Watching TV Together chapter 1

### Hallucinations in the Middle of the Night

There was a tall and big middle – aged man named Jack. He used to be a driver in a state – owned company. After being laid off, he was introduced to a trading company in a neighboring small town to drive a truck.

When Jack first arrived in the small town, he didn’t have many friends, and his wife and kids were not around. So every day after work, when he got back to his rented room and finished dinner, he felt extremely bored. After some thought, he decided to buy a cheap second – hand TV to kill time.

Coincidentally, there was a bus station nearby that was going to be renovated, and they were auctioning off the TVs that were originally placed in the waiting room for passengers. The TVs were in fairly good condition and the asking price was reasonable. Jack happily picked one out and hired a small van to take it back to his place. From then on, he had something to do after work, and he felt that life was really enjoyable.

One day, an old client of the company came to discuss business. The boss entertained them in the evening. Jack often delivered goods to this client and they had a great relationship, so he was also invited to join them. After the dinner, when he got back to his room, it was already midnight. Jack took a shower, and before going to bed, he casually turned on the TV. The movie channel was showing a film starring a famous comedian, which Jack usually loved to watch. However, perhaps because he was too tired and had drunk quite a lot, Jack felt a bit dizzy. Before long, he fell into a drowsy sleep.

In a daze, Jack seemed to have returned to his rural hometown, sitting with his neighbors watching the same movie starring his idol comedian. Everyone was chatting and laughing, and it was extremely lively. But after a while, Jack suddenly noticed something was wrong. How come all the people around him had become strangers? He didn’t recognize any of them. He asked in panic, “Who are you guys?” As soon as he said this, these people suddenly disappeared all at once. Jack woke up with a start. He rubbed his eyes and saw that the room was empty. There was no one else except himself, and only the TV was still on. What was going on? Was it just a hallucination caused by his tiredness? Jack didn’t have time to think much. He turned off the TV, tilted his head, and fell asleep again in a daze.

He didn’t wake up until the next evening. Jack got out of bed lazily, brushed his teeth and washed his face, and then planned to go out to the street to grab a quick meal. When he reached the corridor, he met his neighbor, Mr. Brown, who had just come back from outside. As soon as Mr. Brown saw Jack, he gave him a thumbs – up and praised him, “Mr. Jack, you’re such a civilized person!”

Jack was quite puzzled. “What’s going on?”

Mr. Brown said with emotion, “There were a lot of people in your room watching TV last night, right? And the sound was so low! You don’t know, the guy who used to live in your room would watch TV until the wee hours every day and always liked to shout, which made it hard for everyone to sleep!”

Jack was even more confused. “I didn’t bring any friends home. You must be mistaken.”

Mr. Brown waved his hand. “There’s no need for you to deny it. Everyone says you’re nice!”

Seeing that Mr. Brown was quite serious, Jack became even more confused. After thinking about it, he remembered the hallucination he had last night, as if he was watching TV with a lot of people. But that was just a hallucination. How could it have anything to do with this? He couldn’t figure out what was going on, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit scared.