Portal

Those dreams, the ones you have just before you wake up.
The ones that seem so surreal.
And some that you dream of while awake.
What if those were a glimpse of an alternate universe and you had a brief yet lasting connection into that world. What if each time you dreamt a dream, it was playing out exactly that way in that alternate universe? If you were to deny or affirm their existence, it would scientifically be untrue because there is a strong possibility and we just haven't advanced to a stage when that can be validated.

What if the sole purpose of dreams is to serve as a portal to those universes? When you wake up, you sever that brief connection. Think of those old telephone exchanges in movies and TV shows. When you dream, there’s an operator that connects one wire coming from you to a random one she picks. That’s one of those universes. You can’t control which one you connect to, or choose to connect to the same one again, unless it’s chosen randomly. The space time continuum isn’t linear in those alternate universes. You could be seeing a glimpse of you when you’re much younger or older; a scene from what seems like your youth, when you seem to remember the exact time it happened, yet it plays out a little differently here.

You wake up from one of those surreal dreams you've had fairly often these days. You wonder why you're dreaming about the same scenario over and over again. Maybe it's the people you think of just before you sleep; maybe it's your unconscious mind that's interpreting those unconnected thoughts. Maybe it's those lines of code in the Matrix that are an anomaly that are getting reconciled in the system and the best time for it to be done is while you're asleep. But maybe, it is a glimpse into another universe. Another universe, where the random variables that affect your life so much have a different outcome. Where you didn't fare as you did in that one entrance test that meant so much, or where you missed the train when you were supposed to meet that person to go on an impromptu vacation, or where you decided to stay in your hometown instead of venturing out into the world. 

Those seemingly random variables that have had a significant impact on your life. And in those other universes, things went differently in each variable.

You wake up again. Yet, it continues to feel like a dream. You feel like you have some control over where things go, since you're awake, but do you?

You wake up again. You realize you have a flight to catch a few hours from now. You have goosebumps from excitement. You know vacations do this to you, it's the sole purpose of going on one: to feel things you don't feel in your mundane everyday life. You're still sleepy and don't want to turn on all the lights but you bring your suitcase down and start sorting out the clothes you want to take. You think about the sunny coasts and turquoise waters, yet something feels different.

He enters your room, nonchalantly, and you're almost taken by surprise. You're standing motionless, with a folded beach towel in your hand, staring at him.

"Why are you looking at me like I have horns?", he says as he walks up to the bed, plonks himself on it. He props up two pillows to make a headrest for himself and switches on the lamp on the nightstand. He's got the newspaper in his hand and he unfolds the roll and starts separating each of the supplements.

You're still standing there, beach towel in hand. He throws one of the rolled newspaper supplements your way. It lands near your beach towel. You notice the other suitcase lying on the other corner of the room, already packed and closed.

"Oye!"

"Ya", you muster up.

"What happened?", he remarks.

"Something feels strange. I woke up thinking this vacation was a girls’ trip."

"Yeah, sure. I'll let my ticket go to waste. I'll go home and chill with my folks, feel like I don't spend enough time with them anyway. Let's see how many of your girls can get a last-minute Schengen when the flight leaves in a few hours", he says.

You continue packing still feeling somewhat unsure. You pack the beach towel in the suitcase. You take a glance, it's a smorgasbord of colours, your suitcase. You can't think of any particular colour that isn’t represented in your clothes. This is going to so much fun, you think to yourself! You'll get to wear that lovely floral dress you were waiting to. You make your way to the bathroom, leaving your glasses on the dresser. You wonder if you had a dream about going to the vacation with your girls crew.

He switches on some music. You can hear it faintly behind the closed bathroom door. You take a quick shower. Argh, you left your towel outside.

"Bring me a towel, no". I don't know if he can't hear or simply won't respond because he's lazy that way.

You make your way out, barely able to see anything without your glasses and looking for a towel. You find it near the dresser, dry yourself off wrapping the towel around you. You wear your glasses and take a look at the mirror. You can see the bed in the mirror behind you and he's not there. You turn back, and the bed is empty. Maybe he went to the balcony to get a smoke, you think. You quickly wear the clothes you've kept outside to wear today and shut your suitcase. You look at the clock on the wall and realize it's about time to get going to the airport. He likes to go a little earlier than you do. You're more last minute, you remember.

You go out to the living room and your phone is ringing. You unplug the charger it's attached to and see it's one of your girls - your 3am friend. You don't think too much of it until you pick up.

There's a lot of commotion wherever she is. You can hear several people talking loudly in what seems like a car.

"Hallo", you answer.

"Are you excited? We're picking you up in 5 minutes!"