Rainn Wilson (5:24)
My son had just turned one. We decided, hey, let's go take a trip to Monterey. So we took a trip to Monterey. It was me, my wife, and the baby. It was a good little trip. And it was a cool little three days away from everything, from work and all the stress. When we got back, we noticed the baby started coughing. And then the cough got really bad. Our baby was really sick. I'm about to leave for work one morning, she tells me, hey, the baby needs medicine. I forgot to pick some up at work. Can you go grab some? So I go, yeah, of course. There's a Walgreens right across the street. So I figured I'm gonna drive over there real quick, come back, drop it off. It's about 11, 11:30. It's a busy street. It's a main street. There's a red light right there. And, you know, I see traffic all backed up. Plenty of cars in the parking lot, but nothing too crazy. And I get out of the car, and already I forgot the medicine that my wife told me to buy. So I called her on the phone. I go, hey, what was the medicine again? And she goes, oh, yeah, it was this brand that the pediatrician said was okay. And just remember this one. I'm like, okay, cool. And I got her in my ear. I hear the baby crying. I'm walking towards the front, and I see a woman, and she's struggling, putting her baby into the backseat of the car. And I look over, and I feel for her because I'm like, oh, man, I'm in that same situation. I know exactly what that's like. My wife is still talking in my ear, and I make a right into the Walgreens. The doors open up. I saw a checker at the front waiting for customers. And I hear distant talking over the aisles. I hear people towards the back. I hear regular conversations that you would hear in a pharmacy. As I walk in, I hear three beeps in my ear that the call failed mid conversation with my wife. The call drops, and then the door shut behind me, and I look up. Everything changed. The checker behind the register was not there anymore. The music that was playing stopped. The normal warm lighting of the Walgreens, gone. Any ambient noise that I heard from customers, completely silent. The cars outside, and any noise I originally heard when I first walked in, completely gone. And I was just alone. Alone in the store, alone in the situation, Alone. Just alone. It felt like I was not supposed to be there in that moment. It wasn't a subtle change. It wasn't anything that gradually faded out. It was like a completely different place. The noise from any talking from the customers had gone completely silent. The lighting, which was normally just a yellow lighting, was now blue. The whole store just felt dead. I look over to the aisles. I don't see anybody. And I look at my phone, and my phone is off. I look out the doors, and all the cars that were just there are gone. The woman that Was just putting her baby in. The car is not there anymore. So I stop, and I just kind of assess the situation, like, what? What's going on? I kind of look down a couple aisles. I don't see anybody. So I yell. I go, hello. Hello twice. And I remember when I said that, I'm like, dude, this feels like I'm in a horror movie. No response from anybody. I look up at the mirrors that Walgreens has up on top, and I don't see anybody in the aisles. I peek my head around the corner, don't see a single person. I grab my phone because I'm like, I should film this so in case my wife asks me or if no one believes me. And of course, it won't turn on. The screen is black. I'm playing with the button. Nothing's happening. It was really weird. And I'm just thinking to myself, like, what? What is this? I go down the aisle, and I make a sharp left. And just like that, the lights turn their normal yellowish color. There's people in the aisles. I can see again. There's music playing on the speakers. I hear one man talking on the phone. I hear pharmacists. And I look up at the front, and I see a checker there mid transaction with somebody, that same checker that was there originally ringing up someone mid transaction. There was life again in the store. The life that was missing for the past 30 seconds was there again. And I kind of just stopped and I just sat there for a second, and I was like, what just happened? What just happened right now? I look over, you know, at the people in line. I'm like, were they all not talking? Were they all just quiet? But one of the guys was on the phone. I would have heard him. I look over behind me, there's people in the other aisles now. I just feel confused, and I feel alone in this moment because clearly none of the customers around had the same experience. I didn't know what to do, so check my phone. And my phone's working again. And I have three missed calls from my wife. I go, okay, I'm gonna call her in a second. I go, I get the medicine. And I get rung up at the front. The man at the register asked me, could I help you with anything else today? I just kind of stared at him, and I was like, no, I. I guess not. As I'm just standing there, like, thinking, there's gotta be a logical explanation for this. I leave. I drive the car back to my house. I drop the medicine off with My wife and the baby. She goes, are you okay? I go, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna call you and we'll talk later. I get to work and I called her a little later on and I say, hey, what, what happened today? She goes, yeah, you looked kind of shaken when you came home, filled her in on what happened. I go, hey, do you think maybe the cars caught a green light and then that's why there was no cars there? But why were all the cars in the parking lot gone? And why was the cars parked on the street? Go, maybe the woman got her baby into the car just right, right when I turned around and drove away. Maybe everyone in the aisles was just one aisle over and for some reason no one was talking. My wife goes, well, maybe you were stressed out. I go, yeah, maybe. And she goes, how long were you in this weird place? Or how long did you feel like this? And I said it was about 30 seconds. Well, maybe I had some sort of episode. She goes, yeah, but the call dropped. I called you about three times, but every time it said that your phone was out of service. She goes, it didn't even ring until the last time. I go, how long was that for? She goes, about 30 seconds. Okay, well, I would think I was completely crazy maybe, but having my wife on the phone with me and her timestamp with that call dropping perfectly lined up with this weird experience that I have and I wouldn't accidentally turn off my phone, I wouldn't do anything like that. It was just weird. I didn't know what to do or what to think. I didn't know who to tell besides my wife and my friends. And they all agreed it was weird and drive myself a little crazy thinking about what happened. What rational explanation do I have for this? Maybe I had some sort of anxiety or a panic induced episode, you know, for this brief 30 seconds in time. I am a very rational person and my wife would call me a skeptic when it comes to most things. I had asked my brother, I go, what do you think? And he goes, do you know what liminal spaces are? You went into a liminal space from what he described. It was like when you slip into this alternate universe or timeline. He said it's usually things like an airport or rooms that are empty or things that are nostalgic from your childhood or places that are, like, mundane to you that you're not supposed to spend an extended amount of time in. Except when you're in this place, something feels wrong and off and there's almost A feeling like you're not supposed to be there. And I thought, well, that's interesting. I think that's also far fetched. But I also can't think of a rational explanation for everything. Maybe for one or two things I could. Maybe all the things combined. It's a little difficult for me to try to be rational about it. I don't know what happened that day and I don't think I'll ever find out.
