Life at the Cost of Drinking a Cup of Time: The Simulated Dream

Part one: A Gamble With Fate

-Alex's Nightmares-

Every night, Alex’s sleep became a battlefield, one where memories and regrets collided in an endless loop. He had no control over it. The dreams were not mere fragments of his subconscious; they were vivid, so real that waking up felt like being ripped away from something tangible.

In these dreams, Sarah, his wife, stood by the bedside of their son, Tom, her face radiant with love, the same look she always had when she gazed at him. But there was an unsettling stillness in the air, a silence that felt like it had a weight of its own. Alex could feel her presence, her warmth, as if she were there, whispering something to him—a message he couldn’t comprehend, a plea that was just out of reach.

He would stretch his hand toward her, desperate to understand, but just before he could speak, the scene would crumble, and he’d be left alone in the silence. The dream would dissipate like mist before dawn, leaving him with a sense of loss so profound it gnawed at his insides.

The dreams were becoming more frequent, more intense. He couldn’t escape them. Every time he closed his eyes, it was as if he was drawn back into the same moment—back to the day everything changed. Back to the accident that took Sarah from him, and left Tom fighting for his life.

-The Meeting with Professor Darcy-

The morning after the latest nightmare, Alex was numb. There was no solace in the daylight, no escape from the darkness that clung to his thoughts. He had learned to move through the motions of life, to bury his grief beneath his professional duties. But the pain was always there, lurking just beneath the surface.

At the research facility, he met with Professor Darcy, a renowned neuroscientist who had been studying coma patients for years. Darcy’s research had veered into dangerous territory—territory Alex never thought he’d find himself in.

"Alex, there’s something we’ve discovered," Professor Darcy began, his voice filled with a mix of excitement and caution. "A unique anomaly in the brainwave patterns of coma patients. We believe it’s possible to access... fragments of time. Not just memories, but actual moments. A door, if you will, into the past."

Alex’s heart skipped a beat. It sounded impossible, absurd even, but something in Darcy’s eyes told him he was serious.

"We’ve been working on a project," Darcy continued. "Project S. If you’re willing to be a part of it, we could try to send you into the past. There’s a chance, a small one, but a chance, that you could reconnect with... what you lost."

The words hung in the air, heavy with the weight of their implications.

"Of course, the risks are tremendous," Darcy cautioned. "The probability of success is low, and the consequences of failure are unknown. But Alex, this could be your only way back."

Alex didn’t need to hear more. The thought of being able to reach Sarah again, to find a way to save Tom, was too powerful to ignore. He didn’t care about the risks. The thought of losing everything, of remaining in a world without them, was far worse.

-The Decision-

Later that night, Alex stood alone in his apartment, the silence enveloping him. His mind raced. He could still feel Sarah’s presence, even though she was gone. It was as if she was calling to him, urging him to make a decision.

"You can’t save them both... but you can try," he whispered to himself. He didn’t need to be told twice. He knew what he had to do.

The choice was no longer about science or probabilities. It was about love, about what he was willing to risk for the chance to undo the mistakes of the past. He thought about Tom, lying in a coma, and Sarah’s absence that left an unbearable void. This was his chance, however small, to make things right.

-Entering the Simulation-

The day came when Alex stepped into the machine. The world around him blurred, the reality he knew faded into the background as his consciousness was thrust into a simulated world, a world that resembled the past, but was anything but real.

In this world, he would have to confront the very thing that had torn his life apart. But as the machine hummed to life, Alex realized something: there was no going back. Once he entered the past, there was no telling what might happen. Every decision he made would ripple through time, changing the fabric of reality itself.

But he had made his choice. For better or worse, he was going to play the game of fate.