Chapter 6

GRACE'S POV 

APRIL 12th, 2013

There was a sound.

It came first as a distant ringing, sharp and persistent, like something fighting to pull me back from wherever I had fallen. It cut through the quiet darkness, growing louder, closer, more insistent.

“Grace?” 

“Grace!” 

I woke up with a loud gasp, breathing heavily. There was a very cold sensation on my head. I put my hands on my face to see if I had been downed with water. There was nothing on my face, except a trail of drool from my mouth. But it felt like I drowned and I'd just been brought out of the water. 

My head pounded and my heart raced terribly. There were voices around me, but I couldn't focus on any of them. 

“Grace? Are you alright?” I heard a voice ask. 

I shook my head, and shut my eyes, trying to calm down. 

“Here, have a bottle of water.” 

A bottle of water was pressed into my hand, I twisted the bottle open and took a long drink. Because even though I felt like I drowned and was brought out of the water, my throat was parched. 

I opened my eyes. I blinked rapidly, my vision swimming before slowly coming into focus. White light flooded my eyes from above, harsh and unfamiliar. I could fully focus on my surroundings now. A couple of people were watching me, curiosity and concern etched on their faces. 

Instantly, I sucked an unfathomable amount of air into my mouth as a terribly delivered gasp. I'm sure I looked like a fish out of water. But I was trying to grasp what was happening at the moment.

The memories were fresh in my head. They came rushing in, reminding me about Susan, and Michael, both of them in bed together, Michael and I arguing, and Michael pushing me. I remembered the feeling of the warmth under my head. I remembered Michael's voice, and most importantly, my life slipping out of me. 

I must've died, definitely. But if I didn't, what was I doing here instead of a hospital? This couldn't be heaven, not if the redhead was here.

“Are you alright? You fell asleep and woke up with a start. You startled all of us.” A redhead said. 

This redhead, I didn't understand how she was standing right in front of me. 

I looked around me again, but I wasn't where I hoped to be. I wasn't in my home, not in the hospital. I was at work, but everything was just wrong. I didn't get it.

I pushed myself up abruptly, my breath hitching as dizziness slammed into me like a slap. My hand shot out, gripping the edge of something solid to steady myself. I heard soft gasps, but I didn't pay much attention to them as I realised where I sat. 

I was sitting at a desk, one that was too familiar. One I'd used many years ago that wasn't supposed to be in the room anymore.

“Doesn't she need to go home or something? She doesn't look too good.” Someone said, softly. 

I swallowed hard, and took a good look at the people in front of me. These were my coworkers, yes, they were. But not from my timeline. Most of them had left, others were promoted and definitely stopped looking like the younger versions of themselves. 

Before I could say anything to the strange, yet familiar people in front of me, a song played in the atmosphere of held breaths. It was a familiar song, one I'd used as my ringtone many years ago. I looked at the desk I held onto, and there laid a phone, the same model I definitely didn't use anymore. 

It clearly belonged to me, but what was it doing there when I wasn't using it anymore? I stared at it like it was something alive, something dangerous. Slowly, and cautiously, I reached for it.

My fingers shook as I picked it up. The screen lit up and I froze, feeling the wind knocked out of me.

The date read April 12th of 2013. 

My heart stopped instantly. No, that wasn’t right. It wasn’t possible. How would I have died in 2023, but I woke up in 2013? What was going on?

My grip tightened around the phone as if holding it harder would force the numbers to change. But they didn’t. They stayed there, unmoving, unchanging. 

A shaky laugh escaped my lips, breathless and in disbelief.

“This… this doesn’t make sense.” I said, shaking my head. 

My coworkers exchanged looks among themselves.

“Is this some sort of prank, guys? If it is, it is really sick.” I added, hoping one of them would spill that they were pranking me. 

When no one said anything, I stopped laughing and asked, “What year is it?” 

“We're in 2013, Grace? What's wrong?” One replied, brows furrowed. 

“That's impossible. This must be a prank, we're in 2023.” My own voice sounded strange to my own ears, like it belonged to someone else. 

When they didn't budge, I concluded that something was completely wrong. Maybe I was somewhere on the hospital bed in surgery, and this was just a product of the anaesthesia administered to me. Yes, that was the possible explanation. 

“You know what? I'm totally fine, guys. I think I had a nightmare that shook me. You can go now.” I told my coworkers.

“Sure?”

I waved them off. “Yes, of course. I'm sorry for worrying you guys, but I'm really okay.” I assured them.

One by one, they dispersed and I was left alone. 

I sat back down at my desk and decided to try to figure out what was going on. I opened the drawers and took out some files. Flipping through them all, they all seemed familiar and definitely real. I'd worked on these files before, but they were there, some of them needed to be worked on. 

I could only make myself believe that I was in surgery and this was just an illusion. Because how else would I go back 10 years in time?