The Main Character

I always tell my friends that I was born in the wrong generation. I would much rather live in the ‘80s than the current year, 2023. The music was better, the clothes were so cool, just everything about it appeals to me. I wish I got to experience the ‘80s myself.

Those few words changed the shape of my life from that moment. I passed out and woke up in a less crowded city. The sky is clear and pure. I asked a few passersby where I am and what year it was. I want a bearing on my surroundings. Most people brush past me with their briefcases and newspapers. I have no luck in getting someone to talk, so I turn my attention to a newspaper in a nearby rubbish bin. The date printed on the top is June 4th, 1983. I am back 40 years from where I started. I guess my wish came true and I get to live out my ‘80s fantasy. The realisation hits me how I got here in the first place.

I stand out like a sore thumb. It seems like I don’t know the fashion trends that I thought I did. Wait…. this outfit is specifically from 1986-87 and these people haven’t seen this style yet. I am before the times now. The technology, the trends, the stock market of companies to come. I know everything before it happens.

I can play my cards right and become very wealthy. I am already loving this life in the ‘80s.

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I’ve been in this time period for months now and I am still out of place with the people here. They call me snobby and pretentious and I make more modern references than I realised I did. They don’t understand me and dismiss my ‘revolutionary ideas’, which came after this time. I now have the problem that I had before my time and part of me misses my previous life. Shit, I hadn’t even given the thought that people may miss me or have the police doing a missing persons investigation into my sudden disappearance. I don’t belong here either. I don’t belong amongst my peers in 2023, yet in 1983 I don’t fit in either. I don’t know what period of time I am supposed to fit into. Maybe none of them.