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"As
I Opened My Eyes"
As I opened my eyes, I could remember nothing. Who am I? Where am I? I tried to move, but I was tied down. All I could feel at my back was a cold surface. I was facing up, looking at a bright light. The air was pure, no odor whatsoever. All of a sudden, I could hear voices, and footsteps. Panic overtook me and I tried to struggle free from whatever held me down. I shrieked desperately for help, but all I felt was a needle puncture my left arm, and everything went black…
As I awoke again, I was on the same surface, but this time I could move freely. I sat up and looked around. Computers and machinery - more advanced than I could ever imagine. “Good morning Mr. Voiles.” I turned around and saw a man dressed in a lab coat. He was a man of fair skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. He wore glasses with his lab coat and held papers in his left hand. I guessed he was a doctor of some sort, and my assumption was confirmed as he introduced himself.
“I am Doctor Glanzman, I’ll bet taking care of you today. Do you remember anything at all about what happened to you?”, he asked.
“No,” I replied, “Nothing”
“You were cryogenically frozen, Robert. You were found guilty of murder in your time, but before the authorities could get to you, you froze yourself in a prototype of what we now use to preserve people.”
At that moment, it all came to me. I was desperate for money. I mugged a young couple, and in frustration I killed them. There was nothing else I could do…
“So what will become of me? Death? Prison!?!” I asked.
“Don’t worry, you have been frozen for quite some time. Three hundred years to be exact. We have wiped your slate clean, and I hope that you will be good this time.”
I nodded.
“In our new system, everyone it happy. It’s a perfect utopia. Before I let you go though, I must register you.
“Register?”
“Yes, we have a new system of identifying and keeping track of our citizens. It will take no more than a few minutes.”
I tried getting up, but after three hundred years, my legs were a bit weak. Dr. Glanzman was able to support me up, with incredible ease. After a couple minutes of walking around, my muscles recovered the knowledge of walking. I took a trip to the lavatory, and we took a brief trip over to the registry.
“Now, this won’t hurt a bit,” he said.
He took a needle and jammed it into my left arm. The pain was excruciating. It was like a thousand knives aimed at one little part of my flesh. He told me it was a vaccination. Diseases have long been extinct, and this was the reason. There was no cancer, colds, aids, or anything. He then took my arm, and inserted it in a hole within a machine.
“Hold on, this time it doesn’t hurt at all,” he assured me.
About five minutes later, I was told to remove my arm, and there was a barcode on it. I assumed that this is the system that he told me of…
“Here are your clothes, and a key to your house. You must wear these clothes at all times, and you will be provided with more on a daily basis.” He said. The clothes were black and white striped, but looked very new and clean. “You must stay in your house until nine o’clock in the morning. The curfew is nine o’clock at night. We have abolished money, television, the internet, and sports, because they were deemed unnecessary. You are free to roam wherever you wish in the time you are out of your house, but be sure to be back by nine.”
With that, he directed me to a small room, approximately the size of a closet, but the walls were made of metal. He closed the door, and I felt the air around me move. I threw open the door, and I was in what seemed like a residence. “So this is my house…” I wondered. I guess I was teleported there. No other explanation would come to mind. My place was small. One bed, one toilet, one sink, and one exercise wheel. The wheel seemed rather peculiar as it seemed like an enlarged Hamster wheel. I made my way outside, a magnificent sight. The buildings were beautiful, flowers blooming everywhere, and the people were chatting with each other. I walked up to a man reading a newspaper in what seemed like a café.
“Hello,” I said, introducing myself.
“Greetings, may I help you?”
“Yes, I just was unfrozen you see, and I’m looking for a little help”
Just then, a loud beep permeated through what seemed like a city.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Oh, that’s just the lunch bell…”
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