There I was, on a busy urban road, in a second-story room above a store. Streetcars rumbled past. People on the sidewalk went around their business, dodging a garbage truck trying to clean up. Then someone got hit.

I heard the sound of the crash first, as I was by the windows facing the street. Others gasped. Outside, a man was thrown upward by an impact of a truck. Then he stopped. Mid-air. Those in the room with me turned back to their conversations. Life on the street resumed, with movement everywhere, except in the few cubic meters around the accident. There, nothing moved. The truck nose was crushed, and the flying man stayed frozen, six feet above the ground.

I was the only one who saw something wrong with this. I pointed, yelling “holy cow!”, but people only glanced over, then away. Tens of seconds went by. I was not sure whether to disbelieve my eyes, or take offence at the nonchalance of the crowd. “Don’t you all see, this is impossible?” No response.

Then something flickered around the frozen flying man. It reminded me of something – yes – just like the deja vu scene in the original Matrix movie. Suddenly, other strange occurrences started making sense. Something about the world was not quite right, and with this strange guy in the air, reality wasn’t quite real. This wasn’t just a new freaky physical phenomenon, because others would have shown surprise too. If it was just a hallucination, the others would have disagreed with me instead of disregarding the scene. No, whatever was wrong involved both the street scene and the people around me.

What could it be? Maybe I’m imagining both the accident and the nonchalant observers? Or maybe I’m stuck inside a simulation that sometimes breaks. How do I tell? My mind went racing about tests to run, things to say, facts to collect. I was sure that I would be able to figure it out: the puzzle became the most important thing. I would spend the rest of my life solving it. I would have to.

“Frank! Eric went downstairs in his pyjamas!”. The words were spoken quietly enough, but they were enough to shatter my state of mind. I opened my eyes. It’s Stuart, ratting out his big brother. Where am I? Ah yes, in bed. What about the floating man? Maybe it was a dream; maybe it was a memory. I wasn’t so sure any more. Let’s lead a normal life for now, at least until something that strange is seen again.