Category: Fiction

He stood on the wooded path, eyes closed. The breeze lightly tousled his hair. The insects buzzed and the birds chirped lazy songs. He could feel warm rays of sunshine splashing across his face as they poked their way through the dense canopy. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small metal object.

He felt the tiny chain slip through his fingers as his hand slowly rotated the circular object. After a few minutes his thumb caught the clasp and the device clicked open.

“I’m proud of you, son,” a gentle voice said.

He opened his eyes, squinting as a thin ray of light chose that moment to dance across his face. Before him stood his father. Time was kind to him. Jet black hair was barely peppered and only a few lines were etched across his face.

“Thanks, Dad,” he replied. A few moments passed. “I miss you.”

The older man kept the same smiling face. A small tremor spread across his features but it fizzled away just as quickly. He sighed heavily with the immersion now broken.

He closed the projector and the hologram vanished. He held it by the tiny chain and let it slowly dangle and spin. He had received his father’s prized possession right before he was deployed on his current tour and only days after the funeral. It was a long trip to the Andromeda galaxy so he had taken that time to convert it into its current form and function. It was a good start but it needed more a lot more work.

“End simulation,” he sighed. The trees, the birds, the bugs, and the warm rays of the sun slowly dissipated. He never took his eyes off the watch as the forest finished changing back to cold empty metal walls.

“See ya soon,” he whispered to the watch.

He opened his eyes and looked at the most beautiful woman in the world. She smiles warmly back and runs her hand across his bare chest. He counts the freckles on her nose. Only a dozen, but they stand out against the slightly sun-kissed skin. Strands of light brown hair lie tumbled across her face. Blue piercing eyes peek seductively through the locks. He drifts back to sleep.

He wakes up some time later and only a slight indentation of where she had slept. The room was a tad brighter with the sun now fully casting rays of light through the open blinds. He hears the steady stream of the shower down the hall and gets up. He walks down carpeted stairs into a living room with a large rectangular television mounted on a wall showing a muted workout infomercial, an empty bottle of wine with two red stained glasses on the coffee table, and remnants of clothing haphazardly strewn across the furniture and floor. As he heads to the kitchen to start some coffee, he can hear the water turn off upstairs.

After placing some of the previous evening’s dinner plates in the dishwasher, he spots her walk into the kitchen. She is wearing the clothes she wore last night and her brown hair is now wet and flat against her head. His heart flutters at the sight of her. “What’s for breakfast?” her heavenly voice asks.

Before he can answer, the front door opens and two small children come running in. They are laughing and calling for their dad. A woman’s voice calls out for help with the luggage, and his stomach nearly loses everything from last night into the sink. The kids stop in their tracks, confused looks on their faces. “Who are you?” his son asks, a quizzical expression on his innocent face.

“Richard, are you awake?” a woman calls as she struggles to get three suitcases through the front door and into the living room. She turns her attention to the scene before her and instantly drops to her knees. As she covers her face with shaking hands, the children begin to cry as well, not understanding what was happening and taking a cue from their mother.

“Diane,” he finally manages to croak. “I-I can explain…”

Things go dark and he finds himself sitting in a cafe with a small cup of black coffee that had gone cold an hour before. He was waiting for her…for the love of his life. There was a small chime as the door opened, his heart leaping into his throat, but just an older gentleman looking for the nearest bathroom.

His pocket vibrated and he instantly dug out the phone. He sees the number, joy washing over him. He presses the small green check mark on the screen and answers. 

There was silence for nearly a full minute before he heard her voice. “Hi.”

“Hi, hello, how are you?” he asks. When she didn’t answer right away he replied to the silence with, “I’ve got us a table by the window. I know how you like to people watch.”

“Look, Richard-” she began, but was quickly cut off.

“Are you almost here? I-I can order you a drink if you’re going to be here soon.”

“Richard, this isn’t going to work,” she blurted out. “I can’t see you anymore.”

He felt a sharp pain in his chest. “No, no, no…no you can’t…please, I-I-”

“Look, we had fun. But, I can’t stop thinking about that day. How our selfish actions just destroyed your family in seconds. I’m not innocent, I knew the risks, but to see it unfold before me…I-I just can’t.”

“But, don’t you see? This means we can be together now. Just like we planned. Sure, the divorce isn’t final yet, and I’m probably not going to see the kids much, but that just means you and I can move forward.”

There’s another long stretch of silence. He can feel his grip tightening on the phone as the seconds slip by.

