I rub my eyes a bit. The sun is shining, but its position in the sky tells me it must be getting on towards evening. I must have been in a deep sleep, I muse, until it slowly but surely starts to dawn on me what has actually happened...
I remember it now! More and more of the memories are flooding my mind. Natalia, the future, our cosmic friends... I quickly rise and look out over the landscape. I am still on the mountain plateau. Is it possible that all these things actually happened? Happened to me? I look down on myself and see that I am wearing the same clothes as before all these extraordinary things happened. Quickly I step to the place where I saw the round houses, but no, - there is nothing. I suddenly feel sad and depressed and a sorrow engulfs me.
But suddenly it is as if I in some way am being comforted. I feel a calm settle inside me and get a feeling – a pleasant feeling – of not being alone. Which is very good! However, there is nothing else I can do, I have to start on my way home. But first I want to go down and see if the houses really are there or not. I start off, taking the same route as last time.
What is this that I see beside the path a little further on? Rubbish! Someone has simply thrown it down there! Oh, yes, - it seems I am back in my own world... I feel a bit sad, and even sadder as I reach the spot where I had heard Natalia call to me the first time I saw her. No Natalia, no round houses. Nothing but Nature. I feel a lump in my throat, and a tear is rolling down my cheek. I turn and start on my way back to my car which I had parked at the other end of the forest.
I find my car exactly where I had left it that morning. Or was it in the morning? Did any of this really happen? I get into my car and start on my way home. As I drive into town I think about the places I had experienced in the future. It had been so peaceful and quiet there, and people did not seem to be stressed. Here there are far too many ugly buildings and a great deal of noise. And people are so busy! What is it that is so very important and so terribly urgent? And where are all the smiles? A bit further ahead I notice a person begging in the street. I never saw that where I was in the future!
I arrive at the apartment building where I live and park my car. What a contrast! This apartment building is very ugly and sad looking, and it is not much better inside, I reflect as I go inside. I cannot afford the latest trend in interior design! I suddenly recall that this building had been turned into a museum in the future I visited, and that was not in order to show how nice it was! On the contrary, it was to show how it ought not be done. Once I am inside my worn-down apartment I stand still for a moment to get my bearings. There is my cell phone! I had left it here, like I often do when I go for a walk in nature. I hadn’t counted on being so long. I see there are a couple of messages from my friends. I’ll contact them later.
Again I remain standing still. I have been so engaged with my thoughts that I have not noticed that there is something in my pocket. I put my hand into the pocket and find a small flat object. I immediately recognize it! It had been lying in full view on a table in Natalia’s bedroom. She had in fact shown it to me and explained what it meant. In that moment I realize that everything I had experienced while I lay on the mountain plateau really had happened. It was not something I had simply dreamed or imagined! I sink down in my sofa to process it all, sending a silent “thank you” to Natalia. She had placed the object there on purpose so that I should know that she and everything I experienced together with her had been absolutely real.
I am filled with a sense of gratitude, both for Natalia and all the others I had been fortunate enough to meet, and everything I got to experience there in the future. And that I actually got to meet a couple of our friends from the stars is just about incredible! The big question now is whether any of my friends or other people here will believe it! At the same time I feel a great responsibility to convey all that I have experienced. I shall have to find a strategy for how to proceed.
Everything I experienced also gave me a great hope of being able to see my friends from the future again, and not least be with Natalia again. It has also given me hope on behalf of mankind. It seems we are not that bad after all, we have simply been in a process of of growing and developing. But what a potential we have! And what a future we are approaching! I now feel full of hope for the future, a future that may not be very distant and that gives us a message which tells us that WE MADE IT!