they all climbed into the car , the colonel-prince at the wheel , and , as they sped away , the force that held me motionless blinked out ... and there i was on my couch , in my darkened room , wide awake , only now realizing the strangeness of the trite experience i had just lived , and which was exactly of the same kind and the same reality as if i had taken a stroll in the retiro , nothing noteworthy happening during that time .