[ WP ] After waking up from a three years long coma , you hear on the news about an odd machine that was used countrywide to reveal who people were in another life while you were sleeping . Out in public for the first time , everybody seems to stare at you and whisper behind your back .

A static buzz gave way to fluorescent light and chatter as she awoke from her slumber. The oppressive light above seemed to force her eyes shut again. But the lights only grew brighter, and the bed sheets heavier. 
 
 `` We failed,'' she caught someone say as he left the room. The other attendants followed shortly after, leaving her alone. 
 
 -- - 
 
 `` What do you remember before you woke up?'' The old man's wide smile and round face projected kindness. But under that brown, old-fashioned suit, she could see he was stiff. 
 
 She remembered remembered a few faces, a place here and there. `` Nothing,'' she said. 
 
 `` There's no need to be nervous,'' he said with a plastic smile, eyes pointed not at her, she just realized, but at the loop of hair she was tugging at. 
 
 She casually let go, then gathered another brown loop around her fingers. `` I'm just glad my hair was kept in good shape,'' she said. 
 
 `` It's standard procedure, with a coma patient, for the nurses-'' 
 
 `` I'm sorry, but I have to go,'' she said. 
 
 -- - 
 
 Slowly, more memories returned to the patient. She remembered her home address and where she grew up, her name and what she did for a living. She was n't a celebrity or noteworthy person. 
 
 So why, she wondered, did it feel like unseen eyes were upon her? 
 
 When she found the hospital lobby, everyone -- staff and civilians alike -- noticed. She forced herself, one step at a time, to march through the awkward silence towards the exit. 
 
 Just reach the exit, she thought, then I'm free. 
 
 -- - 
 
 `` Is that her?'' whispered another from behind. 
 
 No matter. She knew she was close to home now. The streets changed minimally in the three years she was, supposedly, asleep. 
 
 `` It's the dreamer,'' whispered another. 
 
 Just one more left turn, she thought, then my apartment is fifteen minutes straight ahead- 
 
 The street was short. Very short. It was only two buildings deep before ending in a small parking lot, a far cry from the major road she remembered. 
 
 She returned to the hospital defeated, but the doctor and the psychologist she spoke to earlier were already in the lobby. 
 
 -- - 
 
 `` You were watching my dreams with a machine?'' She asked. 
 
 `` Well, you see...'' the old man paused to clear his throat generously, `` we sort of... we can't-'' 
 
 `` Nobody,'' the doctor said, `` in the entire world, knows anything about the world from more than three years ago. Not one person.'' 
 
 `` But this machine,'' the psychologist said, `` showed us a world we could n't imagine!'' 
 
 `` It was n't perfect.'' 
 
 `` A tad fuzzy, no color.'' 
 
 `` But we all saw ourselves. Past versions of ourselves. Your memories must be the only window we have into history. So our goal was to keep you in a coma, so the machine could collect as much data as possible.'' 
 
 She sat in silence, for perhaps a whole minute, digesting this information. `` You must be wrong,'' she finally said. 
 
 The old man sighed. `` Well, if you have a better idea, go ahead.'' 
 
 `` I do n't think this world has a past'' she said. `` I think it's only three years old, and my memories came from somewhere else.'' 
 
 `` You think your memories of us coincidentally match the appearance and personality of people in real life?'' asked the doctor. 
 
 `` Yes.'' She let that sink in. `` I remember how I got into a coma now. 
 
 `` I was in an accident. But my boyfriend was also in the car. And he looked a lot like you, Doctor. Are you saying you survived with only minor cuts and bruises and somehow forgot to mention this so far? 
 
 `` On top of that,'' she added, curling her hair around my fingers, `` are you sure nobody touched my hair?'' she asked the psychologist. `` Because my hair is naturally black. My hair was dyed this color on that day. 
 
 `` I'm still dreaming, and that machine only showed you your real-world counterparts.''
