The Doctor entered the house looking around tentatively. Anna grabbed Theodore’s arm and pulled him back, a questioning expression on her face.
“What?” Theodore asked, anxious to talk to their guest.
“Who is he and why didn’t you tell me about him?” Anna asked.
“Well, he suggested we meet today and I couldn’t refuse,” Theodore said, sheepishly.
“Is this about the ‘weird things’ that have been happening to you?” she asked, squeezing air quotes in his face.
“Okay Auggie, let’s get inside.” Agnes took Augustine inside, sensing a fight brewing between her parents.
“Babe, we have to get to the bottom of this. One instance would’ve been enough but now I’m having fake memories, maybe…” Theodore cut his rant in half.
“What?” Anna crossed her arms, “Finish your statement.”
“Maybe this isn’t our reality, but just a construct,” Theodore whispered.
“Are you flipping kidding me?” Anna hissed. Her head felt like it was imploding, “Theo, stop this now, you have a family for Pete’s sake!”
“Anna, I have to at least give it a try! You experienced something weird, didn’t you?” he held her in his arms, “Let’s try to figure it out together.”
“What I saw could’ve just been a mistake.”
“What was it?”
Anna kept quiet, stared at her feet and started massaging her heavy head.
“What did you see, Anna?” he asked her softly.
“I saw the walls, loading, like a glitch in programming,” she said, embarrassed to hear her own words.
“See!” He let go of her and clapped his hands.
“It could still be a mistake.”
“No it’s not, it’s reality, baby!”
“Theodore, you have kids, you think it’s fair to them that you deem them not real?” Anna asked, completely disappointed.
Theodore froze in regretful realisation. Anna patted his chest twice and went inside, leaving him in his stressed state. He went in to his visitor.
“Hi, I’m Theodore Fitzgerald,” Theodore said with his hand out.
“Mr Fitzgerald, I am Dr Franklin Van Kraff,” the man said in a German accent.
“Would you like coffee?” Theodore said as they settled down on the adjacent sofas.
“It’s OK, thank you.”
Theodore took off his glasses and put them on the coffee table.
“Listen, I need you to tell me all that you know that feels unorthodox: faulty memories that feel real, day-long deja vus, weird dreams, visions or even strange anomalies around you,” the Doctor said, leaning towards him.
“What will you do?” Theodore asked, looking him in the eyes, trying to read him.
“I’ll match your story with a few others and try to see if you’re of any significance to my cause,” he said bluntly.
“OK,” Theodore said, sceptical about the man’s legitimacy, “I suppose you won’t tell what the cause is as of yet.”
“Of course, Mr Fitzgerald, being discreet is vital for indefinite success in the cause, I’m sure you understand.” He crossed his legs and leaned back.
Theodore, still unsure and uneasy, started to talk.
“Let’s see, ahh, the first instance would be two days ago. I started having vivid dreams about a weird life that feels real. I do everything normally in this dream of mine, wake up, play video games, and talk to friends over the phone, but what is weird is, they are always about the younger me,” Theodore said, scratching his neck and looking at the ceiling. “I think the year is…”
“2050,” Dr Van Kraff interrupted him, confidently.
“How’d you know?”
“It’s irrelevant right at this instance, Mr Fitzgerald, please, do proceed.”
Anna set their coffees on the table.
“OK,” Theodore said, awkwardly, “Then the day before yesterday I had a raging migraine, I thought I was going to die, my whole body was itching and sometimes certain parts of my body didn’t function properly.”
Theodore stopped there and looked at Dr Van Kraff’s face. He seemed unimpressed, like Theodore was telling him something he’d heard multiple times before.
“Then yesterday was normal until I had to go to bed. I dreamt that the date on my phone read 15 April 2050, and in that dream something ridiculous happened,” Theodore said.
“Go on, Mr Fitzgerald,” Dr Van Kraff said, still leaning back and easy.
“I was living in the city of Johannesburg, I hadn’t moved to Beaufort. The city came under attack from alien ships and then I supposedly met my wife Anna. She saved my life and we took refuge in a church until we were abducted by aliens.” He slapped his thighs to signal that he was done.
“Is that all?” Dr Van Kraff said, a hint of disappointment in his tone.
“Oh, and this morning I thought I saw my mirror forming a binary-code-type-of-thing, like it was some programming,” Theodore said lightly, “Rubbish, right?”
Dr Van Kraff leaned forward quickly, his sparkly blue eyes wide.
“Is that all, Mr Fitzgerald?” he asked beseechingly.
“Well…no I…”
“Go on, Mr Fitzgerald!” Dr Van Kraff said, leaning back again, though his eyes were still riddled with interest.
“This morning when I picked up my daughter I heard her voice glitch, like sound engineering software gone wrong, when I went to sleep I dreamt of me and my wife stuck in this weird dark room with pipes that had needle ends stuck into our every limb, and I have fake memories of people, now that’s all!” Theodore said in one breath.
“Ahhh yes, I’ve found you!” Dr Van Kraff said, looking at Theodore like he was his long-lost son.
“You made the jump without any catalyst, you made the jump, Mr Fitzgerald, just like I did years ago.” Dr Van Kraff was leaning out of his chair, almost kneeling on the floor.
“You aren’t making sense, sir,” Theodore said, with a cringing smile.
“Yes, sorry,” Dr Van Kraff said, fixing his suit and sitting back on the sofa. “Come out of the shadows, little bunny, I need your attention as well.”
As Dr Van Kraff said that, Ann emerged from behind the door. Embarrassed by being caught, she sat down next to Theodore.
“Mrs Fitzgerald, you’re experiencing a migraine, aren’t you?” Dr Van Kraff asked, fetching his pipe from his pocket, already filled with tobacco. “Mind if I smoke?”
“Not at all,” Theodore responded, “This is more of a parents’ lounge anyway.”
“Yes, I am,” Anna said, almost interrupting Theodore.
“Well, listen closely, I need you two to understand every little word I utter,” he said puffing a large amount of smoke already.
Tell us: What do you think will happen next?