Lost Time

Ben’s eyes flew open as he awoke suddenly. He had no idea what had interrupted his sleep, but he was breathing hard, and something felt off. He remained motionless, letting his eyes dart around the blackness surrounding him. There was no sign of anything unusual, but he really couldn’t see much while his eyes slowly acclimated to the dark room. His other senses were working just fine though, and perhaps that is where his feeling of unease was coming from.

There was a very distinct smell, similar to new leather, that he couldn’t quite place.

His mouth tasted odd, almost metallic.

He could hear something as well. Something that didn’t belong. Something other than his own rapid breathing. He might have guessed it was some kind of scratching, but no matter how much he strained his ears, the noise was so quiet that he convinced himself it was probably his imagination playing tricks on him.

Finally, the last of his senses told him it was cold in his room. Very cold. This was August and he didn’t have an air conditioner. His room should have been anything but cold.

In the short time it had taken him to process all this information, Ben’s eyes were now able to make out the objects in his room. The light fixture on the ceiling above him, the dresser off to the side of his bed, the chair in the corner of the room, the man standing at the foot of his bed.

Ben yelled out in surprise, yet no sound came from his mouth. He jumped up from his bed, yet remained frozen in place. His body was not responding. He was completely frozen and unable to move, other than his hands, which he could feel beginning to tremble with fear.

The dark figure at the end of the bed stood silently, watching. Ben couldn’t make out any features, just a dark shadow. The longer Ben watched, the more afraid he felt. His continued attempts to scream for help were unsuccessful. The only noise coming out of his mouth was the sound of his breath, which was becoming increasingly erratic.

Ben had his attention so focused on the mysterious figure at his feet that he hadn’t even noticed the ones standing on either side of him. Only when all three of them began to slowly lean in over top of Ben did he finally realize he was surrounded. His eyes widened, but the rest of him was still paralyzed. He wanted to squeeze his eyes shut, but he couldn’t blink. He wanted to run away, but he couldn’t move. He wanted to scream out in fear, but he couldn’t talk.

The shadowy men continued to lean in closer and closer, yet Ben still couldn’t make out any features other than their eyes. At least, he thought they were eyes. Each figure now had two tiny glowing green dots where their eyes would be. The dots grew bigger and brighter as they closed in on Ben. Despite the green light becoming almost blindingly bright, Ben could not close his eyes and he still could not see the faces of his visitors.

The green light became overwhelming. It was like he could feel it, like it was covering him. More than just covering, it was smothering, suffocating. Ben couldn’t breathe. He tried gasping for air but couldn’t. The light was so bright now that everything had turned white. He couldn’t see the mysterious men anymore, but neither could he see anything else. The scratching he thought he heard earlier had become too loud to ignore, and now he was sure he could feel it as well, as if hundreds of tiny claws were shredding every inch of his skin.

It was all too much. Ben could feel the light-headedness and spinning sensation that signaled his body shutting down as he was losing consciousness. His eyelids began to shut as the blackness closed in, replacing the blinding light around him.

When his eyes finally sealed, providing a reprieve from his nightmare, it was only for a brief moment. No sooner had his eyelids met when they were torn apart again, revealing nothing but white. Not the bright white light that had been there only a fraction of a second ago, but white like being in the middle of a cloud.

Ben found he could now blink, and even turn his head. As he did though, he realized he was not in his bed anymore. In fact, he was not anywhere. There was nothing underneath him at all. He could freely move his limbs and they made no contact with anything. It was like he was floating, weightless, in nothingness.

Ben let out a small gasp and his eyebrows raised in concern as a thought jumped into his head. Had he died? Was this what happens to people when they die? He barely had time to process this new idea before a high-pitched noise pierced his ears, interrupting his speculation.

The noise was so loud and painful to hear, that Ben covered his ears and reflexively squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the unwanted sound.

After what seemed like forever, the noise slowly faded away. Ben cautiously removed his hands from his ears and opened his eyes.

“What the hell?” Ben asked, giving his thoughts a voice.

He was back in his bed, looking at the familiar ceiling above him. Ben immediately sat upright, looking all over to make sure he was alone. He regretted that motion as his head began to throb with pain. At least it was easy to see there was no one else in the room with him, since the sun shining in his window illuminated everything nicely. Ben frowned. The sun… the sun was high up in the sky already. He glanced at his clock to find it was 11:00AM.

“Oh my god, I’m so late for work!”

Ben swung his feet out of his bed and placed them on the floor. After taking a few deep breaths, he stood up, before quickly sitting back down again. His head felt like it was going to explode. Not a chance was he going to work today. He grabbed his phone off the table next to his bed and dialed his boss. Ben waited as the phone rang, hoping his boss would be understanding. It’s not like Thursdays were very busy anyway.

“Hello?” his boss answered.

“Hey Don, it’s Ben.”

“Ben?” Don asked in surprise. “Where the hell have you been?”

“I’m sorry, I know I should have called earlier, but I just woke up and I’m feeling terrible today. I’m not going to make it in.”

“Uh… I wouldn’t expect you to, but that doesn’t explain the last couple days. What happened there?”

“What do you mean? Did I do something wrong?” Ben asked in genuine surprise.

“Well, yeah, of course. I expect my employees to be here every day, and if they can’t make it, I’d like to know about it. You can’t just not show up.”

“Yeah, I know. That’s why I’m calling. I won’t be coming in today.”

“Ben, when have you ever had to come in on a Saturday?”

“Um, never?”

“Exactly, so why would this one be any different?”

“But today’s Thursday.”

“Ben, today’s Saturday.”