10 Thursday June 29th, 2056

For the past week, Andrew has been going steady with rehabilitation. He is driven by the thought of seeing his friends and family again, and May. Helen has shown him around the centre, and he is allowed to walk around for himself for the most part. A few days ago, the phone charged, but he wasn't able to use any services. All the apps were out of date and his phone number had been deactivated many years ago. Andrew is disappointed, but he decided not to bother with it anymore. The phone has been put back in the box as a relic of the past.

Andrew is in the cafeteria for breakfast.

"Good morning, Andrew." Helen walks up to him with her own plate.

"Morning." He responds.

"Lacking energy?"

"I just didn't sleep well, that's all."

"Well, that's understandable." Helen responds. "So, how do you feel about living?"

Andrew looks at her, surprised by the random question.

"It's okay, I guess. The food is alright and the bed is comfier than what I remember from hospital beds."

Helen nods. "Anything else? Maybe about you know… " She pauses for a bit. "This timeline? If you know what I mean."

[I wouldn't really call it a timeline.]

"I like reading books, which is new for me too." Andrew responds.

"Nice, nice, which genres?" Helen says excitedly.

"History books, and sci-fi."

"Sci-fi huh." Helen says. "That's actually interesting, given science fiction in your time could be reality right now."

[And what about history?]

"Well," Andrew starts. "It's not actually that different from the past. Time and space travel stories still seem to be a thing. I've taken a better liking in history books, though."

"Why? I'd say they're boring."

"I thought so too, but it just interests me to read about things I could've seen happening, but didn't. I don't know why, exactly."

Helen shows a slightly worried expression, but quickly covers it up with a smile. But it was in vain, as Andrew had already noticed it.

"You look worried." He says.

[Calling it out directly works best, at least that's what I've read.]

"No, it's nothing. You should know the gist of it by now. Anyway, I should show you around the Recreational Area, where most patients spend their time throughout the day."

[Changing the topic I see, but I almost forgot there were other people here too. Of course there are, she mentioned them multiple times.]

They finish up their breakfast and walk to the recreational area. It is on the same floor as the cafeteria, and close to it as well. Helen opens the door and lets Andrew pass through first. He is greeted by a large space, with couches, chairs, tables, two televisions, computers, a large bookcase and an outside area. The glass obscures the things that reside in the outside area, so he can't make out what they are. There are a few people, definitely older than Andrew, playing a card game at one of the tables. Andrew and Helen walk up to them.

"Hey, guys! Playing Poker?" Helen says to them.

"Good morning Helen, and no, we're playing Hearts." One of them responds. "I see you're here to introduce us to someone."

"That's correct, this here is Andrew. He woke up a little less than two weeks ago. You're the only ones here this early, so I thought I'd introduce him to you."

Andrew shakes each of their hands.

[There's no need to say my name right? They've already heard it.]

"Mike."

"Wilhelm, nice to meet you."

"Chris, and this here is Joe."

The four men, probably in their thirties or forties, greet Andrew nicely and offer him a seat on the couch.

[Someone was also named Mike in my class, I wonder how he's doing. This definitely isn't him however. Way too old.]

Andrew sits down on the couch next to Wilhelm, while Chris gets another chair for himself. They put their cards down on the table.

"I'll be leaving now, hopefully you can get along and play a game together." Helen says. She leaves the recreational area, and walks down the hallway.

"Andrew, was it?" Wilhelm addresses him. He has a slightly German accent, one that Andrew has never heard before. Andrew nods.

"So, where're you from? Or I should say when, actually." The others laugh at Wilhelm's wordplay, although it wasn't even that funny.

"Twenty-nineteen." Andrew responds. "And you?"

"I died in 1999, only a month before the millennium change." Wilhelm says. "T'is a shame, I got impaled by a m… "

Andrew gets a shiver by the words coming from Wilhelm's mouth.

"Woah there Wilhelm, he doesn't need to know yet." Mike interrupts him. "Your death was the most gruesome of us four, so it'll be best to tell him last, when he's all good again."

"Ah, I'm sorry." Wilhelm holds Andrew's shoulder. "I'll tell you one day, kid, one day."

[He's a bit of an oddball, but he listens.]

"It's fine, I'll ask you about it when I can."

Wilhelm lets go of his shoulder.

"So," Andrew starts "why are you saying you died? All of you are still here."

Chris sits up right, signalling he is going to answer that question.

"About a month or two ago, we didn't feel estranged to the fact that we died anymore, so we decided it would be the best way to describe our accidents." Chris starts. He speaks every word formally and has thought every sentence through. "I understand why you're still a bit estranged by the fact of your death, and your arrival here."

[For such formal sentences, using estranged twice really jumps out.]

Andrew looks at Chris for a moment, processing what he just heard.

[Wait, two months ago?]

"How long have you all been here for?" Andrew asks.

"About four or five months, I don't exactly know." Mike says. "We all woke up at around the same time, and we didn't have anywhere to go, so we stuck together."

"So you're allowed to stay here?"

"We probably will for the rest of our lives, so yeah." Mike answers.

Suddenly, Joe rapidly makes movements with his hands, and Chris looks at it intensely.

[What is this, is he mute?]

"Joe asks how old you are, and what your accident was." Chris says. "Joe you know you can't really ask that, he woke up just two weeks ago."

Joe nods, and makes a few more signs to Chris.

