Chapter 7: Know Who You Are

Matthew remembered Cryolife as he visited it 1078 years ago. A huge, glass building with a nice garden. With escalators and automatic doors, it seemed like the theme was technology and the future. That was their vision of the future at that time. But Matthew, standing inside the future Cryolife today, saw the opposite.

There was a huge oak tree in the middle of the building. The walls were tall and painted in a beige tone.There were small rooms around a huge hall. The place wasn’t crowded. He saw a couple of people wearing the same outfit as Po. The others were wearing a darker shade of blue. Matthew thought they were nurses. They didn’t look different, either.

He forgot to check his own outfit. After examining others’, he looked at himself. He had a white dress on. He touched his hair, aware of it this time, it felt the same. He looked at his hands and arms, they were the same too. His body must have thought that he only slept for a night.

Matthew walked away from his room. Some people looked at him, but they were not extremely surprised. He felt like he was a child who got caught by his parents walking around the kitchen.

“Hello, Matthew. I am Nate.” There was someone behind him. Matthew turned around and saw a young boy. It didn’t escape Matthew’s notice that the boy hardly pronounced ‘Matthew’, his name must be very old for someone like Nate.

“Hello,” said Matthew.

“I will walk you around until your room is being prepared.”

“That would be nice, thank you.”

The boy folded his hands and started walking at a slow pace. Matthew followed him.

The place didn’t feel like a hospital or health care center. Yet, it felt like a treatment camp. Nothing looked very formal or medical. The decoration was natural and it was radiating a peaceful aura.

“The doctors will heal you with the treatment you need. For brain infection, it usually takes 2 weeks. And you will check out when you are completely ready.”

“It is crazy, really. Back then, in my time it was lethal. I was dying. Now, I’ll take a pill for 2 weeks and I’ll be healthy again,” Matthew laughed, wondering if he would ever get used to the idea.

“Yes, all our patients are surprised by this. It must be really hard to adjust,” Nate chuckled.

“So, how is this world?” Matthew asked in a more serious tone.

“It’s hard to talk about when you lived in it the whole time. But, as far as I know about the past, it is quite different from what you had in your time.” Nate nodded to emphasize what he just said. “I can take you to the garden.”

They continued walking, and a few people greeted Nate. There was a big, wooden door. Nate pushed it and there it was, a landscape of the future. Matthew opened his eyes wider to see every inch of it.

He expected even taller skyscrapers, gray buildings, and a gray sky. But this new world seemed to care about green.

The majority of the buildings were single-story. Matthew saw many green areas consisting of different shades of green. This made him relax, thinking that he was in a safe world.

“What about the oak tree in the middle?” Matthew asked suddenly.

“They wouldn’t take it somewhere else, so it stayed and grew,” said Nate shrugging his shoulders.

“What is your job exactly?”

“I assist patients. I help them to adjust while they spend time here, Matthew.”

Matthew tried to guess his age. Something irritated him because Nate looked like a young boy. In his teenage years, maybe. But his attitude and gestures didn’t show him that.

“How old are you, Nate?”

“Oh… I think it’s around 96. But I lost track of it,” he laughed.

“Does everyone look young like this?”

“You could say that,” Nate shot a glance at the landscape.

They wandered a bit more, and Matthew was finally guided to his room. They put a normal size bed and there was a big white box on the table. Matthew closed his door and opened the box immediately.

The box contained a little metallic piece, it reminded him of earphones like he used. It was black. Matthew saw the paper under that. He took it in his hands and read it aloud.

“Please, put the receiver in your right ear. You will be contacted through it.”

Matthew did so. The piece was small and almost got lost in his ear. While he was examining his bed, he heard a voice inside his ear. “The meal will be brought in 10 minutes.”

A woman with a dark blue dress came. She was holding a paper box. She smiled, put the box on the table and said, “Here’s your meal, Matthew.”

“Thank you,” said Matthew and watched her leave.

He opened the paper box. There were two pills and something that looked like a cake. Matthew smelled it to be exactly sure. It smelled like a combination of carrot and broccoli.

He ate it and took the pills. Soon after, he felt really full.

He wondered what was next. He wondered about the new world. After he was done with the hospital, what would he do? If he needed money or anything to trade, he didn’t have it. He did nothing except himself. He rushed into this idea because of survival instincts, but he didn’t think of his survival here, in this future world. How could he prepare himself? Would Cryolife help?

He had learned a few things about the new world. He peeked through it. And he seemed to like it.

He was lying on his bed, then the past came to remind Matthew of good memories. But they were only memories now, which Matthew could forget in time. What happened in the past? How did Cathy and Oksana die? How long did they mourn for Matthew?

What happened to Robin? He made Matthew a favor so big that Matthew could never repay him.

Matthew wondered for a while, was there any other choice for healing? Could he have been healed in the past? Was is unnecessary to come to the future? Did he lose Cathy and Oksana for nothing? It’d better not be. Because feeling this alone wasn’t good. He was about to be healthy again, and it would be worth it, but the sacrifice he made seemed bigger and bigger after each second. And on his first night in the new world, Matthew dived into thoughts while hugging himself.