Between Worlds

Hi again everyone, A big guy here. I'm trying another story out, it's more of a premise I want to unfurl rather than having any kind of plan for it.

To say Shane was puzzled would be a significant understatement. This is not where he should be. In Shane's life, he had remembered waking up in many places he didn't remember falling asleep in: His car, his couch his classroom, his parents' house, but they were all places he quickly recognized and quickly realized he would reasonably fall asleep in. Shane had never awoken in a forest before. Well, at least not without a tent. He **** himself to calm down. Nothing good would come of panicking. First, he had to make sure he wasn't dreaming, and after a quick test smacking his face, he deduced all of his faculties were present. Then he checked his person. A more nuanced examination showed that he was wearing a fairly standard outfit for him. Dark blue jeans, a black T-shirt, and a Charcoal blazer. His sunglasses were in his blazer's pocket and his wallet and phone were in his pant pockets. His wallet seemed to have everything in it, and his phone was at 70% battery and picking up a signal.

And this is where things got weird. Shane turned on his phone's GPS to find his location only to show the school he taught at. Something must have been wrong with it. It couldn't tell him where he was. As for the time... That was similarly impossible. According to his phone, it was 1 O'clock in the morning. Shane looked up to the sky. Though he couldn't see it through the trees, the light was enough to know that the sun was clearly above him. His phone was mistaken. He began googling things, and found that google also told him he was in Eastern US Standard Time: 1:00 AM and his GPS location clearly showed his classroom.

That panicking from before threatened to return. He was seemingly no longer in the same hemisphere of Earth, but his phone was convinced he was still at the school. Pulling up Pokémon Go showed his school. Testing his accelerometer seemed to work, but the location of his phone hadn't changed a bit. It was maddening. He attempted to call the police. He knew he wasn't in America but without knowing what country he was in, he didn't know which consulate to call. They answered.

"9-1-1, What's your emergency?" came a voice on the other end of the phone. After his phone's location fiasco, he doubted anyone would answer. He responded with enthusiasm.

"Yeah, uh... Hi. I just woke up and I don't know where I am. My number and GPS seem broken," He knew he wasn't in America anymore, but if he told them that, he wasn't sure he could be helped by the police.

"It says the owner of this phone is a Shane Matthews, and you're located at 4567 Huntington Avenue, New York," again said the disinterested voice, "Would you like me to send a squad car to your location?"

Shane was about to stop her, when something horrifying occurred to him. "Uh... yes please. I would appreciate that," he replied grimly. "My phone is low on battery, can I hang up so I can call again if I need you? Or vice-versa?"

The voice agreed, told him a squad car was on its way with his contact information, and hung up. Shane sighed, attempting to stall his wildly beating heart. No matter what test he performed on his phone, it kept telling him he was where it said he was. There was only one way to prove that. Someone would have to go to where his phone said he was, and see him missing. He began walking in a straight line, following a google search result that told him how to walk in the wilderness without going in circles, and proceeded forward.

After 10 minutes of this, he felt something hit him in the face. He spun around, and found nothing capable of doing so. After several more minutes he felt nauseous, like he was being thrown around or walking on a train.

In an attempt to calm himself, he opened Pokémon Go again, and his eyes widened in shock. He had moved. He was still moving. According to this, he was moving rapidly down main street, seemingly ignoring stoplights. It pulled into... the hospital.

"I have to be dreaming." he said aloud. Who he was convincing, none could tell. And yet he was incredibly lucid. As near as he could tell, he was awake and the things his phone was showing him were dreamy. Shane crumpled to the ground, his back against a tree. Whatever was happening, it was incongruous. Was it a social experiment? He had no reason to trust the phone was telling him the truth. Maybe he was just in the forests and his phone had been hacked to make him think it was in a place it wasn't. And yet he couldn't convince himself of anything. He considered calling the police again, or his mother. He didn't know what to do. And all of this panicking had worn him out. So Shane rested his head against the coarse bark of the tree, and dozed off.

He awoke... in a hospital.