Mirror Man

                         

    

                             Author's Note

What is real? In order to define what is real, we have to first define what is not real. Everything we think that exists within us is nothing but a lie. Throughout history, a lie has become the truth. The real! It is a great paradox indeed, just to define. 

Defining the real is nothing but an illusion that we created to cover up the inadequacy of our human psyche. 

This story is also something which should not be read with the usual conviction. Think of this as magic happening in reality. This is also a part of our reality too. And this is not magic!

Your time, reader, is very much appreciated. Now enjoy this part of my imagination and bend your perspective a little.

If you are planning to read this piece of art to it's fullest potential, I advise you to listen to the music I created with this piece of imagination in my mind. 

Music and story, after all, go hand in hand.

Here is the link: 

Mirror Man (musical version)

Put it on repeat and enjoy the story.

                                  Prologue

He stood in front of the broken mirror. Distorted and blurred reflections of his own physique chilled his brain with dread and despair. A red,  watery fluid was dripping slowly through the cracks on the mirror. 

Blood.

He came back to reality. Shards of the broken mirror were scattered throughout the bathroom floor. 

What the actual fuck is happening?

He broke his knuckles punching the mirror. 

It's not real. How can it be real?

But it was real. A grotesque figure stared at him through the broken mirror. 

Shit!

A sudden terror seized him as he pulled back to defend himself. The lights went out. Darkness all over. 

Shit. Shit. Shit.

She was right. It's fucking real!

I saw a man in the mirror.

How can it be real? Ghost? Demon? Devil?

Or am I going mad? 

But she saw it too. 

A man in the mirror! 

 

                                Chapter  I

                          Rhinestone eyes

Murphy looked around the auditorium. Every single soul was dancing to the hardcore rhythm of electronic dance music. He wanted to dance, but his body gave up due to fatigue. 

Nauseated, Murphy looked at Aarv. The dark complexion of Aarv's skin gleamed with the blue and red laser light. His head and arms moved violently to the music as he grabbed on to himself, balancing each step as he moved. He was dancing.

Man I'm going to puke.

Something moved inside Murphy's body, burning his throat. He vomited his last meal. 

When he saw the yellow fluid on the floor, his vision reverted back to normal. He could clearly hear the music now. Unconsciously, his muscles moved to the rhythm.

Since that's out of the way.

As he was grabbing the bottle of vodka close to his jacket, there it was again. The burning.

Fuck not again.

He vomited again. This time on the jacket, it was just water.

Aarv's going to kill me.

I need to get up.

He took the bottle of vodka and gargled the stench of vomit in his mouth on to Aarv's jacket.

Three sips of vodka and he was dancing again.

"You alright, bruh?" 

Aarv came up to Murphy, still moving his body.

"I'm so happy right now." 

"You made a fucking mess, told you to not eat that much."

"Fuck you too. I love you man."

"Fuck it. Let's dance bro. BEAST MODE" 

Aarv screamed his madness at Murphy.

They were dancing their thoughts and dilemmas out to the world. Without a single care, two friends existed in the moment. Their lives were so insignificant in the face of the grand chasm of reality. But at this moment in time, with chemicals burning through their blood streams, music violently triumphed over their fantasy. 

It was during this insignificant moment, he saw the feminine figures approaching them.

Jeanelle.

Something was going to be significant, her eyes spoke out the beauty in the darkened atmosphere. 

"Shit man it's Mia" 

Aarv tried to scream as the music made sure to not lose the beat.

"Leave me out of your love story man. I'm too drunk and stoned to even give a shit right now."

"Don't talk to them, just play it cool"

"You're life sucks hard bruh. Anyway who's that with Mia?"

"Yeah that's Jeanelle, her friend."

"Good observation genius, I know it's her friend, do you know anything else?"

"I don't know. You just play it cool alright?"

"Yeah yeah." 

Mia's presence felt emasculated to Aarv as she grabbed on to his arms. She was taller than him.

Aarv calmed himself, just paying attention to her words. She smiled at them and said,

"Hey MJ, how are you doing?"

