of the video to look at her.
“Catch up?”
She stood and ushered me to the opposite end of the room. We walked past a set of doors and a pool stretched out ahead of us. I felt like I was back in the fields with Marie.
“This is where we conduct our first experiment.”
Patel pointed to the pool.
“Jump in, go for a swim. Your new muscles will need to be exercised so they can remain where they are now. They’re very similar to human tissue. While you swim, I’ll go take care of business.”
“But… wait. What am I doing here again?”
Patel came close and leered at me. I blushed.
“You look good for being over a thousand years old. Enjoy it for a little bit.” She turned to leave but quickly turned around.
“As a little favor for me, try holding your breath for as long as you can. I want to see how long the new hemoglobin lasts under strenuous exercise.”
With that, she went through the doors. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t believe the science fiction touch on everything. Was this really happening? I looked at the pool and thought about my first dream since dying. Was I still dreaming? I brought up my hands and for the first time I wondered what else they had changed. I walked to the edge of the pool and took a look at my reflection in the water. There I was. I looked younger. Leaner. I stripped off my clothes and dove in.
The water was heated and I could almost get a sense of how vast the pool was. I swam around for a few minutes. My body didn’t seem to tire at all. I remembered what Patel asked me to do. I looked down to get a sense how deep the pool was, I couldn’t see the bottom. So, I took a deep breath and I dove.
I went down at a slow speed. My ears started to pop. I kept going. My diaphragm buckled slightly, but I didn’t feel the urge to get some air. I stopped short of the bottom and sat there, staring up at the surface. I sat there for so long that I started daydreaming about being a fish. I was sure this was a dream. Swimming along the bottom of the pool for a long time, I moved slowly and majestically. Pretending to be a whale, I went for the darker side of the pool, the deeper side. The light was dimmer down here. I still didn’t need a breath. I pretended to hunt for giant squid and other whale treats of the deep. I smiled at the freedom my new body allowed me. I then started thinking about my family.
It had been hundreds of years. I knew they were gone… I didn’t know how to react. Do I cry? How could I start over? Where could I possibly go? If there was anyone who was truly lonely and disconnected, it was me. I felt like thawed aged meat. Was it worth it for me to even go to the surface?
The sudden thought of being alone made me sick, sicker than cancer, sicker than dying, sicker than sick itself. I looked around and wondered if Marie was down here with me. I started to swim again, this time, with my eyes closed. I imagined Marie being in front of me, letting me chase her around the bottom. She turned and smiled. This was a dream. This was where I wanted to be. I blew out the air that slept in my chest and took in the water. I didn’t feel any different. I just got really tired, incredibly sleepy. Marie made a sympathetic gesture and turned back to me. I gave up chasing her and decided to lie down on the bottom. I looked up toward the surface and saw the dim ceiling light. Marie came from the bottom of my view, smiling big. I smirked and brought her close to me. She kissed me, and we laid there until we both fell asleep.
The last thing I remember is the light. The light was so bright, and warm. I was sure it would be the last thing anybody would see. I remember how I eyes refused to close, no matter how much I willed them to. It was as if I was retreating further and further into my own body, losing control of all functions. Feeling no pain, no cold, just grateful warmth around me.
23 months ago, Marie, my wife, suggested I get a check up. I was feeling a little bit under the weather. So I reluctantly agreed. They took my blood and ran it through a fancy machine, and out of this fancy machine came an un-fancy result.
Cancer.
They gave me 7 months…
Marie had us try everything. Experimental treatment. Chemo. Even black magic. In the end I ended up losing 90 pounds, all of my hair, my job, my ability to walk on my own, and all hope. I knew I was dying.
Marie refused to give up though. Before my hearing had abandoned me on that bed, I heard her agreeing to something. Signing something, whimpering and saying, “All I want is for him to live… no matter what. No matter when.”
That’s when she looked over me and whispered into my ear. She told me how I would wake up and everything would be better.
Slowly, she backed away, and that’s when I lost it. I couldn’t hear anything in the room. I looked around frantically and realized how hard it became to breathe. The numbness started in my legs and gradually worked its way up to my face. I didn’t want to say anything. I knew there would be no point. No point in delaying the inevitable. I felt my body expel the last bit of air from my diseased form. That’s when I began to focus on the light. That blinding hospital lamp. Convincing myself that that was the famed light at the end of the tunnel. I knew I was dead.
