Virtual Reality

Thump. I am awoken by the jolting of my body rumbling in course of surrounding motion causing my head to knock against the bed frame beneath me. As I slowly peer my eyes, they become ajar from the iridescent flickering of lights overhead. I am lying in an empty berth of a train cabin. I abruptly take a heavy gasp of air, I feel misplaced. I think I am going to be sick; I shout out loud, "why?", in discern of my dazed state of mind. I hope no one is nearby to hear me. I need answers yet, I have no questions; I feel speechless, even thoughtless. I can only contemplate what my next move is. I think my adrenaline is kicking in. I cannot recall what I have been up to or what led me to end up on this train. The lights are working now, still in discrepancy of one true hue. I have never taken this line or train, especially in the middle of the night. I don't even have a watch; I believe I lost my phone. I reach for my pockets but I bear nowt; an article nor ticket to possibly advance as a passenger. The train is picking up speed, travelling at least 100km per hour now. I am too scared to search for help but, I am too scared to stay and do nothing. Another rush of adrenaline overcomes me as I pull aside the cabin door. I prevail with much caution as I check my back to recognize my cabin numbered as, "2". There is a set of revolving doors to the right, I must find the train controls. Perhaps the front cabin contains the gears that can slow this train down. The train thrushes forward, it is accelerated to perhaps 130km per hour. I cannot keep my balance; I'm thrown off my feet, but I catch myself amidst the revolving door. I have dropped to my hands and knees like a child at play. I sense that I am alone on this runaway train. I have made it through the revolving door and I feel accomplished so far for making it to the front of the train. Although, that feeling quickly vanishes as I see water beneath my knees as it is seeping through the crevices of the revolving door. The lights inside the control cabin quit abruptly as the train takes a drop into the ocean. There is an underwater tunnel that is pitch black. The train lights omit an orange hue creating my heedful bewilderment of caution. I am running on a stricken time-line of not knowing what else may be going wrong, as if anything may be going right. I pull myself up using the edge of the control platform. The speedometer displays 140km per hour beside the train’s blackened GPS with the flashing notice, “final destination”. I look past the glass of the revolving door, there is now three feet of water behind me where I seemed to have left the safety of my slumbering dream before waking up to a nightmare. I squint my eyes to a tight shut; I blink hard a few times. Truthfully, I am dreading the immensity beyond the reality of my situation. Again, I look behind past the revolving glass anticipating a full fledged flood ready to break through the glass at any moment. I pinch myself in hopes I am just dreaming. I look to the back of the train and make a break through the revolving doors as I witness no signs of the train in flooding. I charge back to the front cabin. It is unbearably surreal when I cannot detect what I am seeing beyond the front glass windshield of the train. I feel the train is in escalade, I am knocked off my feet, this time unable to catch myself. I fell hard to the floor of the front cabin. I think out loud, "this is the end". My forehead is pressed to the floor momentarily then my fisted hands hold me up square. There is a lucent reflection in the puddle skimming the floor beneath my chest. I look up and out of the train’s windshield now struck by the interior tubular skylights of the underwater tunnel. I can see the tunnel is a cave exiting the water and the train is plateauing now on a bridge-like platform. I feel so helpless, I do not know anything about trains let alone how to conduct a locomotive. I want to yell for help through the glass but I stop myself as the train’s speed reduces significantly. Screech. The cry of the train’s brakes confounds me as the train comes to a complete halt. I gather myself and stand to my feet. A Big Brother voice echoes from overhead, “please remove your virtual goggles and exit through the door to the right”. Immediately, I trace back through the revolving doors as I palm my hands over my eyes, I whisper, “VR?”. I finally uncovered the perplexity of this roller coaster expedition constituting a virtual reality runaway train-wreck. The train dissipates before I completely remove my virtual goggles. I am in a dark room and I see the sign of the exit door. Now I am synchronized back to reality.