Future Findings

At first, it was simply unpleasant. Very much like stepping into a walk-in freezer in only shorts and a t-shirt. But it steadily got worse. Next, it became an ice bath after a football game. I quickly turned into Jack from The Shining movie, being frozen out in a heaping mountain of snow. I didn’t lose consciousness as quickly as I had hoped, and when I did, came and went in waves. When it was present, I could feel the cold, and I wanted to die. When it was gone, I was dreaming and floating on the ocean. When I first lost consciousness, I was reminded of an experience I endured as a young kid.

I was playing out in the backyard after dark with my friends. It was difficult to see, even though Mom and Dad had turned on the back porch lights. They were inside though, because they knew we were safe enough in the fenced in yard. My friends, Ronald and Har, were having a sleepover at my house.

Ronald was a pretty average kid. He stood not much higher than myself at the time, which was somewhat tall for a 10 year old, and weighed just what a kid of his height and age should weigh. He had short brown hair, and dark blue eyes. He was my best friend until his parents divorced and moved away.

Har was plain goofy. His real name was Harold, and everyone tried to call him Harry, but he said that was too normal. So he demanded that we call him Har. His rich black hair blendly very nicely with his caramel skin. He wore his hair down, so that it covered a good portion of his forehead. He did this so that he could conceal his birthmark; an ugly black blot that resided smack dab in the middle of his head. Luckily, his deep brown eyes were able to distract people enough so that they barely noticed the stain on his face. His thick glasses helped too. “Coke bottles” people would call them. “Double magnifying glasses” Har would say. He claimed they gave him supervision.

On this night, all three of us were playing tag; running around in the near dark and trying to tag each other. But we soon grew bored, and yearned for something else to use our time on. It was cold on this night, likely cooler than 55 degrees. Mom had made damn sure we were bundled up with hats and coats before she considered letting us outside.

We gathered in the middle of the yard, near the pool. It was 5 feet deep in the lowest part-- an inground kiddie pool more than anything else.

“I dare you to stick your foot in,” Har whispered cautiously to me. I looked over at him, searching to find his eyes through the darkness and his thich lenses. I could hear him quietly snickering, and I realized that it was a joke.

“No way in Hell,” I told him.

“50 cents says you won’t,” Ronald spoke up. Ronald wouldn’t joke around, when he came to money. That’s why it didn’t shock me when I found out he grew up to work as a stock marketing man.

So I ask him, “50 cents? Really?” At that time, 50 cents was almost as much as I had to my name, if you didn’t count the gold dollar Grandpa got me for Christmas.

“Yup. And $5 if you jump in,” he responded.

Har piped up, “$5! I’ll do it right now, no hesitation!” But Ronald didn’t want him to jump in, he wanted me too.

“No, Abid has to do it. It doesn’t count if you do, you’ll do it for free.”

“Yeah, you’re right…” Har smirked. Well, I thought. $5 is a lot better than 50 cents. So, without any further thinking, I cannonballed it. I dropped so hard in the water, I think my ass hit the concrete at the bottom. It felt nice at first, I guess I was too shocked to realize it.

If it was 55 degrees up in the air, it had to be far colder than 40 in the water. Afterwards, it baffled me that the water wasn’t frozen solid.

I had jumped in, fully clothed, not even thinking to take a deep breath in before I plunged into the depths. The burning cold, when I finally felt it, utterly destroyed me. It broke no bones, cut no skin, and slit no necks, but I could feel my body dying on me. I probably wasn’t truly dying, but to a 10 year old it was the most horrific thing in the world. I attempted to scream out in terror, but obviously that didn’t work. It only succeeded in letting in chilling water down my throat and into my lungs. I coughed and coughed, but to no avail. The water would have it’s way, no matter what I did.

It took me greater than five seconds to realize that, in order to stop the wracking pain from continuing in and on me, I had to get out of the water. So I pushed with my arms, forcing my body up. But my muscles had gone rigid, and I couldn’t have moved more than an inch or two. My sopping wet coat, which was made of cotton, weighed me down. As did my hat, my blue jeans, and my heavy boots. Realizing that I couldn’t swim up to the surface and escape the freezing cold only made me more terrified, fueling my renewed urge to scream for aide. But I knew I couldn’t.