At least I thought I was. Marie was right. I woke up. Unfortunately she was also wrong, everything was not better.
My name is Vincent Wohl. Born in Virginia 1994. Died in Michigan 2041. Resuscitated in United Nations capital No. 52 formerly known as California 4623.
I am known as “Sleeping Beauty”.
I came into the world slowly. The first thing I remember was the bright light. The light ebbed away to reveal a field of sunflowers. In all directions, just endless fields of sunflowers, and a sky so blue it was as if a painter entered my reality and decided to do some decorating. I was standing. At my feet was a pond and inside the pond was Marie. She was so beautiful. She levitated above the water, lying down on air. Breathing calmly.
I decided to make my way over to her. I took a step and found that the same air holding Marie held me as well. I didn’t know any better really. I thought I was in heaven. And for the sake of my sanity, I let myself believe that.
When I was close enough to her, I laid myself down next to her. She was in nearly transparent sleepwear. Her hair flowed in the air, suspended by an unseen force. Her head looked like an anemone. I reached out to touch her, to see if she was really there. She was. Her skin was smooth, clean, and warm. Whatever force was flowing through her began to make its way through my fingertips and up into my chest. It felt alive. I could feel it traveling through my system, intricately working itself into all parts of me. That’s when I felt myself take a breath. My chest expanded to three times its normal size, and it held for the longest time. My sigh was matched by Marie’s exhale. She was awake. She sat up to hug me.
That’s when things changed. After Marie hugged me, she pulled back and told me how proud she was of me. She told me to live my life. Told me all the things you’d expect to hear before a farewell. I knew I would never see her again. She stood and turned. Before I had any say, she dove into the pond. It was strange… Soon as she was submerged, the pond became an ocean. The ocean glowed with the same force that occupied my body.
The sky started to turn into night, and I had a strong urge to dive in after her. The uplifting air slowly dissipated, and I was lowered into the water. Like a lobster into boiling water, I tried to fight my way out. That’s when I heard the applause. My ears resonated with the noise. Skin slapping against skin. It was such a foreign sound. I felt cool and comfortable. I opened my eyes. They didn’t take everything in immediately. Yellow petals, multiple suns, and blue outlines. I thought I was in the field again. I heard warbled voices, and saw floating shapes. I thought I was sucked into purgatory or something.
“Vincent Wohl? Can you hear me?”
I turned my head and uttered Marie’s name.
Again, the foreign noise paddled my eardrums, louder this time. I fell asleep.
When I woke up, I felt fantastic. There wasn’t the throbbing pain of diseased lungs, no more headaches, not even gas. The room I was in was clean, crisp, and cool. I looked down at myself. I looked like I had been going to the gym. My torso was beautifully toned. My hair was cut short, my nails were done, even my toes felt like they had received some treatment. I was beginning to wonder how this all came to be when a man walked into the room. As soon as he made eye contact with me, he shook with glee. A massive smile spread across his face.
“You’re awake. It’s a pleasure to meet you Sir, I’ve been watching your resuscitation period from the moment you were found in that underground lab.”
I gave him a quizzical look. His accent was foreign, from what I could tell. He had brown skin and short black hair. He wore strange black arm gloves that worked into a one-piece suit. He didn’t look like any nurse I’ve seen. I realized I was staring at him, so I spoke.
“Where am I?”
The words came out of a sore throat. It felt as if I hadn’t spoken in a long time. Using my vocal chords again felt like trying to ride a new bike.
Soon as the words came out, he was in awe. Before he could answer me, he rushed out of the room and was gone.
I felt very uneasy. Everything about the room I was in looked foreign, yet somehow familiar. I sat up. All the equipment I was hooked up to was gone. Instead there was what looked like a monitor built into the wall next to me. It glowed with readings. I realized the readings were synonymous with my own life signs. When I breathed in, I saw a section of what looked like a heart speed up slightly. I didn’t see any electrodes on my body.
“It’s a Life-Monitor. State of the art health surveillance system created just for you.”
I turned around and found myself staring at a woman. She looked like a doctor. She had all kinds of gadgets hanging around her neck and waistline. She looked more like a miner, minus the headlamp. Her eyes met mine briefly, and then moved behind me.
“Your immune system is very different from ours”, she lowered her voice suddenly “quite inferior really, so we have to watch you very carefully.”
