The alarm chirped from his phone. Rather than snooze, Jim just got up. The question was still there, its green cursor slowly blinking on and off. He walked into the bathroom to pee. He kept turning it over and over in his mind, muttering to himself.

What kind of journey? What is even happening to me? He grimaced into the mirror, wondering if it was all just in his head. It threw off his usual routine, and he took almost twice as long to get ready.

Sarah had bundled Joseph out the door to the bus before he reached the kitchen for coffee. She raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing. Jim hugged her. “Thanks. Just feeling off, this morning.”

“Is it your eye?” She asked.

“No, no. I just woke up during the night and couldn’t sleep.” Jim didn’t like bending the truth, but he just wasn’t ready to talk about the question with her. He felt guilty for how much the thought of a journey excited him.

They sat together on the couch and drank coffee together. As it was finally Friday, they ended up discussing their plans for the coming weekend.

“Don’t forget, Joseph’s friend Autumn has a birthday party at the park on Saturday. Also, I need you to look at the washing machine. This morning, when I checked it the clothes were still soaking wet. It’s not draining right.”

Jim nodded. “I can do that. And, I won’t forget. Did you already get a present, or do you want me to do that on my way home?”

Sarah smiled, “I can do you one better. Joseph wanted to give her something he made himself.”

“Perfect. Guess I’ll take a look at the washer, then.”

“Hold up. You haven’t talked about your eye at all, this morning. What gives?” Sarah said.

“Can I tell you tonight, babe? I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“But, if we wait until tonight, it’s going to be an urgent care visit. Dr. Miley’s office will be closed by the time you get home.”

“I really don’t think it’s going to require medical treatment. Trust me.”

She glowered at him, but eventually agreed to wait until after he got back from work. He kissed her on the cheek, then got up to deal with the washer.

Jim put on a pair of ratty overalls and gathered his tools. It took a while to find a video on YouTube that walked him through the problem. But, he was pretty handy. He followed each of the steps, until after disassembling the drain trap, he managed to snake gobs of gooey red hair from the drainage hose.

The job was finished with time to spare. He could clean up and relax a bit before getting ready for work, now. He lounged on the couch as Sarah did yoga.

He headed back to Reddit to see if this new development might give him better results. But, as he opened the app, he received a notification that a user by the name of WhiteRabbit999 had sent him a message. He didn’t recognize the name.

He opened it, expecting yet another incredible opportunity to buy and sell crypto in a private discord channel. But, what he read gave him pause. "Begin the journey, yes or no? The Resistance can help guide you. Three hundred and six words remaining."

Jim's heart felt like it had stopped in his chest. He was absolutely certain that he hadn't posted, commented on, or liked anything during his searching over the past few days. He stared at the message.

Someone had to be playing a trick on him. But, how? For the next ten minutes, he typed, deleted, and retyped a series of possible responses to the reddit message. Finally, his frustration got the better of him and he simply responded, "Who is this?"

The response came almost instantaneously. "Who I am is not important. I can help if you want. What would you like to know?"

Jim responded, "If I wanted to play games, I would buy an Xbox. What do you know about the green light? How do you even know about the journey?"

Again, the response appeared with incredible speed. "You already own an Xbox. You were looking for some answers. Some knowledge I can give you." Another message followed the first. "I know the Journey is impossible. No one has ever finished it. No one among us ever will."

Jim found his curiosity piqued. "Are you on the journey?"

WhiteRabbit continued to deliver responses with uncanny speed. "I am one of the Awakened. But, today I don’t represent myself. The Resistance can help guide you."

Jim rolled his eyes. This has to be a joke of some kind. "Why aren't they talking to me, then?"

He read the response, "You cannot hear or see them. Your mind has potential, but sleeps. You have not begun the journey."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Jim was starting to think that this was a waste of time. The overdone melodrama was starting to irritate him. His reply was just two words, "That's ridiculous." Still, he found himself staring at the screen, waiting impatiently for the next message to arrive.

For the first time, there was a pause. It was over a minute before the next message arrived. "Your world is an incomplete truth. All of the best lies are. You have a chance to see more."

Jim squinted at that. It’s like someone tossed a bunch of paranormal movie scripts into a blender and is just pasting whatever slurry comes out. "I'm not interested in hearing anything else, unless you have some kind of evidence. No thanks."

WhiteRabbit responded instantly. "Start your journey, or don't, Jim. Most choose to just keep sleeping. They die without ever having lived."

