And now the real story begins.



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Who wants to live forever
Chapter 4


The darkness was endless, bottomless, but still claustrophobic. It was empty, lonely. So lonely you didn't even have yourself to keep you company. You have been there for an eternity, or a day. You can't tell, because you can't think. Something changes, you can think again. The emptyness drives you insane, but it doesn't last. You can feel again. The darkness isnt endless anymore. You open your eyes, it isn't even dark anymore... Atleast not as dark as before. You look around yourself, you're inside something made of glass, the glass is broken. The memories return. The guardian, he put you in there. Why has he released you, or has he? you look around some more. Where the monitors once stood there were now more rocks and dirt than anything of a mechanical nature. Over it there was a large hole, a tiny stream of light shone trough. Oh light, wonderful, beautiful light. You couldnt even remember the last time he had seen it.
A shadow appears in the light, a man drops in through the hole. One man, two man, three man. Three men came in, they look puzzled, they don't know what place this is any more than you do. Infact, even less. One of them sees you, and your fellow prisoners. Your glass container was the only broken one, the rest were still filled with the blue liquid that kept them trapped in a sleep without dreams.
The man calls to his fellow men and points to you, they all come walking your way. They are dressed in green and they wear helmets. They are soldiers, but there is no green to camouflage behind anymore. How much have changed while you slept. They stand around you and look at you. They speak but you can't make out what they are saying. You blink an eye to get their attention, and it gets it. One of the men jumped back, frightened as if he had seen a ghost. The other men speaks with him and he points at you. They all look at you again. You try to speak but there is something in your mouth. A tube. A tube to let you breathe while submerged.
One of the men reaches out his hand to you, you lift yours, you see it, it is small, only a skeleton with skin on it. Your arm looks like a fragile twig, ready to snap. It shakes, you can't hold it up for long. One man runs away and climbs up the hole from where they came. The other two clean up the broken glass laying scattered around and ontop of you.
The man comes back, he has more men with him, they carry equipment of many varieties with them. They set up lights throughout the room. One puts a stretcher Infront of your container, they take out the tube from your mouth. You breathe the air, it burns for a few seconds then it stops. You feel sleepy. They wrap you in a blanket, put you on the stretcher and tie you to it. Two men carry you away. At the hole they fasten ropes to the stretcher and you get pulled up. You see, you see green, everything is green but the sky. What has happened... You... Sleep...



I awoke at a hospital bed. My hearing was better. And I felt stronger again. They had put me on a liquid diet going straight into my arm, I still had a hard time moving but I rolled over to look the other way. All the walls were white and the floor was green. I had never seen a hospital this clean before. There was a wire with a little box hanging from the ceiling, on the box there was a button. I grabbed the box and pushed the button. I heard the faint sound of an alarm going off somewhere in the building. Soon they came running for me, three nurses, one man and two women. They looked worried, but also happy to see that I was alive.

"You're awake!" Said one of the female nurses with a happy shout. She had brown hair, just like me... No wait, my hair was no longer brown, it was gray, almost white. How long had I been gone?
"Congratulations, you made it. You're only the second person to wake up." The male nurse shaked my hand gently, as if afraid he would accidentaly break it. He was big, looked like real warrior material. Had they also gotten rid of war now?
"What is your name mister?" Asked the third nurse. She was round and always smiling. Her hair was blond and her eyes had a strange looking yellow-green color to them.
"I... My name is Jonathan Nelson." I said. It hurt to speak, my throat felt like it was filled with sandpaper.
"Well John, you are very lucky to be alive... I am Josephine and this is Andrew and Christine" The brunette said.
"Christine?! Is Christine alive?"
"Was she together with you underground? Several people are alive, but all but one are in a coma." Josephine said.
"Who else is awake?"
"I'll go check the records, I'll be back in a minute." Andrew walked away at a high pace.
"What year is it. How long have I been asleep"
"The year is 2473, we don't know how long you were asleep. You seem to have aged very slowly" Said Christine.
"2473? Ive been asleep for over 200 years, this can't be true."
"Oh that long. Then I wonder how long those poor folks who died of old age when they were removed from the machine, had been inside it." Josephine looked very suprised.
"How do I look, can I have a mirror." I was really worried, if that's how old I was, then how long did I have left to live? And would I even want to live?
"Here, you can use this tray." Josephine picked up a metal tray from a table next to my bed and handed it to me. It was heavy. I held it infront of me, the image was slightly distorted but I could still clearly see how I looked. I was 28, now I looked like I was 78. Actually. For being 237 years old I wasn't looking bad. My hair was light gray and and reached down to my chest. I still had a stubble like the last time I looked in a mirror. I guess some things never change. My clothes were green. Everything is green now it seems. Everything except the nurses uniforms. Those were blue like the sky.
"It could be worse I guess."
"Oh great that you think so." I couldn't even hear Josephine because all my thoughts were suddenly focused on Andrew returning with a folder.
"Ok, here are the files we have on the other patient that woke up." He handed me the folder and I opened it emediately. No time for thank-yous. On the first page was his name and photo. I could not recognise the man in the photo. He looked old as a mummy and he had a great gray beard. But the name, It was the name I had hoped for. George Arwood. I smiled for the first time since the great darkness and a tear came running down my cheek.
"So it's good news?" Said Christine, smiling like always. I nodded my head and put the folder on the table. I closed my eyes and they left me there. I was soon swept away on the ocean of dreams.


End Chapter 4

Written by Bo
21-01-2010