She directed her voice at Murphy, intentionally avoiding Aarv.

"You know me, Mia, I'm just playing it cool."

"Yeah, I can see that."

She forced a smile and looked at Aarv with concerned eyes.

"What?" Aarv screamed amidst the noise.

"I missed my period." 

"Wha? How? WHAT? " He freaked.

"Nice playing it cool hero."

Murphy put a hand on Aarv's shoulder, gently calming him.

"Maybe you guys should go outside and talk. Go take her outside, get a coffee alright? "

Jeanelle stood silently behind Mia, observing the moment with a pleasant smile. Aarv, on the other hand, was sweating profusely. The chemicals in his system flickered between pleasure and pain. He was having a bad trip.

"Okay, Mia, he is not in his usual mind now, so be calm. We can figure this out. Off you go now. "

 "Thanks Murph" 

Murphy drew himself up to face reality, tying his hair into a half-bun and looking at the disappearing figures of two important people in his life.

 

Reality sucks!

"She is not actually pregnant, you know?" 

Jeanelle smiled.

"You're fucking kidding me?" 

"I guess she needed some attention." 

"That bitch!"

Reality isn't that bad after all.

He let out a sigh of relief as he moved towards the bottle of vodka lying on the floor.

"You should stop that monkey business. You are making a fool out of yourself. "

Jeanelle spoke out to Murphy as he moved his body violently to the rhythm of the music.

"It's called dancing sweetheart. You should try it sometimes. It can take your mind out of the world." 

"Let me guess, break up?"

"Why is it that everybody thinks, just because a guy drinks and gives zero fucks means he is heartbroken? Or a break up?"

"So you are usually drunk?"

Murphy stopped moving his body and faced Jeanelle. Her aquamarine eyes fit perfectly into her chiselled face. It dazzled like a sapphire in that choatic room.

Rhinestone eyes.

"Hi. Name is Murphy, nice to meet you" 

He gracefully gave out his hand to shake.

"You don't remember me do you?" 

She said hysterically as she shook his hands.

"Really?" 

"Yeah Mia's birthday, I tried to talk to you but you ignored me."

"I'm pretty sure, I'll remember meeting someone like you."

"At this point I'm guessing, you were drunk?"

"Hey don't judge me just like that"

Jeanelle looked straight into his eyes. She couldn't hold the intense desire to move her body to the music. His eyes didn't judge her either. She was happy.

There it was again, the burning inside Murphy's stomach. Her eyes pierced straight into his soul. Her hourglass figure spoke the truth to him.

Beautiful.

They danced to the rhythm of the moment. Even though everything was deemed irrelevant and insignificant, they knew at that moment in time, they were significant to each other. 

"Does anybody tell you that you have beautiful eyes?" Murphy spoke aloud in her ears.

"Does anyone tell you that you have handsome hair?" She flirted back.

Fuck it.

"Give me your number." Murphy asked.

"No,"

"why?"

"Because I barely know you."

"Alright then, I'll take you out tomorrow. We can get to know each other then."

"Do you even remember this tomorrow?" She smiled ironically.

"Oh, I'll remember you." 

"Okay,"

"Okay?"

"Okay, we can go out."

"Okay!"

                               Chapter II

                           Murphy's Law

Time elapsed right before their eyes. Three months have passed. Murphy and Jeanelle found themselves in each other's arms lying on a couch on a cold Sunday evening. 

Half naked, she ran her hands through Murphy's bare chest and listened to his heartbeat.

"Why do you call yourself MJ? Murphy sounds just fine though." She spoke in a soft voice, almost like whispering.

Murphy didn't respond. He closed his eyes and embraced the silence. The ticking of the clock and the dripping of water from the sink gave him a sense of existence inside of him. He could feel the warmth of Jeanelle's body and her breathing on his chest. He stood still.

What is happening?

His thoughts ran wild. Jeanelle came into his life unexpectedly and just like that, he had a purpose now. One day, he saw her and, before you know it, she was lying beside him. 

I might as well tell her. 

"Is it because you like Michael Jackson?" She broke the silence.