“Look…we can work this out…please. Don’t do this to me,” he begs. He tastes salt, and realizes there are tears falling down his face. He also notices the stares from the other patrons. He turns his back to them, lowering his voice slightly. “Can I just see you? Just…just one more time to say goodbye?” She is silent for some time. 

“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m sorry, Richard.”

The phone goes silent as she disconnects.

***

The snap back physically tosses Carter Hayes in the small reclined chair. There are comforting hands pressing him down and calming voices coaxing his attention to them. He realizes he is crying. Sobbing might be a better word. When he realizes he’s no longer in the memory, he begins to relax. The hands and voices leave as he calms down and stops resisting their help. Carter decides to sit for a little bit. He hadn’t expected such a disturbing twist with this memory.

She’d never disappointed before and the same couldn’t be said about this trip. But, he had yet to go through a memory with someone who had gotten so close to her. Always a first or second date that never went beyond a polite hug or quick passionless kiss, but this was beyond anything he could have imagined. She had loved this man and he had lost himself to her.

Carter took a deep breath and got out of the chair. He glanced around at the two other seats in the room. One held an elderly woman who was smiling from ear to ear. It was probably the wrinkled skin, but it still looked almost cartoonish and drew a small chuckle out of him. The other chair was occupied by a young man who was grimacing horribly. He could only imagine what memories these two were going through.

Carter walked down the narrow hallway, having to try his best to hug the wall as an obese man stomped past. He glanced into the rooms as he headed to the entrance. Each held three chairs and each seat was occupied. When he finally made it back to the waiting room he stopped at the front desk to book another appointment.

There was a young man sitting in a squeaky chair, head completely shaved except for a tiny wisp of hair at the top that was heavily gelled into a fragile looking spike. “Name?” the receptionist asked, obviously wishing he was anywhere but here.

“Hayes, Carter…I’d like to reserve another session.”

The young man silently nodded, hands dancing across a large touchscreen monitor. When he had the account up, he asked, “What would you like to experience?”

“My history should have my preferences.”

The young man sighed, interest lost long before Carter even arrived here today, and went into his account history. “So, another session featuring a memory with this particular identification number?” Carter leaned in to make sure he was pointing to the correct sequence.

“Yes,” he answered. “I prefer new memories, or any that I might not have gone through yet.” The young man was putting these notes into the next appointment ticket. “I was hoping to be back in a month.”

The rest of the process was even more unpleasant and took a lot longer than was necessary, but at least Carter knew he had to only wait four weeks before he saw her again. He did not know her name, as it was always scrubbed from the sessions since she was still alive somewhere. She was his soulmate, and he would patiently comb through the world’s memories hoping to one day find her and fill the emptiness he had carried through his entire life. Even if they met on their last day on this planet, it would have been worth a lifetime of searching.

“MWFR (Many-Worlds Frequency Receiver, or, as you may know it, The Everett, is an exciting new piece of technology sure to change the entertainment medium as a whole. With this device, you open a window to, quite literally, unlimited possibilities of amusement. And, that’s not an exaggeration. The box in front of you is an audio gateway to other realities existing around you simultaneously. We chose the name The Everett as a nod of recognition to the pioneer of the Many-Worlds Interpretation Hugh Everett III. Though we make no claim to know the extent of his theory, we are grateful for Mr. Everett’s views for they sparked a curiosity and thirst for information in the scientists and engineers who worked so hard to bring this device to market for you.”

“How does it work? We couldn’t possibly put it out before you in layman’s terms, but just know that thousands of hours of blood, sweat, and tears went into this device’s creation. What you need to understand is that with this magical receiver, you can tune into frequencies beaming throughout the dimensional rifts. Maybe you’ll hear about a recipe involving chocolate and lava. Perhaps you might stumble across commercials from a reality that uses sniffing as their main form of communication. Every once in a while, in the hundreds of hours we put into testing, beautiful otherworldly music has drifted through the speaker that my own voice is coming through now. You just never know.”

“Once you get the device up and running you have the freedom to turn that tuning dial and find a program, interview, commercial, or whatever you want to hear. Due to the chaotic nature of listening into infinite realities, we can’t guarantee what you may come across. Foul language and explicit sexual content could possibly pop up here and there so we definitely recommend parental supervision for anyone under the age of eighteen. There are no options to select the type of program you want to listen to, but with an infinite amount of possibilities it shouldn’t take long to find something as exciting as a game blorflip. What’s blorflip? Trust us, if you find it, you’re going to love it.”

“Now that the introductions are out of the way, let’s get started.”

