Once everyone had left the room, everything felt so quiet. But not like the eerie silence like that of my dream. There was still enough background noise from the hospital equipment and the people talking outside to tell me it was all real. Though it was still silent enough for me to get lost in my thoughts.

The whole day was so crazy that I hadn’t had a moment alone to process everything until now. How every memory that I have probably isn't real. That my parents are completely different people but seemingly better. My being three years older than my mind thinks. Possibly never seeing Yukio again…

We hadn’t even had the time to talk about what I did after high school, so that’s all still a mystery to me. Being alone with these thoughts makes my brain feel like it’s about to explode. My whole life that I knew was a lie… and now I somehow have to slip back into an adult life I don’t remember or are prepared for…

The rest of the night was filled with stress and restlessness.

Having been napping for those three months, it was hard for me to get back to sleep. I stayed up until really early in the morning where I eventually felt tired enough to try sleeping. Except every time I fell asleep, I would panic about going back into the coma and scare myself awake. It went on like that for the rest of the night, never giving me more than ten minutes of sleep at a time.

By the time the nurse came in for her a morning check-up, I was completely out of it.

She was using a translator app to ask me questions about my condition, which besides the tiredness, I felt perfectly okay. While she’s doing that, a man walks in behind her holding a tray of food for me. He places it on the table by my bed and leaves.

The nurse also finishes her check-up and leaves me alone to eat my breakfast. It was a neatly prepared tray of rice, salmon, and miso soup that tasted better than I expected out of a hospital. But as I’m eating it, I notice my mouth getting sore. It dawns on me that this must be the first solid food that I had eaten for three months. So it makes sense that my mouth wouldn’t be used to chewing yet.

After breakfast it was all business. A new set of medical providers come into my room and introduce themselves in English to me. They tell me they’re going to wheel me to my new room in a different ward.

Moving to a wheelchair, my body was so weak that I could barely keep myself standing even when a nurse was helping me. They then pushed me out of the room and towards my new room. The hospital was much more lively than I was prepared for. I’ve been so used to seeing mostly empty spaces that seeing so many people walking around feels strange to me.

When we get to the new room, I notice the lack of medical equipment compared to the room I woke up in. It looked to be more of a recovery room than a treatment room. And in there waiting for me was a physical therapist.

We went through the normal appointment process of talking about my condition, then her having me do some exercises and showing me other exercises to do every day while laying in bed. She told me that she expected me to be in the hospital for a few weeks before I was strong enough to walk on my own.

Then just like that, the appointments over and she leaves. All these things happening made me loose track of time. So I was surprised to see how much of the day already went by. It was almost the time my parents told me they would be back.

With the little free time I had, I decided to turn on the TV. There wasn’t any TVs in my dream, so it excited me to watch it. Though since I don’t know Japanese, I just flipped through the channels until I found a game show I didn’t really need to know the language to be able to enjoy.

I watch the show until I see the door open and Mr. Yamada walking in with my parents behind him.

"Ohiyogozaimasu.” I quietly say to them then shrivel in embarrassment when I realize I said good morning when it was now the afternoon.

They definitely noticed too. My mom said hello back with a little grin while my dad brought over a chair for her to sit beside me. She was prepared with more photo albums, but before looking through them, we had a small chat first. Nothing too deep. Just about how I’m doing and how they’re doing.

But after having all that time to think last night, my curiosity about my adult life boiled over. I needed to know more about it.

So I broke up the casual conversation to ask “There’s actually something I’ve been really curious about… what is my life like here? My dream was all in high school, so I’m not really sure what to expect from an adult life.”

That question garners a much more somber response than I expected. My mom actually looks sad after it’s translated to her. What about my life here made them react this way?

My dad responds for her and Mr. Yamada translates "You recently entered your second year of university. You started there pretty much as soon as you graduated high school and moved into the dorms at your school."

Yeah that sounds normal. Hearing that I am in college was something I was actually expecting. But then why was that so hard for them to answer? I try to casually continue on the conversation "Oh very cool, I'm glad I was able to go to college. What was my major?"

Again they respond the same way. This time my dad talks to Mr. Yamada for a little longer before he translates to me. They're acting a little weird which makes me nervous.

When he finally does translate, he doesn’t look happy with what he’s about to say “Emily-san… your dad says they don’t know your major, because you haven’t spoken to them since graduating high school. Yesterday was the first time they saw you since you left home.”