Jim balked at that. He wanted his life to change. Aside from his family, he’d roll the dice on pretty much everything. He thought of their beater car, the tiny apartment they lived in, the way that the money they tried to save always trickled away into nothing.

He wanted to give Sarah and Joseph a dream house with a huge yard. To travel and see the world. To have nice things. To not have to worry about every single unexpected bill. But, he'd played enough video games to know that the protagonist was almost never a family man.

Finally, he responded. "Give me some kind of actual, useful details or just go away. Does the journey require you to travel?"

The response came quickly, broken into three separate messages.

"Now, THAT is a real question."

"It’s a little complicated, but no."

"What don't you want to leave?"

Jim started writing some of the things that he had been struggling with this morning, and suddenly realized just how much he'd been bottling it up inside. It was cathartic to finally just let it all out, even via text.

"I have a family, man. I don't want to leave my wife and son behind just to go on some stupid journey. But, if I got to take them with me, or maybe if it was something cool that I could do while staying here, then that could be awesome." Jim hit send, but there was no reply. Finally, he added, "Would I be able to still be with them?"

"You may choose to keep them. No one can predict your journey. The destination is always your choice."

Jim smiled at that, and he felt excitement start to grow in his heart despite trying not to get his hopes up. "Do you regret starting the journey? What have you done? Where are you going?"

"The journey has given me purpose. And it has given me power. One hundred twenty six words remaining."

Power, eh? Jim liked the sound of that. "What kind of power? Like, money? Also, what's the deal with the word count?"

"Money is meaningless to the wealthy. The wealthy are meaningless to me. Contact with a sleeper is limited."

Just when I thought the games were over. Jim rolled his eyes at the obvious humblebrag. "Why not just say you're rich, if you are?"

He counted every second as he waited impatiently on the response. But, when he got to two hundred, he gave up on it. He glanced over at his wife laying on the floor, then got up to refill his coffee.

His phone vibrated as the coffee was brewing. He read the response. "You're asking all the wrong questions. You cannot see what I mean. I am rich, if that helps."

Jim liked that answer. He liked it a lot. People with plenty of money could downplay the benefits, but he knew the truth. Money would solve a lot of his problems. Still, he could read between the lines. "What should I be asking, if money is so trivial?"

The response was lightning fast. "Here's a question you should ask. Why pretend your decision is unmade? You have already chosen to begin."

Jim was startled by that. He didn't want to admit to some random Reddit user just how close to the mark that hit. He opened the refrigerator door and grabbed the milk. He added a splash of milk to his coffee before heading back to the couch.

He sipped the scalding liquid before typing out his response. "I am not going to choose until I've thought it all the way through. Sure, it sounds exciting. Big whoop. You still haven't really told me much of anything. Why should I even start the journey?"

Without skipping a beat, WhiteRabbit's message arrived. "Journeys can't be taken without risk. I got mostly what was wanted. Risks were real, but worth it." Then, another message appeared beneath it. "You can go back to sleep. Sleepers don't remember, let alone regret. Few who Awaken regret the choice."

Jim felt his hands tingling, and the blood pumping into his arms felt heavy. His stomach was churning. He could feel the stress of making this choice. It was a lot of responsibility.

Maybe he was just being naive, but everything seemed to fit. How else could this guy have found him, if it wasn't true? Jim wanted to believe that his life could possess so much opportunity.

He was considering it when another message came in. “You become the result of your choices. Sleeping or awake, that is true. But, Awakened get more significant choices."

Gee thanks, man. He read the first sentence with plenty of patronizing sarcasm. Never heard that before. He then added, "I have to think about this some more. I'll get back to you."

"There are no more words remaining. Good luck and don't forget, Jim. The Resistance is a powerful ally."

Jim stared at his phone in a daze. This whole situation is crazy. But, even as he thought that, he couldn't escape the reality of the flashing green cursor at the bottom right of his eye. He wasn't going crazy. It was there, demanding an answer.

As he was watching his inbox, the messages began to disappear. In seconds, they were all gone, leaving no trace behind. He searched Reddit for WhiteRabbit999 only to find out there were no users by that name. Or maybe he was blocked.

But, there had to be something to what he had said. There was simply no other way that anyone could know what was going on with him. And, he had to admit that he was increasingly excited every time he considered the journey.

Unless he’d been lied to about having to leave his family, then he really didn't have anything to lose. Still, if there was one thing Jim had learned in the past 9 years of marriage, it was that he needed to talk to Sarah before he did anything.

Whoever said that asking forgiveness was easier than asking for permission had clearly never been married to Sarah.