Already Scene

It’s 5:07 PM on a Wednesday afternoon. The vibrant sounds of the city resonate against the outside of Leon’s car, only to be muffled through the window into a blurred collage of soft sounds, slowly lulling him to sleep. His eyes open and close, flirting with sleep as his foot gently rides the brakes. He fights to stay awake in the heavy traffic, but each minute that goes by in the river of rubber and exhaust seems to drag him deeper and deeper into a comatose-state.

All of the sudden, red lights illuminate his eyes, triggering Leon to open them before they can focus. When his vision centers, he sees a little boy wearing a bright-orange jacket standing right in front of his car. "Shit!" Leon yells. His foot slips off the brake pedal and into the floorboard. In a flash of panic, Leon jerks the wheel, missing the boy, and swerves onto the shoulder. His car catches the lip of a barricade and starts to tumble. Like vegetables in a wok pan, Leon is tossed up and down with every rotation as shattered glass and pieces of plastic season his face until the car comes to a crumpling halt. Leon lays still in the wreckage.

There is darkness. It is hollow and cold except for a soft glow in the distance emitting hints of warmth. Slowly, the glow morphs into an overwhelming brilliance that consumes everything. Leon hears two people talking and then sees two fuzzy figures standing over him. “Please, don’t try to get up. Just pull this cord here and someone will assist you. You’re very lucky Mr. Clark,” says one of the nurses as she props Leon’s head up on a pillow. The two figures finish their conversation and leave.

Fully awake, Leon scans the stark room. The walls are faded green and smell like bleach. There is an old television bolted to the corner. The unplugged cord sways gracefully back and forth from the air conditioning unit. Leon shifts his weight left and lets out an intense groan. His bones feel like shattered glass. "At least I can still move around," Leon thinks to himself. After the pain subsides, Leon’s stomach grumbles. It feels like he hasn't had a mean in weeks. Gazing at the emergency cord, Leon musters up some courage to reach over and pull it. As he extends his arm, someone yells.

“Stop!” cries a woman. Leon startled, jumps and turns around simultaneously groaning from the pain. She has tangled cherry brown hair that reaches past her shoulders, and big brown eyes that barely fit in her eye sockets. She has on a nurse’s uniform, but Leon notices her shoes are abnormally dirty.

“Oh, hi. I need help. Could you—”

“Shh,” the woman interrupts. She looks around suspiciously. Leon notices a little black book in her hand. “We don’t have long.”

“Long?” he puzzles.

“What was the last thing you remember?” the woman inquires.

“You mean before the accident? Well, I was trying not to—”.

“No, no, no! What was the last thing you remember remembering?” she whispers intensely.

“What?” Leon feels uneasy from the unsettling questions.

“What was the last thing you remember happening to you again? What was your last episode?”

The woman’s bulging eyes have a familiar glaze. Leon can’t pinpoint it though. It was as if someone mixed together anger and curiosity like colors in a dish and dabbed it over each eyeball. He looks back at the emergency cord and then back at the woman.

“Are you my nurse? What do you mean by ‘episodes’?” Leon asks. The woman grabs his hospital gown tight and pulls him in close.

“Dammit Leon! Don’t you ever wonder what might have happened, or if there was anything you could have done differently?” She pushes the little black book onto Leon’s chest. He is speechless. “Tell me there hasn’t been one single moment in the last year that you haven’t thought about her and I promise, you will never see me again.”

There is a long pause. Through all the bleeps and busy tones of the hospital, Leon feels a vacancy engulf him. His eyes stay locked on hers. He can’t ignore the feeling of familiarity the woman gives him, like an acquaintance from the past.

“What are you talking about?” Leon stammers.

“Your wife, Leon!” the woman insists. Leon’s mouth opens but nothing comes out. Just then, a doctor begins to open the door. “Meet me in room 237 at 8:00. Don’t say anything.” She stands up adjusting her uniform and casually moves past the doctor.

Leon quickly hides the book under his blanket as the doctor enters. Leon is greeted with standard procedures and questions. He gives unvaried answers as the doctor robotically checks off boxes from a list. When the questionier is complete, the doctor hangs the clipboard on the wall, looks under Leon’s bed, and walks out.

The clock flickers from 7:58 PM to 7:59 PM. Leon, hesitant to get up, feels a knot in his stomach. He pulls the book from under him and examines it. The cover has a smooth texture against his hands. He opens up to the page held by the thin ribbon bookmark. Shockingly, the pages are smeared with words but in no particular order. There are red pencil marks linking-together circled words from across pages like an evidence board. There are taped-up pictures of people he didn’t recognize, and unfamiliar newspaper headlines of local tragedies dating back twenty years. Leon turns the book clockwise as he follows the words that border the pages. Just then he sees a headline he does recognize.

