A Different Life

As the Simulife cable clicked into his spinal socket, Frank knew this would be the last time that his surroundings would be real; the timer was set to the max amount--a year--and he knew, by then, his illness would take him. In his Simulife, he hadn't slept through his youth trying to stall the pain of a broken heart, consumed by his depression, he hadn't attempted to lose himself in the drugs or eat his sorrows away. His parents had not separated from the stress of their failure to raise him, his father had not overdosed in devastation. No, Frank was successful, a multi-millionaire CEO, owner of his own publishing company, and he was in love, but, more importantly, he was loved back. As he laid back in the capsule, the machine whirring softly, the software finishing its loading, his final thought was on his mother. She would miss him, and he regretted that more than anything, but reality was not a place he could bear to live in anymore.