“You’ve obviously found the on/off switch, so let’s move on to the other features of your Everette. You might have noticed the runes and symbols lining the faceplate of your device. Don’t even worry about that. Yes, they glow and pulse a blue otherworldly light and maybe sometimes you may or may not see flickering shapes pass over the symbols. Just…just don’t even worry about that. Let’s just say it’s part of the process. That large dial in the middle of your device is for tuning into the infinite frequencies at your disposal. If you find a frequency you enjoy you only need to leave the dial alone and your Everette will stay locked onto that signal. Do be aware if you turn the device off you will lose the connection your device has made to the alternate realities. That small hole to the right of the dial large enough for a finger is for your finger. Without going into too much detail, you will need to be slightly pricked and a drop of blood, merely a single tiny drop, given as the final piece of the multi-world puzzle. A little disclaimer…if there is more than one person present, each of you needs to have your finger pricked.

How do you adjust the volume? Well, there really isn’t a way to do that. Believe me when I say we pushed our engineers hard on that. What we can say is that through thousands of hours of testing it would seem the Everette just knows what the volume should be for the listener. Which works out perfectly considering a volume feature was only causing nosebleeds and occasional seizures.”

“Let’s move on, shall we? I think the best way to get an idea of what you can expect is to just give The Everette a test spin. If you wouldn’t mind donating that drop of blood we can get this going.”

A wave of excitement rushes over you. With a trembling hand, you push your finger into the small hole as instructed. A sharp pinch and machine purrs to life as if the drop of blood satisfies some ancient hunger. The runes flash blue in a hauntingly rhythmic pattern and the smell of sulfur wafts from the box. You remove your finger to the sound of static coming from the speakers. Your fingers slowly grip the tuning dial and begin turning it in a clockwise direction. It takes seconds for your first broadcast.

“What do you think about that prize, Mrs. Turner?”

The sound of applause follows the chuckling of what must be a sweet old lady. “They look wonderful John…absolutely wonderful.” Was that a lip smacking sound?

More applause. “Well, you only have one question between you and those wicker baskets full of severed limbs. Are you ready?”

“Yes, yes…”

“Okay…the question is what United States President was the first to publicly eviscerate a serial potty-mouth? Was it A…Thomas Jefferson, B…Woodrow Wilson, or C…Kang the Destroyer? You have 10 seconds.”

The sound of a ticking clock can be heard and the ho-hums of Mrs. Turner as she thought the answers through. Just before the buzzer, she blurts out,”B! B! Woodrow Wilson!”

There is silence and then the host screams, “THAT IS CORRECT!”

An excited shout can be heard and the sound of crunching bones and meat.

“Well, that’s all the time we have for today, but tune in tomorrow for more Trivia For Starving Elders!”

You feel a tad nauseous, but beyond curious.

The next transmission sounds like clapping. There is no sense of rhythm or signs of stopping. You linger on the channel for what seems to be 10 minutes but the clapping does not cease or change pace.

Another turn of the dial…

A sound that could be best described as wet pasta being thrown against a wall slaps forth from the speaker. There is no sign that this is a recording of someone physically doing this. It’s too fast and continuous with brief pauses followed by even more but at a different tone. As time passes there is a brief moment of clarity that this is speech. In some twisted alternate reality this is what it sounds like for something to communicate. A higher pitched smacking sound tries to interrupt the first and second wet pasta speech but is drowned out.

Feeling a slight headache beginning to throb you turn the dial once more…

“Ugosh, my-duoque,” a guttural voice bellows.

“That is fascinating,” a perky female replies. “What would you say is the most challenging aspect of your job as a sewer monster?”

The sound of fast clicking, a brief pause, and,” Tuuduush myuogro eas mi’liika.”

“Mm-hmm…I can only imagine what the hours do to your love life,” the woman replied empathetically.

More clicking. “Yuoof swuvba maelark to’quabish.”

“Words to live by. Well, we at channel seven want to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer a few questions for this week’s Who are the Monsters in Your Neighborhood.”

The broadcast ends there, but you are no longer in control of the tuning device. The runes fade to black and the familiar voice of the box returns.

“Wasn’t that something? We couldn’t begin to imagine what you just experienced but we could guess it sounded a bit confusing, fantastical, and strange. We thank you so much for your purchase and hope you enjoy your time with The Everette. Please direct any and all troubleshooting queries to our IT department. To reach them insert your finger into the Blood Donation hole and shout “Please Help!” into the speaker. Your device will require a full ounce of blood in order to tune your Everette specifically to our IT department. Due to the possibility of tuning into an alternate world you may be connected to a specialist who does not speak your native tongue. If you don’t understand what is being said, just start the process over.”

Now, go have fun!