"No"

"Is there any reason?"

 "Well, yeah." 

"Then tell me." She came close to his face.

" MJ stands for Mundane Joy"

" What?"

" You see, my mind, or rather my brain, works in a totally different way. I don't know if I'm ill or something else, but I can't be happy. Whatever I do, I can never get happiness or satisfaction. Every single day I woke up feeling grumpy and dissatisfied, and I tackled the day feeling certain uneasiness in the back of my mind."

"What do you mean you can't be happy? Are you not happy now? Are you suicidal? "

"I wasn't suicidal; rather, I was cynical. I did know that nothing in this world matters. At the end, you are going to die and nothing really matters. We are so insignificant. So what is the point? "

"What do you mean?"

Murphy stood up, put on his clothes, and began to walk. 

"Where are you going?" Jeanelle clinged to his arms.

"Let's get something to eat. I'll cook."

She followed him to the kitchen, lustfully observing his physics. 

He made pasta and presented the art to his girlfriend with a proud smile.

"You can cook?" 

"I can do a lot of things, sweetheart. "

"Yeah, you can brag about yourself later. Tell me about the happiness."

He continued.

"You see, I lived my life just for the sake of living. Waiting for death with a chronic despair, nobody can motivate me, nobody can make me understand, i mean at the end of the day everything was relative. I cannot find joy in mundane."

" Whoa"

"Yeah, I wanted Mundane Joy. I wanted happiness in small things. I wanted to feel everything. But I couldn't. I was a machine that bleeds pleasure."

"Then what changed?"

"One day, I thought about killing myself and went for it. I was riding my bike straight into some light. I don't know if it was a car or a truck, but it didn't matter. Right before the collision, something inside of me woke up. Something inside spoke to me. My life flashed right before my eyes. I was sure I was going to die. But I didn't."

"So you were suicidal?"

"Maybe, but no. I was bleeding in the middle of the road, late at night. All alone. I sat there and looked at the sky. I saw Orion. And then everything made sense. I cannot explain what happened to me. But something changed. I was reborned. And I thought about calling myself the very thing I sought after. Joy. Mundane Joy. My name is Mundane Joy."

"Are you making fun of me?" She was skeptical.

"Why would I?" He smiled at her with such grace that she stood silent and looked at him with respectful eyes. 

"You found enlightenment?" She asked.

"Maybe madness?" He replied.

She smiled and went up to him and kissed him on the cheeks. 

"I love you, don't do anything foolish like that ever again. Okay? " 

"Okay,"

"Promise me." She held his hands.

"I promise you"

Jeanelle was happy, at the same time she was overwhelmed by the presence of the man right in front of her. She couldn't have found a better person to hold her through the night. She looked at him, his hazel-coloured eyes and rather skinny but lean physique were soothing to her.

She wondered what was so insignificant about this moment. She was there, and so was Murphy. It was significant!

Right then, she saw something moving. A certain uneasiness creeped into her consciousness.

Someone was watching her. She became conscious of her body. She ran upstairs to put on some clothes. Slowly walking to the bedroom, she took the t-shirt lying on the floor. 

At that precise moment, she saw it. The grotesque figure was peering back at her through the mirror. The face of a man, on the inside of his eye, there was darkness. The face was covered with blood and rotten flesh. The face smiled maniacally.

A frenzy took hold of her the moment she saw the face of the man inside the mirror. 

She screamed at the top of her lungs and collapsed.

Murphy was perplexed by the random change of events. He rushed himself to find his girlfriend.

There she was, lying unconscious on the floor.

White foam was coming out of her mouth.

What the fuck is going on?

"Jeanelle " 

helpless, someone spoke inside his mind.

Everything that is supposed to go wrong will eventually go wrong!

 

                             Chapter III

                       Man in the Mirror

"What's up with that face?" Aarv asked Murphy.

"What face?" 

"Like I-wanna-punch-you-in-the-face face"

"Fuck off, Aarv, I'm not in the mood." 

"Hey man, she'll be fine, okay? Don't worry."

"I hope so."

