Huh? What the? Where? and as I let my eyes adjust to the lighting and look around, I just see a note in front of me – it tells me to “Relax…”.. 

What? Is that all? I mean seriously.. who the hell am I and more importantly? where the hell am i? The frustration, the rage and the panic was starting to build up and.. “beep”, “beep beep”..

I  turn around to where the sound was coming from and there is a terminal beeping and flashing away… I get out of the bed and make my way over.

The screen tells to me to press any key… so I do, I press the biggest easiest key on the keyboard to press and it doesn’t do anything.. I try again – nothing!

I can feel the frustration and rage building up again, and then I pay attention to the keyboard and there it is a key that is marked “any”.

You know how everyone imagines that when you die, you entire life flashes before you… Well, that is nothing compared to what happened at that very moment. I had memories of what seemed like a million years compressed into a few seconds get pumped into my brain..

Typical – of course it is. The trigger had to be something so inane, and of course there were no clues – where would the fun be in THAT!

Even the frustration and rage was explained, as I opened the top draw of the desk, took out the pack of cigarettes, lit one up… looked around for a bottle; and there it is… As it burns down my throat and the smoke destroys my lungs, I can feel the sense of utter calm overwhelm me.. ah, to experience the bliss that is this moment and this unique moment… never to be repeated… never to be outdone.. and there is nothing quite like the first draw…

Alright… back to this fragile reality and I hit the any key to be greeted with the loud beat reverberating through what feels like each and every single cell of my body right through to my soul… and I shall leave the trivialities of whether I have one, whether indeed anyone has one to those who find it a fascinating realm of study…

I wonder how long I have been asleep and more importantly what the weather is like outside. I head on over to the lift, hit the button and it opens up. I get in and the light is flashing at a negative 50. and it goes all the way up to 50.. “Ah, I love symmetry”, I think to myself as I push the 50. I’m glad the 50 above ground is still there and it hasn’t been decimated in the time that I’ve been asleep in here. Perhaps, I’ve only been asleep for a few days or months – who knows?

The lift rockets to the top and it opens on to the penthouse suite and it’s well maintained – just the way I like it. I make a mental note to thank whoever has taken over the maintenance duties.

I head over to the coffee table, pick up the remote and push the button for the curtains which promptly opens, all the way to reveal the glass walls that is now looking onto a landscape that is as white as the clouds or a brides gown and oh so beautiful. My heart skips a beat as I draw on the cigarette.. You know – I don’t care about the reason for being woken – this view is reason enough; and I have to take a moment to admire the view. I look down on all the landscape, all the snow, all that white – “is it Christmas?” I wonder.. nah – it can’t be – there would be presents and tree in here if it was..

I glance across to the calendar on the wall and its only November… The 30th, but nevertheless, only November.

As I wander back to the lift, a thought wandered through my mind that the reason for me being woken should be investigated. I hit zero in the lift and let that thought wander along. It waited all these years; it can wait a few more hours.

The lift plummets to the ground floor and once it lets me out, I head to the garage. It is always such a touch choice as to what I want to take out on such a beautiful day. As I walk past all the cars and the bikes, my mind reels nostalgically to the memories in each of them, but only for a moment for I spot the perfect one for this occasion. The dark horse. yes… on a day of snow, a day when everything is white, the dark horse is the prefect companion to go out into the world with.

I walk over. It is jet black with beautiful sleep chrome lines.
I hit the button to open the doors, and as all the others disappear into the ground and the doors open, the chilly air envelops me and I  don the leathers.

I take one last draw from the cigarette and flick it into the distance. I put on the helmet and giggle a little, in victory, as the music gets transferred from the room to my helmet and admire my own technical ingenuity as I get onto the bike.

As I start it I can feel it purring and I  can’t help but smile. I rev the bike just to hear it purr, to feel it purr. I can feel the cold air caressing me as I blaze out of the garage and slide on to the road and speed away.

The world hasn’t changed much. There are still roads, although there isn’t any traffic – hey, all the more road for me… I accelerate and I watch the speed climb rapidly past a 100 when the track in my head is interrupted with ringing.. “ring… ring ring… ring.. ring ring..”

I guess it was inevitable… so I hit the answer button and ask.. “what up?”…