So I tried to force my muscles to move, but gained about as much movement as the first time. I was left with one option, just keep trying. I had to just repeatedly lunge my arms up until I either made it back into the air, or died trying. Yet neither one happened.

A deep and echoing sound erupted from behind and above me, scattering bubbles of oxygen all throughout the pool. Someone else jumped in, I thought. But in that moment, I felt no joy or relief in that idea. My only thought was-- oh GOD, they’ll get stuck too. I forced my eyes open, though I knew the chlorine-rich water would burn. I tried to turn around, but managed only in craning my neck around. A hand popped out of nothingness not more than 3 inches in front of my face. But I was powerless to grab it, I could only gaze at it in horror and amazement.

The hand stood suspended for what seemed like ages, then moved closer and grabbed me by the collar. Soon enough, a strong and hairy arm followed the palm. Then a shoulder, a chest, and a face.

The face of my father-- eyes wide open, blood vessels gleaming in the white. He gripped my collar even tighter, and hooked his free hand around my chest and under my shoulders, and pulled as hard as he could. There was a delay, but eventually I was flung into the night air. Dad’s greying hair shone underneath me-- his glasses obviously ripped off before he dove into the water. His thick nose and scruffy face reappeared. With his strong hands, I was flung onto the concrete next to the pool. It hurt and bruised me, but it was better than sitting in the freezing pool.

After I was safely out of the water, Mom rushed up to me. First, she hugged me. Then, she took my wet clothes off and forced a towel around my shoulders and over my head. It was white with purple flowers, and purple was my least favorite color, but I didn’t care. Dad got out of the water, too worried about his son to tend to his chilly bones. They didn’t utter a word to me, they only hugged me. And Mom cried.

After I had dried off, warmed up, and was safely in my room with my friends, my parents finally spoke to me. They entered at the same time.

“Don’t you ever scare us like that again,” Mom said in her best bad cop voice. It wasn’t a very good impression. Dad, as usual, stayed silent. They rushed over to me and hugged me for the hundredth time that night, said their “goodnights”, and silently exited the room. I slept like the dead that night.

When I woke up the next day, it was just before noon. I had slept 10 hours. My friends had obviously both departed for their own homes, and a $5 bill sat on my nightstand, right next to my astronaut alarm clock. Ronald always kept his word.

Then, I was conscious again. The coffin was not unlike the pool. The cryogenic frost stuff they were using on me was not dissimilar to the cold water.

This consciousness was much more muted than it typically was. Though I could move my eyes, arms, and legs, I couldn’t really feel them. I knew where they were, but I couldn’t fully comprehend what they were doing. The lack of feeling led my mind to other things. I thought of Har and Ronald. Har had moved, and I never got to meet him again. Ronald married, had some kids, and allowed our friendship to slowly erode. And that left me with who? Who was my friend? Surely not my family, I evaded them. And not Troy or Laura-- I was only a pawn to them. What of Genie? No. I had only met her 15 minutes ago, and I would likely never meet her again. So that left me with no one. Nobody to laugh with. Nobody to go to movies with, or have sleepovers with, or go to the bar and get shitfaced with.

I realized that leaving this world behind wasn’t really such a pain. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise. There would be new people, new technology, new worlds.

Finally, my mind drifted off to sleep. My body became slack and disappeared underneath layers of ice. Everything went quiet, and I was calm.

I was back in my yard with Ronald and Har. Har wasn’t wearing his glasses, as he commonly lost them around his house or at school. It was summer. I couldn’t feel the heat of the sun on my body, but my friends were sweating as we ran around laughing and playing. Ronald was dressed in a plain white shirt and jeans. Har had a blue tank top and some brightly colored orange shorts. I didn’t bother to look down at what I was wearing.

I chased after Har, but suddenly stopped in my tracks. I was right in the middle of my back yard. There wasn’t anything inherently odd in that, but nevertheless it felt wrong.

“Hey! Why’d you stop?” Har bellowed from across the grass. Then it hit me. The pool. Right where I was standing, there should have been a pool. Yet I had my feet firmly planted on the ground.

“Guys, what happened? Where’s the pool?” I asked more to myself than to my friends. I received no reply, so I looked up. My friends had gone. I was all alone.