They were in the hospital, waiting and hoping for the good news from the doctor. Mia walked up to them panting and carrying a small handbag.

"What happened?" She asked while trying to catch her breath.

"I don't know, she just collapsed. I think it's a fit or something. Does she have epilepsy? "

"Not that I know of. No." 

"Maybe the food? I don't know what happened. I hope she's alright." Murphy's eyes were almost wet from anxiety.

"She's going to be fine. Man. Don't worry."

Murphy put his head on top of his clasped hands and sat on the bench with a heavy heart. He had a weird feeling that something was not right. 

Doctor came to them with good news.

"Everything is fine. She saw her own reflection in the mirror and got frightened. You can take her home now" Said the doctor.

"Thank you doctor" Murphy said as he rushed to the room to relieve himself with the sight of jeanelle. 

Jeanelle was sitting on the bed. Her eyes were strained with fear and dread. She could see the man in the mirror in every reflection she could find. Even the TV in that room reflected light like a mirror. There, inside the TV, a man waved at Jeanelle with lustful eyes. Instead of eyes, there was a dark fluid of some kind dripping from it's eyes like blood. A grin on its face. It waved. Inviting Jeanelle into its realm

She tried to close her eyes, but no help. Until she saw Murphy's face.

"Did I worry you? "She asked.

"Worrying would be an understatement," replied Aarv.

"Give her some rest, Aarv, she's already pissed her pants seeing her own reflection in the mirror."

Mia tried to lighten up the mood.

"I'm fine, you guys. Thanks for asking." 

Jeanelle tried to hide her dread with a sarcastic smile and looked at Murphy, who was packing the bag. 

"Can I stay with you tonight?" She asked Murphy.

"Of course." 

"Oh, somebody's going to get something tonight," Aarv did a goofy dance, mocking Murphy.

"You are getting on my nerves, Aarv."

"Come on, nobody has any sense of humour these days."

They were driving through an empty road, after saying goodbye to Mia and Aarv, which embraced the yellow warmth of the sodium vapour lamp in that late hour. Murphy's anxieties fled as Staying Alive music by the Bee Gees was playing on the radio. 

Jeanelle leaned her head against the window and sat with meloncholic eyes looking at the disappearing shadows of the world. 

"You okay?" 

Murphy asked as he steered the car through a small curve on the road. 

"Yeah, I guess so."

She is traumatized.

"You sure?" He pressed on.

"I'm fine, Murph. It's all good. Don't worry."

"Okay, are you hungry?"

"I'm so hungry." she said with a playful eye, attempting to cheer him up.

"cool, I'll cook then." 

The music played in the background as they both moved through the empty road. Jeanelle's mind was preoccupied with frenzy. She looked around confused. Somehow, her eyes stumbled upon a mirror in the car. 

There in the mirror, a black fog materialised out of nowhere. A black mist transformed itself into a face. It was a horrible sight. The rotten flesh on its cheeks dominated its beauty. She could somehow smell the stench coming from its rotten face. It waved to her. Welcoming her. 

Greeting her as she enters its world.

She clenched her fist and tried to calm herself. She diverted her vision to the emptiness of the path they traversed. But some kind of pull, like a magnet, made her eyes come back to the mirror. 

The Mirror Man was smiling. 

She let out a deep sigh of acceptance. A strong sense of relief came over her. She was not alone. It's just an illusion. Her mind was playing tricks. 

The Mirror Man was still smiling.

She forced courage, before she could grasp the reality they were already home. Carelessly, she found herself in front of the couch when she felt a pull on her waist. Murphy dragged her back and sat on the couch with a larky smile. She proceeded to sit on his lap, the warmth of his breath on her cheek. She sat with relief.

You are not alone.

Murphy grabbed her gently, pulling her closer, blurring his vision of her face. 

"You okay?" 

"You will be with me, right?" 

"Always"

 "Okay."

 "Okay" 

"Ooookaay"

She smiled as she felt the warmth of his lips on hers. She couldn't understand the reality. But even in that uncertainty, she felt certain. 

Everything's going to be fine. 

