Ever have a lucid dream and halfway through realizing that its reality? That's how I ended up staring into a mirror with a different face showing in the reflection. On a hospital bed in California told i've been in a coma.

Let me backup for a moment.

The last thing I remember being awake about was falling. Maybe not falling persay, but the image and reflection of sun shining on water growing ever closer and closer. Seeing the horizon fall closer and closer, wind whipping limbs like a marionette and the roaring of dragons. Pain. Adrenaline building as the concrete hard surface zoomed closer. A glint of light.

The first thing I remember dreaming is hitting and the water, and going through. Hitting the water and all the pain vanishing. Falling through the Shimmer of light on the surface as easily as Sirius Black in the department of mysteries veil. Shot through a rapid tunel, streaks of light unlike snow going 70 miles a hour on a highway making up the walls. Rapid turns and twists jostling my limbs. The motes of light making up the tunnel sparkling and flashing. Pure information being transferred to my mind.

Memories.

Memories that aren't mine.

A young boy being raised playing with a model rocket.

Practicing magic tricks. Smelling lacktas being cooked. A home, slowly becoming more and more hostile. Alcohol introduced and being snuck in corners. Fights. Yelling. Building small robots in a room away from the anger and noise. A sunlit shadow of a man going out the front door one day. The man never came back.

Waiting at the door for days, weeks. Watching mom get steadily more depressed and bigger as time went on. Overbearing behaviour. Mathematics. The sudden realization that some of the shapers outside of the information walls were star constellations.

Pain. Feeling my mind stretch in more ways than I could mathematically quantify, and the next second being able to intuitively understand. Watching hypercubes and multidimensional shapes oscillating through dimensions. Visualizing Gravity. The sudden lurching knowledge that whatever was happening was permanent and here to stay. Imagine holding a photo of a I Spy book and simultaneously be aware of everything on the page.

As if holding a dvd could let you experience the movie in totality. And then getting thousands of these frames and play them cinema style with eight other set ups playing simultaneously and then you'd began to get a idea of the idea of what the experience felt.

Looking down to see my hands, instead seeing shapes of light with fractals. Zooming in on the fractals again and again falling through this tunnel like Stephen Strange.

I imagine this is would taking NZT and Acid at the same time would do to you. Except of course NZT is fictional.

Don't know how long I stayed in that tunnel. Seconds may as well have been months with how densely the information bombardment was happening. Until the end was in sight.

A solid wall of light coming at supersonic speeds closer. Light Years away and simultaneously close enough to reach out and touch.Overwhelmed with memories pouring into both my conscious and unconscious mind at this point I almost dismissed the last memory until a face stood out.

A pale white boy with a beetles haircut, face scrunched in panic. A frozen bolt of lightning heading for the engine block , frozen in midair. The light illuminating bright gaudy tight clothes.

And with a Boom time speed up, the car catching fire and exploding. Being thrown out the windshield, suspended in the air looking back- and seeing that the car was entirely aflame. Burning with the passenger engulfed.

With a sudden jerk I woke up. A name on my mind. Howard Wolowitz.

Suddenly I froze.

What the hell.

Don't freak out in a hospital bed. Pure panic and adrenaline flooded my system, of was it Howards system at this point? Was I inhabiting his body or was this all a hallucination?

I have to pretend to be Howard and not say anything abnormal.

Saying that im inhabiting the body of a fictional TV show character was an easy way to get placed into psychiatric lockdown.

Better to play the role enough to be released and then research everything once im out of the hospital.

I have to assume that everything is real until proven otherwise.

"Mr. Wolowitz, Hi my names Dr. Spencer. Were going to run a couple of test, figure out how you're doing" A blond middle aged woman announced.

"Im the leading doctor this shift tonight and I like to get to know the new patients. You haven't been under long, we've had to keep you under for 3 days while the brain swelling went down."

"Ah okay. Im very confused right now. Last thing I remember is being thrown out of the car. How's my mom? Are her injuries bad?"

Dr. Spencer walked forward a bit, pulled out a chair and sat down.

It's never good when the doctors sit down to tell you news.

"Im sorry to inform you this, but she died."

The rest of the hospital stay went back quickly. They kept me in isolation for 3 more days hooked up to all sorts of monitors and not letting guests visit just to make sure all the drugs were out of my system. I also requested no visitors. It gave me time to think and plan.

Howards memories were all there and available now. Whatever had happened during that psychedelic trip had worn off by now. It was probably a side effect of the medication. Or through whatever magic had shoved me into a fictional reality.

I wasn't some super genius. Nope, just a normal guy. Albeit with plenty of intuitive knowledge of robotics, fiction, and magic tricks.

Staying in a bed watching tv naturally lead to a lot of downtime for thinking. It was sometime before the series started which was a relief. The show from what I remember played hardball with dates, never mentioning things directly. Probably in a effort not to make things dated. As much as I can appreciate what the writers did, it did me no good.

For all intents and purposes I was Howard now. Laying in bed for days with nothing changing meant whatever happened was there to stay. I'd have to live with the fallout of previous Howard's behavior.

