Discombobulation by Hayden Nguyen (16, Arizona)

I had a dentist's appointment one day. At first, it went as usual. Lying face up at the ceiling while a stranger shoves metal objects inside my mouth, accompanied by the occasional wince in discomfort whenever she happened to strike a sensitive part of a tooth. I stared at the TV attached to the ceiling the entire time, drowsily watching the cartoon characters dance across the screen. It was boring. So boring that could feel my consciousness slowly drift away from reality. But that’s when it happened.

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I didn’t realize it at first because the difference was so subtle, but I could no longer feel my own body. I couldn’t hear through my own ears, but rather from the ears of an individual that always seemed to standing across a long, narrow tunnel, far away from any source of sound. I didn’t see through my own eyes, but rather through the eyes of someone observing myself. What was going on? Was I dead? Well, I certainly didn’t feel alive either...
 
I didn’t know where I was. The concept of “place” became distorted. I was everywhere at once, but also nowhere to be found. I felt nothing, but also everything at once. All concepts of life ceased to exist, replaced by pure confusion. Sensory overload. Too many noises, too many lights, too much EVERYTHING. I tried to scream through a mouth that I didn’t have. Writhe with a body that I had no connection to. My life flashed in front of my eyes. At that moment I realized I was living a movie the entire time. Or was I? I didn’t know anymore.
 
It was too much to bear. I wanted out. Out of this simulation, this game, whatever it was. It was a cacophony of chaos that refused to stop. An illusion that refused to break.
 
An illusion that ended as quickly as it began. Before I knew it, I was somehow back at the dentist’s lying face up at the same ceiling. I would leave with zero understanding of what even happened. To this day, I can’t describe what exactly I went through. The more I think about it, the more my head hurts. So I won’t think about it anymore.
 
Hayden Nguyen is a 16-year-old teenager from Arizona who likes to read and play video games. They are an isolated individual who often prefers to be around fictional characters than real people. Although currently decided on a future career, fiction is their strongest passion.