In the reflection on the fridge, she looked with such bravery, all to be lost in despair.

The Mirror Man's face became clearer to her.

Smiling maniacally, the man in the mirror resembled Murphy. Its face bled with Murphy's trait. The horror chilled her bones with despair.

She pulled herself away from Murphy and looked at his face. In the mirror, the trait's innocence transformed into horror. She was at a loss. Her body shivered in hope of giving up.

The Mirror Man was still smiling.

 

 

                               Chapter IV

                       Jeanelle's Madness

"I cannot keep up with this anymore What is going on inside my head Am I schizophreniac Am I going mad But I saw Murphy's face The man in the mirror looked like Murphy No No No Murphy looks like the Mirror Man No No No What did Murphy looked like I Love him I want him now I don't want him I don't

But But But Murphy is not Murphy It's devil's work

God please help me A demon is seducing me A demon is making me mad What is going on Where am I Oh lord He is looking at me Murphy is looking at me What happened to his face Where is Murphy Where is he I want him now with me No No No I don't want him God please make him go away I don't want to see him I don't want to see Murphy anymore Is he dead Is he came to haunt me What if he not real What if Murphy's an illusion Where am i What's going on Mirror Mirror I hate mirrors Where is the mirror I can't see I don't want to see Please make this stop Stop looking at me Stop it Just stop it Don't wave at me I am not coming to you You devil That is Murphy What is going on Who is Murphy I can't take this anymore I give up

I want this to stop I want this to stop I want."

                         

    

                               Chapter V

                       Glitch in the Matrix 

 

A motorcycle came to a halt in front of Aarv's house. Murphy was exhausted. Without much care for the groceries in his hand, he walked into the house. 

"I need to smoke" 

Murphy proclaimed, as he walked past Aarv into the backyard.

"Yo yo, right on time, man. I got some good ass weed, you wanna hit? " 

Aarv smirked in front of Murphy as he opened his can of Mountain Dew, sitting down on a clumsy chair. 

"Finally, something to relax my damn nerves."

"Everything okay with Jeanelle?"

"Do I look like everything's okay to you, bitch?" Murphy smiled.

"We can talk about it all day, but first I have to roll a blunt." 

"Not gonna be your fucking lab rat, joint is just fine."

"Have you seen Lil Wayne bruh? Blunt-blowing polo drop showin', that's some fine stuff! "

"Whatever the fuck, mess it up, I'ma put you six feet under with my own fucking hands."

"Maybe fancy next time."

Aarv took his bag of green plants and rolled them with brown paper into a long, slender stick and presented it to Murphy, holding a lighter to his face. He carelessly placed the joint between his lips and smoked the THC into his lungs.

"I need blinding lights" 

Murphy requested as he passed the joint to Aarv.

"Where's the damn speaker? Yo fuck Weeknd what's going on with you and Jeanelle?"

"I don't know, man, she's been very distant lately."

"How so?"

"I mean, she barely talks to me, she doesn't text me, and the worst part is she doesn't even look at me."

"Yeah, that happens. Maybe something is wrong with your face." Aarv replied, passing the weed.

"Like, why the fuck did I bother talking to you about it, you're stoned as fuck right?"

"I'm so fricking high right now!"

"Me too, bruhh"

"Seriously, you should put on some makeup or something." Aarv made a funny face.

"Really? Do they make makeup for guys? "

"How the fuck am I supposed to know that?"

" What? So you are saying you are not a guy?" 

" What? Do you know anything about guy's makeup?" Asked Aarv.

" Fuck no."

" So you are not a guy?"

"How the fuck that not make me a guy?"

"Then how the fuck knowing it makes you a guy?" 

" DUDE!! What the actual fuck?!! Change the topic!"

" I have no idea what the topic actually is"

"Look, there is something seriously wrong with Jeanelle."

"Like what? She's not into you anymore? Fuck her, bruhh "

"That's not what I meant, you dipshit."

"Be more specific, asshole, and why the fuck are we cussing each other?"

"I'm too high to even give a single shit right now!"

