Great Awakening

Just as the voice of the airline attendant faded into the background amid the clatter of lap belts snapping into place, Josie shouted “No fucking way!” silencing the entire cabin. Tears and mascara landed upon the top of the mask covering her quivering lips as she handed her phone to her husband. Jed, certain someone must have died or that one of their three children they’d left with the sitter had been injured, or worse, reluctantly received the phone. He was somewhat relieved yet shocked to see a tearful public announcement and apology of cancellation by the artist whose show they were on their way to see. This was their first excursion since the pandemic had begun. Just after attending yet another funeral, they were determined to break away for the sake of their own sanity: to have any semblance of what felt like the life they’d once lived. This particular show felt extra special since they’d had tickets to the same artist who’d canceled a tour just as the world shut down two years prior.

Placing his hand on Josie’s leg, the logistics of canceling and returning home fluttered through his mind sinking down into the pit of his stomach as the plane ascended. This was the first of three flights they had to book due to the increase in cancellations. Taking the latest flights of the night made for a long day preparing to leave their children, and would get them out of a hotel early the next morning for the longest leg.

After discussing their plan to recover as much of the cost as they could, and return home after the first flight, Josie messaged the sitter then nervously scrolled through her phone anticipating other events that had transpired. As if she had not enough to process, she stared blankly at threats of nuclear war, warnings of an asteroid hitting Earth, images of protests all over the world, electromagnetic pole shift warnings, astrological predictions, tsunami warnings, alien agendas, possible timeline shifts, more food shortages, political unrest, EMF warnings from 5G rollouts, and trans humanism advertisements for a better future. Overwhelmed by the state of the world and worried about her children’s future Josie’s head fell upon Jed’s shoulder as they both drifted off, escaping the stress.

Hearing the tone indicating the plane was descending, Josie clutched Jed’s arm, smiling in the euphoria the hypnagogic state of waking from a nap can bring. The tone got louder and louder as a large bell vibrating intensely through their bodies. The lights came up as they both, jolted by a unique energy signature, opened their eyes to realize they were sitting in a large cinema. Silhouettes of two men at the head of the room vanished as the large curtains closed over the screen behind them, bringing their forms into focus. Sounds of bodies shuffling in the seats became a collective light whisper then a louder murmur as the disoriented attendees acclimated to their surroundings. A sign above the two men read Chicago World’s Fair 1893 acting as an anchor for consciousness landing into the sea of bodies within the room. This was the first human experiment Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla had performed that brought their electrical currents, motion pictures, and time travel all into one event. Tesla and Edison, taking turns speaking to the audience, congratulated them on participating in the greatest human experiment ever performed. They were shown by the clock on the wall that two hours had passed since they entered the room though they had traveled through lifetimes, up until the year 2022.