Jhong's Parallel Universe Quest

My eyes fluttered open.

I remembered having a dream, but I couldn't remember anything about it.

What had happened to me? Had I been asleep for very long? Was I ill?

No, it was morning, and the light was slanting through the trees into my bedroom. That meant it was later in the day than when I usually woke up. Not that that fact helped me much. I felt like I'd been run over by a truck; my head was pounding, and every muscle in my body was complaining painfully, like all of them were trying to get my attention at once, while my stomach felt... floaty? Weird.

I rolled over onto my side and looked at the clock on the nightstand. Holy crap! It was past 4:00 p.m.! What had happened yesterday?

I sat up, rubbing my eyes with one hand, and glanced around the room to see if anything had changed since I'd last seen it. My roommate's bed wasn't made, but that didn't mean anything - she often ignored our rooming arrangements and left her bed for days without getting around to making it. On top of that, she was gone for this week anyway - visiting her parents or something - so I knew she hadn't been there at all yesterday. Her clothes were in the closet, so I knew they hadn't been moved since we last saw each other... which was yesterday afternoon at work (we both work as cashiers at a nearby Wal-Mart).

The light filtering into the room through the blinds and window sills looked the same color as usual. How could it be so late in the afternoon already? Nothing made any sense!

"Mmph." A voice from behind me made me jump out of my skin. "What?" I said reflexively, turning towards where my pillow should have been sitting on the bed next to me. Instead of finding my pillow there like I expected, however, there was a person sitting up in bed next to me with their arm extended towards me, holding something small and rectangular in their hand. "What are you doing here?" I asked stupidly, ignoring what they'd said because I didn't know who it was or why they'd just scared me half to death by sneaking into my room uninvited before startling me again by talking to me from behind my back while I lay in bed still half-asleep. "Who are you?" It was kind of hard to think clearly with how tired and nauseous I felt right now... but even more so after being startled out of sleep like that twice by this person sitting beside me who seemed determined to stay quiet instead of answering any questions I asked him/her/it/them/whatever this thing was supposed to be. "How did you get in here?"

The individual pulled their arm back suddenly and sat up straight on the edge of the bed with their back against the wall behind us both, holding whatever they had been holding out away from themselves. They seemed agitated somehow; quickly shifting their weight between their feet as if they wanted desperately to leave but couldn't decide whether or not they wanted to do so without first saying something important enough to keep them from running away abruptly.

The look on their face reminded me vaguely of someone else – someone young who looked almost exactly like them – but I couldn't remember where or when I might have seen someone else who looked like this person standing beside my bed looking apprehensive.

As I contemplated this person's presence, a sudden flash of understanding washed over me. Their tense expression vanished, replaced by astonishing astonishment as though numerous thoughts were clamoring for attention simultaneously within their mind.

"-- Jhong?!" The individual said finally after a moment of tense silence passed between us. We seemed unable to move, speak, breathe or even blink. The stillness was palpable, as if time itself had come to a halt until we acknowledged each other's presence. It was then that our expressions transformed from blank stares into wide grins filled with an array of emotions – joy, shock, surprise, confusion, anticipation, despair, anger, sadness – a complex storm that could only exist between two people who shared some unspoken connection.

But then Jhong shook his head slowly back and forth before letting out a nervous little laugh, almost silently exhaling air through pursed lips. It seemed he was hesitant and didn't want anyone else overhearing him or perhaps speaking too loudly might bring unwanted attention.