誰の姫

this is no time to be dreaming

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I awoke to the sound of muffled voices from another room, and for a second had no idea where I was. I was utterly lost in time and space. I imagined myself 13 years old again in my childhood bedroom, a million miles away, parents sleeping soundly in the next room, but then where were the voices coming from? Memory kicked in and told me: 'no, that was the past. This was somewhere else.' So where? Was I in the bedroom of my 6th floor apartment, which sprouted like a weed amid the numerous other nearly identical high-rise apartments in a highly developed and still rapidly developing area of prime real estate, down the road from two international schools and an office building cum apartment complex cum shopping mall where a mass of cars would convene everyday and cause a comforting roar of smoke and congestion. But no, that couldn't be it. I had left that behind as well. So then perhaps I had spent the night in my temporary student accommodation, paid for by the university for the duration of my clinical placement. A small but cosy shared flat about a 5 minute walk away from the district hospital. Functional, furbished and terribly well kept - it resembled my halls of residence during my first year at university, minus the camaraderie and fire alarms. But no. The bed was wrong, the air was off. I had to be somewhere else. Finally, my mind returned to my body, stumbling back into the present, which for me was the top floor of a 3 bedroom privately owned student let accommodation. I come back every weekend and recognise it less and less. Having solved the mystery of my current location, I was now ready to open my eyes. Upon doing so, I was simultaneously reassured and disappointed by the cheap reality of my surroundings, drab and dreary, half furbished and full of emptiness. The cold gray light that streamed in through the paper-thin curtains failed to encourage, aroused no delight, promised no warmth. The burning in my throat had subsided and the aching in my head had left. Surveying the lifeless milieu of my room, it seemed only to make me tired again. Just when I get used to this place, it's time to leave. I looked at the clock. 11am. Dylan wouldn't be coming until after 3. There was still time. I set my alarm for 12, pulled the covers over my head and went back to sleep.