Darkness.It was the only thing that Allison could see.She felt like her body — or soul, perhaps? — was floating in the air, in the middle of an abyss. Her mind was blank, like it had been wiped clean. She didn’t know who she was or where she was floating to.And then, the darkness faded away.When Allison opened her eyes the next moment, she could see a white ceiling.Her brain was groggy as she tried to remember the last thing in her memories. Everything was fuzzy, including her vision.The recent thing she could recall…Ah.She died, didn’t she?Allison blinked. The white ceiling was still there, and the lights were blinding her eyes.She closed them momentarily. Was she alive? What was she doing here?Was she still in the hospital?But how could she have survived?Allison groaned slightly as she tried to sit up in bed. Surprisingly, her body didn’t feel so sore anymore. The pain throbbing in her skin was no longer there, and her high fever had seemingly subsided.Did the doctors
There was no possible rational explanation for this.‘Going back in time?’ Allison wanted to shake her head at the absurdity of the thought.Time travel.Basically, a hypothetical ability to travel backward or forward in time. It was usually a popular concept in science fiction, but until now, there was only scientific debate and speculation about its possibility.Some scientists explored the idea and even proposed a few methods, but everything was purely theoretical, and they may even violate known laws of physics.Allison herself believed that time travel was merely a fantasy.But what could have triggered this?While Allison was deep in thought, Matthew waved a hand in front of her face, his expression still puzzled. “Lise?” he called out. “You’re scaring me a little.”Allison snapped out of her trance and stared at him in surprise. Right… She was here with him now.2016? That meant they were still married…Were they?Allison was dizzy with confusion. Just days ago, she drove Matth
“It’s fine. I’m not that busy,” Allison said, trying her best to act normal. There was plenty of time to freak out later, once she was all alone. This was all too much to process for now. “I can spare a checkup.”Matthew was still looking at her oddly. “You’re not that busy?” he repeated. “But aren’t you and your team supposed to work hard starting this month for that new project you mentioned?”Oh.Damn.“Still, getting a day off won’t hurt,” Allison insisted stubbornly.Matthew’s eyes widened. “Who are you and what have you done with Allison Whitney?” he exclaimed, his voice tinged with disbelief. “Are you sure you’re okay?”Allison blushed in embarrassment. “What’s the big deal?” she asked defensively.“You never take a day off!” Matthew said, his eyes still not reverting to their original size. “You didn’t even want to miss your meeting on my birthday last year!”A wave of guilt instantly washed over Allison. She had really been neglecting this man, hadn’t she?She really needed t
The day went on strangely for Allison. Not in a negative way, fortunately.She went to work and was awed at the place. She hadn’t been back here for years. The interior, the people, the atmosphere, the scent... all of them were so familiar and nostalgic. It felt like Allison had come back home.She had to review her notes on her phone while on her way to work. Thankfully, she was organized enough to type down to-do lists and reminders on her phone just so she could make sure that every detail was taken care of. It had been so long, so she might be forgetting a lot of things...Oh god, what if she made a mistake? It had been so long since she last worked as a scientist...Fortunately, everything went okay in the end.The meeting went well, and she managed to do a bit of progress on the team’s new project. It turned out that going back to work personally made her unconsciously remember everything like it was second nature. Like her body and mind remembered deep inside, and then she simpl
After Allison finished eating dinner, she went up to the bedroom and started reviewing her notes. Even though the meeting went fine earlier, it was only because her colleagues had a lot of things to talk about. The team leader was keeping track of everything and asking for opinions here and there.Fortunately, Allison wasn’t put under the spotlight, and she didn’t blurt out anything irrelevant. She had vague memories about the project, but what mattered the most were their observations and statistics from the experiments they conducted in the lab. Since the project wasn’t making much progress yet because they only started recently, she didn’t have a reason to be worried.She simply needed to review her findings tonight.Which… shouldn’t be too hard.As Allison tried to make sense of all the numbers and scientific explanations in the notebook, she heard the sound of the bedroom door opening.When she turned her head, she saw Matthew entering the room, staring at her in surprise.“Hard
“Ah, a nightmare?” Matthew said softly. “It must’ve felt so real.”“It did. I still can’t get it out of my head,” Allison admitted.“But it’s just a dream, isn’t it?”“I… I’m not sure.”When the words accidentally left her lips, Allison instantly knew that it was the wrong thing to say.“What?” Matthew suddenly shifted beside her. Even in the darkness, she could feel his confused gaze on her. “Why aren’t you sure? Of course it’s just a dream.”“I… Yeah. Yeah, it is,” she said, stumbling on her words. “Sorry. I guess I must still be thinking too much about it.”Matthew seemed to relax a little. Reaching out, he grasped her hand and squeezed it warmly, reassuringly. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked softly. “Maybe talking about it will help you feel better. Only if you want to, though.”Allison was silent for a moment. “It’s… ridiculous, though.”“Well, aren’t most dreams? I’ve had random ones before. Wanna hear about it?”Allison couldn’t help the small smile that curved her lip
Allison instantly sat up in bed, shock filling her system. She could’ve just been hearing things, right? “A… Are you sure?” she said, unable to restrain the tremor in her voice. “But I thought…” Matthew sat up as well and turned on the lampshade on the nightstand, bathing the room with a small orange glow, just enough to illuminate their faces. “What’s this about, Lise?” Matthew asked gently. His tone wasn’t annoyed or judgmental. He sounded genuinely curious and concerned. “All these questions… could it be that they’re related to the dream you had?” “I… yes,” Allison admitted. There was no point in lying to him about this, after all. Besides, she had no other reason aside from this. “Really? I admit though, you really surprised me when you mentioned the villa in Rosenburg…” Matthew stared at her intently, like he was scrutinizing her. Allison was instantly reminded of what she looked like when she examined a specimen in a lab, courtesy of candid photos from one of her mischievous
“Mattie, what career do you think suits me?”“Huh?”The two of them were sitting in the living room, enjoying a rare day off. Actually, Allison could choose to keep working on the project back at the lab today even though it was Sunday, but she decided not to.She was going to have this kind of conversation sooner or later anyway. There was no point in delaying it any longer.Matthew was staring at her in surprise. “What?” He looked like he had been caught off-guard. “I thought you like being a scientist.”“I think it’s time for a change.”Matthew’s features softened. “Is this about the doctor’s appointment that you had a week ago?”Last week, she finally made time to go to the hospital. It was pointless to delay it, so she had to swallow her pride and face the music. She used to hate going to hospitals, especially after what happened to her father and mother. Hospitals were places of death. That was what she believed as a child and a teenager.When she became an adult and entered the