She went on with the details of my resurrection. She referred to herself as the “Prince” and how I was the first one to be brought back. Her name was Dr. Priscilla Patel. A leading doctor in the UNC 52.
When she was done explaining, I could only ask one question.
“Why?”
She looked puzzled and waved her hand in front of her. Her glove emitted lights and I noticed the hologram she was projecting was my medical file, and the health plans that were attached to it. One of them stood out to me, it was a word I only heard or read about in science fiction. Cryogenics. The sudden realization hit me hard, harder than I ever suspected.
“It… it worked?”
I sat on the floor of the room. She sat in front of me. Attempting to establish eye contact, she told me about the wars that took place after my passing. She told me how the UN gradually took control over the world. How entertainment has grown to a level previously unanticipated. In the ruins of Michigan State, archeologists found the remains of the facility that practiced cryogenics. The whole excavation was being covered by Discovery channel and when my tank was discovered untouched, they sent in a team of the world’s best doctors and anthropologists to bring me back. I took a second look at my body.
“Does this mean I am cured?”
She smiled. Broadly.
“When we successfully restored your body to normal temperatures, you were kept in a medicated coma for a few weeks while we enhanced your physique and replaced those organs that were cancerous. Even though you were in a suspended animation, the cancer slept with you.”
She waved her hand again. A video of the surgery played itself out between her and I.
“Here is where we were able to replace your lungs. Can you see it?”
She twisted her fingers and the video shot forward a few hours.
“This is where we began treating your marrow. We wanted you to ‘catch up’ as much as possible.”
I leaned to the side of the video to look at her.
“Catch up?”
She stood and ushered me to the opposite end of the room. We walked past a set of doors and a pool stretched out ahead of us. I felt like I was back in the fields with Marie.
“This is where we conduct our first experiment.”
Patel pointed to the pool.
“Jump in, go for a swim. Your new muscles will need to be exercised so they can remain where they are now. They’re very similar to human tissue. While you swim, I’ll go take care of business.”
“But… wait. What am I doing here again?”
Patel came close and leered at me. I blushed.
“You look good for being over a thousand years old. Enjoy it for a little bit.” She turned to leave but quickly turned around.
“As a little favor for me, try holding your breath for as long as you can. I want to see how long the new hemoglobin lasts under strenuous exercise.”
With that, she went through the doors. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t believe the science fiction touch on everything. Was this really happening? I looked at the pool and thought about my first dream since dying. Was I still dreaming? I brought up my hands and for the first time I wondered what else they had changed. I walked to the edge of the pool and took a look at my reflection in the water. There I was. I looked younger. Leaner. I stripped off my clothes and dove in.
The water was heated and I could almost get a sense of how vast the pool was. I swam around for a few minutes. My body didn’t seem to tire at all. I remembered what Patel asked me to do. I looked down to get a sense how deep the pool was, I couldn’t see the bottom. So, I took a deep breath and I dove.
I went down at a slow speed. My ears started to pop. I kept going. My diaphragm buckled slightly, but I didn’t feel the urge to get some air. I stopped short of the bottom and sat there, staring up at the surface. I sat there for so long that I started daydreaming about being a fish. I was sure this was a dream. Swimming along the bottom of the pool for a long time, I moved slowly and majestically. Pretending to be a whale, I went for the darker side of the pool, the deeper side. The light was dimmer down here. I still didn’t need a breath. I pretended to hunt for giant squid and other whale treats of the deep. I smiled at the freedom my new body allowed me. I then started thinking about my family.
It had been hundreds of years. I knew they were gone… I didn’t know how to react. Do I cry? How could I start over? Where could I possibly go? If there was anyone who was truly lonely and disconnected, it was me. I felt like thawed aged meat. Was it worth it for me to even go to the surface?
The sudden thought of being alone made me sick, sicker than cancer, sicker than dying, sicker than sick itself. I looked around and wondered if Marie was down here with me. I started to swim again, this time, with my eyes closed. I imagined Marie being in front of me, letting me chase her around the bottom. She turned and smiled. This was a dream. This was where I wanted to be. I blew out the air that slept in my chest and took in the water. I didn’t feel any different. I just got really tired, incredibly sleepy. Marie made a sympathetic gesture and turned back to me. I gave up chasing her and decided to lie down on the bottom. I looked up toward the surface and saw the dim ceiling light. Marie came from the bottom of my view, smiling big. I smirked and brought her close to me. She kissed me, and we laid there until we both fell asleep.
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