“So how did they do it?” Bailey asked, “How do they make you look twenty-five again?” “Oh,” Leana stuttered, “I…I don’t really know all the technology behind it, Caleb and I did it so long ago, when everything had first come out. I remember hearing about it on the news, feeling hesitant. Caleb never was though, he called our doctor the day after the technology came out and signed us and the kids up for the anti-aging, cognitive enhancement package which was guaranteed to make you look and feel whatever age you chose. We chose twenty-five because that’s how old we were when we got married, Caleb said I was the most beautiful woman in the world when I was twenty-five… So, just a few weeks later, we went into the lab. I remember it being so cold, everything metal, harsh lights beaming down on us as they assessed the work that needed to be done. We were in the hospital for a month. They cut open my head and implanted something into my brain. They took my skin and injected things throughout my whole body, the pain was excruciating. Finally, after a month of lying in a black room, only semi-conscious, feeling my skin tighten over my body and my brain swell inside my head, I woke up a totally different person; I could hardly believe it! I remember being so happy, every time I saw myself in the mirror I was nearly brought to tears. I was twenty-five again!” Leana concluded feeling a little taken a back about her excitement. “That sounds wonderful!” Bailey exclaimed, “I mean not the pain and the month of darkness but the change, and after only one time?” “Yep, I guess it’s pretty amazing” Leana said. They sat for a moment contemplating the story. Then Bailey realized the time and insisted she must be going. Bailey thanked Leana for sharing her home and her life with her. Leana offered their Teleporter to Bailey to get home, hesitantly, she accepted and within minutes was gone. Leana found herself alone again. More alone than she had ever felt. She wished she had jumped into the Teleporter with Bailey, escaped this fake life she lived and joined her to age and die just as people were supposed to. But she hadn’t, and here she was, standing in her atrium again, contemplating the emptiness of her life. Reverting to her daily routine, she walked towards the simulation room, opened the door and stepped onto the smooth sand. Immediately, the sun hit her face and she squinted. For a moment she felt at ease again, walked towards the water and let the cool waves wash over her bare feet. She reached into her pocket and felt the small gold box that Bailey had given her. She opened it; inside laid a gold charm bracelet that had belonged to Leana’s mother. Her eyes filled with tears at the sight of this small piece of her old life. Then she remembered where she was, that this beach wasn’t real. A feeling of panic hit her and she could hardly breath. Suddenly the smell of salt was suffocating her, the breeze felt like a 40 mile-per-hour gust of wind, and the grains of sand were scraping her delicate feet. She ran to the door beyond the beach and hit the button, the button that would turn it all off. Again, the sound of the waves faded away, the sun began to turn into the fluorescent light, the sand disintegrated beneath her and there she was, in that empty white room that had once provided her with so much relief. She wondered if she would ever feel peace again. She wondered when she would die, if she would die. She wondered what was real about her life. Finally, she wondered, how can I get out?
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Reality Hackers : Transhuman : A better life (Short fiction)