Both of them stood up, looked at each other, and laughed like maniacs. Chemicals made them more sane than the reality they hoped to escape from. After some time of dancing and laughing, Aarv sat down on the chair and took a sip from the bottle of water lying next to him. He then looked at Murphy with concerned eyes.

"Murph, what's going on?"

Murphy couldn't produce any sound as his mind was in a limbo. 

I don't know man.

"Hey, you like this girl? "

"Pretty much."

"Then you need to talk to her man. It might feel like talking is cringe and all, but that's the only way."

"How can I talk to her if she doesn't want to?"

"That's her problem, man. I mean, look, relationship is a big deal. You're both responsible. You're both responsible for each other, and sometimes you both have to sacrifice something for each other. That's how you coexist."

"She said something like, she saw a man in the mirror or something." 

"What?" Aarv became curious.

"Yeah, and I checked the entire apartment. I think it's inside her head."

"You should take her to a psychiatrist." 

"How can I when she's not talking to me?" 

"Listen Murph, there is a thing called respect. You have to respect her part, and she has to respect your part too. But if she is seeing a man in the mirror or a dragon, I might suggest you be patient with her and take her to a good doctor."

 "Yeah, I should take her to a psychiatrist." 

"Yeah, you should, Murph. Be gentle with her. Even if she riccochet, she's still your girlfriend. Nobody knows her better than you, right? So be calm and take care of her. " 

"Whoa, thanks man." 

"Yeah, fuck you. You gotta pay me next time"

I have to take care of her.

Murphy was content with the small talk he had with his friend. He made up his mind to talk to his girlfriend about the man she saw in the mirror.

With a pleasant mind and calm nerves, he kicked started his motorcycle and hit the wind. 

He was there in front of their apartment. A cool breeze from the air conditioner caressed his face as he searched for Jeanelle in that lonely house.

"Jean?" 

He called out to her in a flirty voice.

Where is she?

"Jeanelle?" 

He called out her name with a certain uneasiness as he walked through the kitchen hallway into their bedroom. She was nowhere to be found. The bed was neatly made, and the jasmine-scented aroma conjured a dreadful scenario in his mind. 

Where is she?

His calm nerves made a ghastly scream when he saw the lifeless body of Jeanelle lying covered in blood on the bathroom floor.

Murphy couldn't contemplate the scenario that was happening in front of his own eyes. The red, crimson-coloured blood of his lover oozed through the bathroom floor amidst the broken pieces of mirror.

What is happening?

He stood in front of the broken mirror. Distorted and blurred reflections of his own physique chilled his brain with dread and despair. Red watery fluid was dripping slowly through the cracks on the mirror.

Jeanelle's blood.

Before he could grasp the reality, there in the broken mirror, he saw the mirror man standing right behind him. 

Shit. Shit. Shit.

He panicked himself into the corner of the room. But there was no one except the dead Jeanelle and him.

It's real. It's fucking real. She was right.

The lifeless body of Jeanelle began to move as Murphy watched the horrendously magical moment happening right in front of him.

The body's limbs moved in a way that made no sense to him. Everything began to move slowly.

What the fuck did I take? Acid?

Jeanelle's body stood erect, as its limbs tried hard to be normal, the space around her face began to glitch and distort. 

The entire reality of Murphy's breath began to change in such a way that it had no physics. Then Jeanelle's body transformed into an inhumane figure.

It wore a white garb of some kind. It had no facial features but a white nothingness in the form of a face. 

The Mirror Man, born out of the dead Jeanelle, looked at Murphy. Its figure made a silhouette of humane features, as the entire space-time continuum began to go berserk.

What is real?

Murphy came face to-face with the Mirror Man.

 

                          Chapter VI

                      The Metaverse

 

An entity of complete whiteness was standing facing Murphy. The space around it began to tremble and vibrate into patterns and fractals. Its face began to glitch into several faces, as each face resembled Jeanelle, Aarv, and Mia. 

Freaking hell. 

When the entity's transformation became complete, it swiped its hand to the left as the entire space changed into a white room. There,

Murphy was forced to sit on a couch of some sort, made from rectangular blocks, which were also white.