Howard- The guy who build a six breasted robot and was a constant stakerish creeper. Hopefully the damage control I'd have to play not be enormous.

Fortunately other sources were more precise.

According to Fox News It was August 30th 2005.

Fox News was going on about the war in the Middle East and how president Bush was making a effort to help with the victims of the Katrina hurricane. The south was hit particularly hard.

Doesn't Sheldon's mom live in Texas? I'll have to ask about that later when im out.

This world was real. Complex. For all I know a carbon copy of the reality I came from. Maybe the tv show was just the dreams of reality bleeding over in dreams. The multiverse and all that. It got me thinking...

The real Howard was somewhat of a horny man child. He would not have coped well with the death of his Maa. I could take over his place in life without feeling bad, any different behaviour could be explained as having to grow up.

With how the accident was described, the real Howard may have very well died in the ICU. I could play my cards right and be safe, have a stable life while still do some astonishing things.

Being inserted into a sitcom by some renegade Random Omnipotent Being sure beats being thrown into the Game of Throne world, or Harry Potter where mindrape wasn't a uncommon occurance.

It's not like this was animorphs where if I acted differently id be accused of being under Yeerk influence. I could act different with no repercussions. Clarity flooded with relief sagged my tense shoulders. Everything would be fine. Somehow.

The social worker came and talked to me in between periods of sleep with paperwork.

Mrs. Wolowitz had left a will. The house and a life insurance policy was left to my name. Id have to figure out what to do later with the house, and as the new Howard. Still, It feels bad to take over and renovate everything.

I'd do it anyway. The memories weren't without emotional attachment. Getting rid of the blaring reminders of Debbie Wolowitz and making everything inside drastically different would be better for my mental health.

It's one thing to obsess over how cool it would be to live on a set, and another to be there 24/7. As much as I'd want to visit the set of the enterprise, living there would be terrifying.

That's what this house would become. A little fortress of solitude for introverted nights in. Doesn't hurt that houses in California are expensive.I thought. Most of the inheritance would be wasted on a move to a new house.

But now a bigger problem was on the horizon. Rajesh Koothrappali was coming to visit in a hour and I had no reason to avoid pushing the visits back anymore.

'knock knock'

"Howard?"

Of course Raj would be here early. "Come in!" Might as well wing it. It's not like could plan everything out anyway.

Raj walked into the room. "How are you holding up buddy?" He said, finding the visitors chair and pulling it out.

I pursed my lips, "Oh you know, as well as I can given the circumstances. How are you doing? You look like crap."

Raj had bags under his eyes and his clothes looked rumpled. Like he'd slept in the waiting room. Which knowing the levels of bromance- totally possible.

"I'm doing alright. You should see Leonard. He's been dealing with Sheldon having his schedule broken."

Chuckling Raj added "if you thought he was crazy before it's nothing like he is now."

I looked at Raj and it must have gotten to him. "What? Is there something on my face? There was this kid in the waiting room who kept throwing stickers onto everythi--"

"Have you slept here?" I interrupted.

"Only when I can get away with it." Exhaling and stretching Raj mumbled. "The've kicked me out the last two days but the hospital isn't too far away from home so its not too bad of a drive." Raj stretched out leaning back on the hospital chair.

"Raj? Do me a favor."

"Anything Howard. You name it and ive got it."

"Go home. Get some sleep. They wont let me drive when im discharged so ill need someone to take me home."

"Are you sure about that? I mean, i've prepared some space in my apartment and its closer to the hospital. I don't want you going home alone"

Exhaling slowly I replied "You're probably right but I need to see the house and how it is without Ma. Ive been gone for a few days already so the fridge probably needs to be cleaned out and I need to figure out what to do."

"Okay. Are you sure you don't need any help?" Raj leaned forward, elbows on his knees. Eyebrows furrowed, eyes flickering over the myriad of half healed bruises covering my body. Care and concern radiating off him.

"I'm fine Raj. I can't drive for two weeks and I'll need some help once I'm home, but I'm good now."

"I'll get the guys together. Who knows, maybe Sheldon's asinine organizational habits can finally come in handy."

"Yeah, you might be right. We can just let him loose with some cardboard boxes and packaging tape. Want to bet he'd have everything hyper organized in a week?"

"A week?" Raj snorted standing up. " I'd give him a day, he's such a neurotic mess right now. He barely ate his Thai food yesterday."

"Picture that. Sheldon not eating his Monday Thai. The worlds coming to a end." I said grinning.

"Bad joke man. It has been like the end of our world. Things haven't been so good without you." Raj was at the door ready to leave but grinning nonetheless.

"Anyway you look so much worse that I do. Get some rest okay? You should be discharged tomorrow. I have to work but Leonard and Sheldon should be able to take you home."

It was true. While no bones were broken, my skull had a fracture extending through the frontal bone, a sore neck and a fractured left pinkie.

Everything hurt. Sleep would be good. The next couple days would be busy. With my thoughts somewhat at ease, I rolled over and pulled the blanket higher. I drifted off to sleep uncomfortably.

First thing is getting a haircut and a outfit change. No one will take me seriously looking like a fluorescent Ringo Star.