Chapter 1

It felt like the power had gone off sometime during the night and I overslept. I lay in the bed with my eyes closed but I could tell it was too light for 6:30 in the morning. It was also surprisingly quiet. For the past eight years I'd heard a dripping faucet in the bathroom every time I lay in bed like this. For the past eight years I'd been putting it off till the weekend. The weekend would come around and fixing the sink was the last thing on my mind.

I missed the steady drip. I didn't hear the traffic going by on the main street just the other side of my fence. And the kids who should be running around in the front of the house were silent.

Something was wrong.

I thought back to last night. I was checking my favorite story site for any new stories. Chapter 81 of a story I'd never heard of had been added. It sounded like a good old romantic story from the description. What the hell. I'll check it out.

As I read, I ate a couple of microwaved dinners. And I had about a six pack of beer. And filled an ashtray with cigarette butts. I woke up at 2:30 in the morning with my chin on my chest. The monitor had timed out and was black. I wiggled the mouse and it came up in the middle of chapter 28. Good story. I bookmarked the main page and got off the web.

I went back to my bathroom, took a piss, looked over at my toothbrush, said "Forget it," and set the alarm for 6:30. I'd had an appointment for 8:30 in the morning. Now, something told me I was already late. It was too light.

I examined myself. Something was definitely not quite right this morning. My mouth should taste like shit about now. Not this morning. I could have kissed the most beautiful woman in the world and she wouldn't complain about my breath. She'd probably complain, but my breath wouldn't be an issue.

No urge to pee. In fact, I couldn't remember getting up in the middle of the night to pee. A six pack means 2 or 3 trips to the pisser before the alarm goes off and a "can't wait" feeling when I wake up. I felt below my stomach and got the next shock. No stomach.

Now, I don't mean no stomach. I mean no gut. I have a beer belly that's a classic. It's the reason I stay at home alone unless I'm forced to go out. They don't make a shirt that will cover my belly button for a full day. Now my stomach was flat and firm. I moved up and felt my chest. I've always had a strong upper body but had started to grow tits in the last couple of years. Nothing horrendous, but nothing a 12 year old girl would complain about, either. The tits were gone but there was definitely some muscle definition up there. My butt and my thighs were thinner and muscled. All in all, I'd say I had a 20 year old body in pretty decent shape as far as I could tell. Which would be pretty good if I wasn't 53 and had let my body go to hell over the past 10 years.

Reaching under myself to check out my butt and thighs also brought another discovery. I didn't feel any bed or any anything beneath me. I reached under myself in all directions, as far as I could reach and there was nothing. A quick swipe above my body found no strings. For lack of a better word, I was floating. And I couldn't roll over.

I've had days when I'll wake up and realize I had a hell of a dream last night. The most memorable are when I spend all night solving a problem. I'll come up with some weird solution, then kind of wake up, then go back to sleep and work on the solution some more, and repeat the cycle several times. It all makes perfect sense to me while I'm dreaming, but I can't remember any of it other than the fact it happened when I wake up. In fact, I can't even remember what the problem was and even if it was a real problem or one I just dreamed up.

The only solution I could come up now with was I was still in the dream and I'd forget it when I awoke. Maybe I was punishing myself for degrading my body over the years. Might as well enjoy it while I can.

I lay there for a while. Nothing happened. Usually I do things in my dreams. I was just laying there. I didn't even have any stimulation. I could feel my body but couldn't feel anything else. There was no sound. There was a sense that there was some light in the room or wherever I was but I hadn't opened my eyes to make sure. No smells, either. I counted to 1000. Nothing happened, nothing changed. I realized I was afraid to open my eyes.