# Greatings Guest Welcome to the backup server of the metaverse.

The entity began to speak as Murphy snapped his mind out of the trance and began his questions.

"What the fuck are you? Where the hell am I? What's going on? What did you do to my Jeanelle? What the actual fuck is this? " 

He let out everything in one breath.

# You are connected to the metaverse. 

# Playtime : 65:88 

"Man, I have no idea what you are saying. Who are you? I mean, what are you? What's this Metaverse bullcrap? This is going out of hand, man. "

# I am the backup program created to protect the divers from the psychosis effects of the metaverse.

# Program code : BD65π0XL

# Code name : _obscure_prophet_

# You are connected to the simulation of the metaverse, but recently we detected a bug. 

What is real?

" I am connected to the metaverse. So you mean this is not real? I am playing a game or something?" 

# A metaverse is a virtual reality where human consciousness can dwell outside of materialistic reality. 

# You are one of the divers.

# Age : 92.

# Current time in the MR : 17-07-2090. 17:56:21

# Haptic sensors: Online

# Heart beat sensor : Not detected.

What is real?

"So that means I'm from the year 2090 and I'm an old man connected to this virtual reality? "

Murphy's mind began to understand his reality. He could see the truth right in front of him. This programme was created to protect divers from the psychosis effects of the metaverse.

Psychosis effects!

I was having psychotic effects. 

I thought this virtual reality was my own reality, and I was so convinced. Was that the psychosis effect? 

What was happening to Jeanelle then?

"So if this is all true, then what happened to Jeanelle?"

# Analysing package npc_jeanel_76.xfc 

# Data corrupted.

# Negative feedback loop Detected.

# Fix not found.

# host_ghostfile.txt Restarting.

# npc_jeanel_77 status : Online

What the actual fuck is reality?

It's actually funny how things turn out. I am a god in this reality, and I end up losing my mind, just being confronted by our own creation. 

Artificial intelligence!

"So what's next?"

Murphy asked to the programme with a bitter disappointment.

"Get me out of this simulation."

# Bug detected.

"What the fuck do you mean bug detected? Get me out of this illusion. "

# Guest Heart beat not detected.

# Vitality sensor : offline

# Rebooting server...

# Data corrupted.

# Restart failed.

# Continuing the current simulation.

So that's how it is then. 

No heart beat detected?

Of course, I remember now. I'm a grumpy old man waiting for my death in that lonely hospital bed. 

My granddaughter gave me this device. 

And I died while still connected to it. 

Pretty ironic!

"Obscure prophet, a fitting name for a programme, though. So I died in this reality. So where am I supposed to go now? What am I supposed to do? Where's the hell? Where's the heaven? "

Murphy felt a certain uneasiness as tears ran through his cheeks. His mind was in utter chaos; his thoughts simultaneously accepted and rejected the truth right before him. He hoped for some miracle. Maybe he would wake up in his bed clinging onto the beautiful body of Jeanelle. Maybe the care takers will wake him up in that comfy hospital bed for his medicine? 

Even still, does any of it matter?

He was alone in that world of illusion, and the truth didn't make any sense. 

Gods are lonely.

"So what are my options?"

# Executing commands for the divers.

* Erase all backup data.

* Continue.

 

Continue? In this limbo, in this purgatory, that's far worse than death! 

I understand now.

The real truth.

Even if the truth is bitter or sweet, we are always given the choice. 

The greatest gift!

Then choices are the real truth?

If so, what is the cure for loneliness? 

Maybe inexistence.

That too is my choice, right? 

Fuck it.

"Erase all backup data"

  

                               Epilogue

An old man lay motionless in a blue-coloured mechanical bed. Intravenous fluids pierced his decaying blood vessels. A haptic feedback sensor was connected to his entire body. In his head, there was a big cuboidal device with a clear screen and a virtual headphone.

A beeping noise was made by a heartbeat sensing device.

It showed nothing but the red light of inexistence.

The old man was dead.

On his clear green dress, there was something written close to his chest pocket. 

two letters of his name.

MJ

 

Fin.