The Windowless Building

Usually, when their physical bodies began to shut down, their digitally generated counterparts would slowly begin to lose interest in day to day activities. They would forego the games of pickup basketball in the street, the long walks and runs in the evening, or the other fun things they all did together. Eventually, they would just spend more and more time sleeping.

While Karri was in no pain or discomfort, she had slept for nearly three days straight. And despite what Darshaun, Amber, or he himself could do- her three closest friends- she would not stir.

She knew she was dying, and yet she was not afraid.

The three of them were gathered around her bed. The morning sun shined bright and golden through the window. Darshaun was holding her hand.

"We're all here, with you. It's going to be okay." Darshaun told her. "Your friends are here too. They wanted to be with you."

"That's right... me and Julio..." Amber said.

"...down by the schoolyard..." she finished, in a faint whispery singing voice.

This brought tears to both Julio and Amber's eyes. Amber squeezed Julio's hand tightly.

"Don't worry..." she whispered. "I'm going to sleep now... and I'll be free, for real."

"I love you Karri..." Darshaun whispered. "Are you okay?"

"It doesn't hurt. I'm fine. I'll be fine. You'll see." Her breath was getting more ragged now, but there was no trace of panic in her calm voice.

"We will all be together again soon. And it will be so real, so infinite, beyond what any of us could imagine. Even before..."

"We all love you, Karri. We have too much love for each other to lose you forever." Julio said then.

Karri smiled and closed her eyes for the last time.

Somewhere far away, in a dark, dimly lit underground chamber, a loud beeping noise commenced.

11. JASON

I was beyond thought. Dimly I remember running back out the double doors, and through the dim corridor, as some kind of alarm went off and started beeping loudly. In a panic, I raced around the corner and flung open the door to the outside, exiting the building by the side alcove door I had come in.

Just in time to see the two cop cars, Jackson County Sheriffs, rolling up the drive. I then remember running up the hillside and into the woods as they shouted at me and gave chase. Then I remember climbing over a fence, dashing through a back yard, then running down the street the rest of the way home. My mind was reeling, in a fog.

Although I had escaped that day, it wasn't more than two days later when Dad woke me up and said I had a phone call from the sheriff. They had me on camera, of course. Dad drove me to the station. They explained, bluntly, that my best option was to plead guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor trespassing, but that in the event that I spoke to anyone about what went on in that building, they would not hesitate to re-arrest me and charge me with something far more serious. Either way, Dad was livid of course. But after five hundred dollars in fines, and one day of picking up litter along I-5, I was out of legal hot water.

But yet, my mind always went back to those bodies, broken and mutilated, floating in those tanks with the electrodes poking from every limb, and their shaved heads covered with halos of electronics. What thoughts, if any, went on in those broken bodies in the tanks? Were they conscious and self- aware? Alive? If you could call it that. And above all, WHY??

A few weeks later, while back at school, I had a dream. It was a vivid dream, brought on, no doubt, after a night of smoking some of the best of Oregon's greenest crop in Nick Cathaway's dorm room. But in the dream, I was down by the Windowless Building again. It was dusk, almost dark. I was alone. But when I turned around, standing out in front of the building, in a perfect line spaced apart facing me, was a row of people. The girls were all beautiful, trim, toned and healthy, and most of them were scantily clad in sleeveless shirts and miniskirts. The men, all young, handsome, perfect specimens of masculinity. All of them were healthy and whole. One of them spoke. It was Mauro of course. He was there, looking as he always had, only happier and healthier than I had ever seen him. And next to him was a drop dead gorgeous girl with curly black hair cascading down her shoulders. He said, "You don't have to worry about us. You can even join us if you want. It's okay! Be happy with us, just for a little while. You'll see." And the girl next to him smiled, and I could see her dark eyes sparkle, sensuous and welcoming, and I wanted to love her just as Mauro did, and to love all of them, and be with all of them in their own paradise. But then the image shifted, and I again saw only broken, maimed, and lifeless bodies floating in tanks.

Life is precious, and I want only to live in the real and the now. I woke up after that, but this vision stayed with me. Perhaps someday we will all live in a perfect place full of joy, in some other reality after this life has past. But for me, that time is not yet.

EPILOGUE: JULIO

The priest may have been a mere computer generated program, like most of the bookkeepers, shopkeepers, bosses, clerks, and workers who they interacted with in this world. Or he could have been a real human visitor. Julio actually thought he was the latter. After all, it's what Karri's family would have wanted. They were here too: her mother, two brothers, and father- as visitors, standing in this green field with the rest of them. There was a light wind and a drizzle began falling on the hillside. From here, they could look out and see the neighborhood- both his old and his current neighborhood- spread out in the valley below them.

The summer had since turned to winter here, but that had brought days of sledding, snowboard runs down the hillside, skating at the indoor rink by the rec center, and cozy hours by the fire, and a whole different set of joys and comforts than the wild energy of summer had brought. Now winter was giving way to an early spring.

That was what life was, here in the virtual reality mainframe as well as out there. There was laughter, fun, joy, sadness and sorrow. Petty spats, human errors, mistakes, regret, and forgiveness, learning and growing. Right now was a time of sorrow, but there would be joy tomorrow, and they could all take comfort in each other. No matter how many days, months, or years they had left. He had Amber, but he also had the rest of their group, a bond stronger than any mere group of neighbors could ever have.

Because in the end, they all had too much love for each other.

"Our friends are never really gone." The reverend was saying. "Their memory will be kept alive within each of you, along with the special ways in which they touched your lives. And one day, I believe we will all meet again."

Afterwards, standing on the hillside, Julio turned to Amber and said, "To us, to now, and to whatever comes next." He leaned over to her and kissed her gently.

He took Amber in his arms and with tears in their eyes, the two of them embraced longingly.