"Oh, I see. We'll see what he responds."

[What did he ask?]

"Well, I don't know how I died, I forgot most of that day. I only know it was the day before we… "

Andrew stops his sentence, but leaves his mouth open.

[We were supposed to celebrate.]

Andrew is unable to continue speaking, as a throbbing sensation fills up his throat.

[We were supposed to celebrate, our two year anniversary, of being together.]

A tear wells up in his eye. Chris jumps up.

"Hey man are you okay? We shouldn't have asked that, I should've seen it coming." He says.

"Oh shit, sorry Andrew." Mike says.

"Mike don't swear in front of our new friend." Chris says.

Wilhelm and Joe are silent, with a guilty expression on their face.

Andrew wipes the tear away.

"No, I'm okay, it's fine." He says. "It just made me realise, something."

"It's okay, you don't have to tell us right now." Chris tells him.

Andrew lifts his face. "It's not your fault Joe, or yours, Wilhelm. I've just been a bit unstable for the past week."

"Well, if you say so." Wilhelm says. Joe makes quick signs with his hands.

"He apologises, and says we should talk about happier things, right?" Chris translates, and Joe nods.

"Yeah." Andrew says. "And I'm seventeen, if you don't count the past forty years or so."

"You're the youngest I've seen here." Chris says. "You look older, though, but only a little."

"Well," Wilhelm starts. "Let's play a game, you know the rules of Hearts?"

"Yeah, I've played it on vacation a few times."

Wilhelm starts shuffling the cards, and divides them across them.

"I'll make a team with Joe." Chris says. "You can't play it with five."

The cards are divided and they start playing.

During the game, they talk about their experiences from the past, about finding their pleasure in playing card games together, their friends, family. Andrew sheds a few more tears while talking about them, but this time, they are tears of joy thinking back to the experiences he had with them. He tells them he wants to see his friends and family as soon as possible. They play a few more different card games, and have lunch together at the cafeteria.

"You have lunch at twelve?" Andrew asks.

"You don't have lunch at twelve?" Mike returns.

"Well, I usually eat at around two or so, back at home too."

"Could be the difference in generation." Mike says. "If you want to keep eating lunch with us you'll have to adjust your schedule, sorry."

"No, no, that's okay."

[They all seem really apologetic here, Helen too.]

They all sit around a table of six, leaving one chair empty. The cafeteria is a large open space, with numerous tables, chairs and couches ordered tightly in the room. There are shutters around the tables, to account for privacy. Opposite of the entrance is a large window, just like in Andrew's room, and most of the other rooms around the centre. Right of the entrance is the self-service cafeteria, where you can place your order on a machine, and it'll be ready for you within minutes. The greater deal of the tables are situated left of the entrance.

Helen enters the cafeteria and notices them at their table. She places and takes her order before walking up to them.

"I knew I could find you here." Helen says. "Looks like you're getting along, were the games fun?" She takes a seat at the empty chair.

"Sure thing, nurse. He even won from Wilhelm once."

"That's something to put on your resume, kid." Wilhelm says. "If you were applying for Poker competitions in the seventies that is."

"Yeah, the professional card games scene has probably changed a lot." Mike adds. "Your talent could be noted in an old book somewhere, Wilhelm."

"If I were, I should've found it already."

Andrew looks at him with a questioning expression, and Wilhelm quickly picks it up.

"It was in 1977." He starts. "I was playing in the finals of the Poker World Cup."

[That existed? I've never heard of it.]

"Many say luck is the greatest factor in Poker, but I don't think that's true. While luck is a factor, it doesn't decide the outcome. You also need a great deal of predictive capabilities and memory, of your opponent's possible hands."

Helen leans in closer to Andrew and whispers in his ear.

"Wilhelm likes telling stories, and doesn't like being interrupted. Once he starts, he can't be stopped." She whispers.

[He was stopped when he started talking about his accident, but it depends on the context I assume.]

Wilhelm continues his long story about Poker, while the others continue their lunch.

"So, finally, I was able to be victorious over him, and won the Poker World Cup of 1977. Using skill, not luck."

"Well, I'd say I used all my luck on that one match then." Andrew replies.

"So it seems. Anyway, after that one victory, my life went downhill, and I ended up being im… "

"That's far enough, Wilhelm." Mike interrupts him.

"Ah, sorry. I'll tell you that part later."

[Yep, the context.]

They finish their lunch and leave the cafeteria.

"Looks like you're getting along, that's great." Helen tells Andrew. "I'll be going back to work now, my next patient is coming up, so I also won't be with you as often anymore."

"That's fine." Andrew replies. "I can find my way around and I found new friends."

Helen smiles. "You're recovery was quick, really quick." She says. "Before you leave here, we will read those letters together, okay?"

"Yeah" Andrew responds. Helen leaves for her office, and Andrew returns to Mike, who is the last one left in the hallway.

"The others already went to their rooms, and I'll be on my way too." Mike says.

"Ah, I see."

"If you ever want to play or talk with us again, just go the recreational area before lunchtime."

"Will do." Andrew says. "See you soon then."

"See you around."

Mike walks up the stairs to his room, but Andrew goes back to the recreational area. He walks up to the bookcase, picks out a fictional history novel, and sits down on the couch.

[I've probably read more in the past week than in the past three or four years.]

He opens the book.

[Past forty years, actually.]