[ WP ] You wake up in a hospital bed as a dying old man surrounded by your family . Problem is , you went to bed as a teenager and have no idea what is going on .

Quiet voices crawled into my consciousness. In a way, they sounded familiar and strange at the same time. 
 
 I slowly opened my eyes to see where the voices came from. What I found were my sister's sparkly green eyes that I've known so well for 12 years now. Though, now looking at them they seemed to have much more of a dull mossy green. 
 
 `` Em? What are you doing here? ``, I asked, and suddenly it hit me. This was n't her. The two had a lot in common, but the woman that was standing in front of me undoubtedly lived through her teenage years already. 
 
 `` What - who...'', I began, and then I saw it. The sparkle. 
 
 `` Dave! Oh, Dave, you remember'', the woman said, took a step towards my bed and hugged me tightly. This did n't explain anything. In fact, I probably never had been this confused. Why was my bed this high in the first place? Why was it all so different... this time it did n't take me too long. This was the local hospital. But even though I finally found an answer instead of a question, it only brought up more of those. I wanted to ask that women so much. Em? Em had her eyes from dad, not mom. Maybe I drank a lot and ca n't remember the story of how mom is n't actually Em's mom? Not very convincing, but more convincing than the absolute nothingness I came up with instead. A lot of my questions desperately tried to find their way out of my mouth, and they did, but very slowly. 
 
 `` Can you please explain to me what is going on? Who are you? Why am I here?'' 
 
 The joy faded when I spoke these words. Suddenly, it became very quiet again. 
 
 “ And there we go again. I told you, Emily ”, I heard another voice say. It was a bit further back, I would ’ ve had to sit up to see the source, but it reminded me a bit of my Cousin, but not quite. This didn ’ t make any sense. Why would I be in a hospital together with people resembling my family? Why was I too weak to call out hundreds of questions in a matter of seconds? Why didn ’ t I feel like I could simply jump out of bed and back into a world that made sense? 
 
 I probably just had to wake up again. Wake up, Dave, I told myself. Just wake up… 
 
 
 
 And suddenly I became wide awake. I looked around. I was still in the hospital, but I was alone. I rubbed my eyes, feeling relieved. This was still weird, but not as weird. Now I just had to call someone to ask what ’ s happened… 
 
 “ Dave! You ’ re awake! ”, I heard my little sister say. She sprinted to my bed, her glimpse searching for mine. This time, it really were her eyes. I smiled. 
 
 “ Em, I ’ m so glad to see you. What ’ s happened? ”, I wanted to know. She hesitated. 
 
 “ I have to introduce you to someone. ” I frowned, but she continued. “ Okay, step in! ”, she called towards the door. My glance followed hers, and then she stepped in. The woman from before. The woman with Em ’ s eyes. Was my dream not actually a dream? But I just woke up. This made even less sense than before. The woman had a mischievous grin on her face. 
 
 “ Dave. ” 
 
 “ Who are you? ”, I asked her again. No, for the first time. But she just tilted her head. This wasn ’ t helpful. “ Please, just – Em? Can you tell - ” 
 
 But Em wasn ’ t there anymore. Or perhaps she was, as an alternate version of herself. Maybe just an older version. But how would something like this be possible? I read many science fiction books, but this was real, or perhaps not so real. Well, it was at least very confusing. But I read about this kind of thing, too. A dream in a dream. I just had to wake up again… 
 
 
 Yes, I thought, opening my eyes again. Just an unsettling sequence of dreams. But my happiness faded as quickly as it came. I was surrounded by a lot of monitors. Some showed an old man, an old man that seemed to mimic me … no, wait, this was too precise. This had to be me. But it could n't. I'd have more than just a few years until this would be me. 
 
 And then some monitors showed Em, showed old Em, my Cousin ’ s dad – no, I knew him, and this was not him. Instead this was just getting worse and worse. All the times I thought I was a little off track, I didn ’ t even know how much worse it could ’ ve been. I had no clue what was going on. 
 
 “ Dave! ”, they all shouted, filling the air with delight. Even I shouted it, on the monitors. But that would mean that I actually screamed my name, too. And I was pretty sure that I didn ’ t do that. Although, thinking about it, how could I be so sure? I saw me doing it. What did I trust more now? My memory, or my reason? Was there even a clear line between them? 
 
 The confusion just grew bigger and bigger. I thought and thought, until it simply stopped. I felt nothing. I was nothing, and nothing was around me. I felt at peace. No more questions and no more monitors. 
 
 
 
 And then I opened my eyes. 
 
 “ Dave! ”