WOMAN DIES IN TRAGIC ACCIDENT

December 22nd

Leon can’t breathe. His heart races as fast as his thoughts. “What the hell is going on?” he thinks to himself. Leon now more worries than curious, lurches out of the bed and towards the door, black book in hand.

He peeks out into the abyss. His pounding pulse takes the place of his aching pain. With one deep breath, he pushes the door open, picks a direction and runs down a hallway frantically searching for room numbers. 224, 225. Getting closer, he stealthily stays on his toes as best as he can, keeping his heels from vibrating the floor. 235, 236, and 237! He stops for a moment to catch his breath. Astonished he remained undetected, Leon hesitantly opens the door.

The room is dark, and the air feels exceptionally brittle and there is one bed in the middle of the room. As he flips the light switch on, the woman emerges from behind and pushes him out of the way, violently slamming it back off.

“Turn that off!” she scolds.

Leon tries to whisper. “What am I doing here? What do you want and why is this article of my wife’s death in your serial killer notebook?”

“Calm down, okay? I can explain. My name is Noel. I’m from here, just like you. Tomorrow marks one year since my little brother went missing.”

“December 22nd?” Leon says dumbfounded.

“Yes. The same day your wife passed.”

“I’m sorry but what does that have to do with me?” Leon gets defensive.

“I have episodes too Leon. If my theories are correct, we are counterparts which means we share the same episodes.”

“Counterparts? Episodes? Look, I truly am sorry about your brother, but I still don't know what you want from me. I’m afraid this is just an unfortunate coincidence.” Leon tries to move towards the door.

“You were at the park.” Noel exclaimed.

“What?” Leon looked shocked.

“The last thing you remember remembering. The park, right? Last week a small dog dropped a ball at your feet. You thought the owner was pretty, but she didn’t say anything to you.”

“I was having Déjà vu.” Leon says bewildered. “How did you-?”

“I told you. We are counterparts.”

“You mean like soulmates?”

“No Leon. Not like soulmates.” Noel responds frustrated. “Do you know what a parallel universe is?”

“I…what?” Leon feels disoriented.

“Basically, the universe which is infinite, will start to repeat itself and sooner or later, you end up with another earth with trees and bugs an humans, all living the same life and doing the same things that you do on your earth."

"Are you saying you're an alien?" Leon asks sceptically.

"No. I'm saying we are counterparts. I think we are living the same timeline in a parallel universe. How else would I know your thoughts?"

"Why would any of this matter even if it were true?"

"If we share memories, then you are the only person that can help me find my brother."

“This is insane! You’re insane! Thanks for the science lesson but I’m going to leave now.” Leon starts to move casually to the door. Suddenly, Noel pulls a gun from behind her and points it at Leon. He slowly puts his hands up perplexed.

“I didn't want to do this, but we really don’t have much time. I need you to look under the bed.” Noel insists.

“Okay, take it easy.” With uncertainty, Leon crouches to the floor and looks under the bed. Surprised, he spots a briefcase with one latch locked.

“Open it on the bed please.” Noel requests. Leon slides the briefcase out from under the bed and plops it onto the mattress. He pops the latch and opens the briefcase.

“Twenty thousand dollars?” Leon says softly.

“How did you know that?” Noel says surprised.

“I remember this moment for some reason. Wait, do you have a second gun?” Leon asks.

“You’re having Deja vu. We are in a crisscross.” Noel moves towards Leon. “There was a briefcase under your wife’s bed when she was here and there is one under yours. The same thing that happened to her might happen to you, and many others if we don’t start working together.” Noel pulls out another gun holstered under her shirt and hands it to Leon.

“I help you, don’t I? I just don’t remember how or why."

“I know it’s a lot to take in Leon. I think whatever madness is going on in this hospital is somehow connected to our tragedies. Help me, and not only could we find my brother, but we could find out what really happened to your wife.” Leon stands over the briefcase now unperturbed. “We need to hurry!” Noel declares.

Leon turns to Noel. “By chance, did your brother own a bright-orange jacket?” Noel stops and studies Leon. Slowly, her eyes start to fill up with water until one spills-over creating a single tear that stops at her cheek. She nods.

Leon, in a blinding surge of faith and an unforeseen sense of urgency, clasps the gun with one hand and takes Noel’s hand with the other. “Okay. I trust you.” They swiftly make their way out into the empty hallway and vanish as the door closes softly behind them. Moments later a red light, flashes in the room and an alarm starts to siren. Their journey begins.

THE END