Walking into the room behind Edward, I was surprised to see how small it was. A single chair what bolted to the floor in the center of the room with a headset resting on the seat. I was a bit wary of the headset, I'd heard stories of the ones that Edward would use that had dynamite strapped to them. This looked like a regular gaming headset, but that didn't do much to make me feel better.
A large rectangular machine took up the far corner of the room, with another chair situation in front of it. A large black screen was facing the chair, taking up most of the surface area with a few buttons and levers attached.
I thought we'd be training, I signed. This looks like a torture chamber.
"We are trading you," Edward said, walking over and picking up the headset. "No torture, I promise. We're going to be using VR."
I stared at him in surprise. What now?
"VR," Edward said, "you know-"
I know what Virtual Reality is! I sign, I'm just surprised, ok?
"I borrowed and modified the technology from Jervis," Edward said pointedly, "you know, Mad Hatter."
I gave Edward an irritated look and crossed my arms. Just because I apparently lacked an imagination didn't mean I wasn't intelligent. There were several different types of intelligence, and none were necessarily the same.
"It's actually rather ingenious," Edward continued, oblivious to my irritation as he turned the headset around in his hands, "figuring out a way to directly transmit someone's brain waves into images. Not that I can understand why Jervis likes putting people into their "Wonderland" as he puts it, but the tech is definitely there."
He motioned me to come over to him, and I did so, still a bit nervous. I'd never tried Virtual Reality before, but I had read a few books on the subject. Mostly Sci-Fi dystopian fiction like Ready Player One and The Eye of Minds. Obviously, those books were as far from becoming a (current) reality, but with the rate that technology was advancing, it was only a matter of time. A machine that could turn someone's thoughts into images was just proof of that.
"I have to keep this from Jonathan," Edward said as I sit down in the chair. My attention latches onto his words; Jonathan, not Jon. Interesting. I briefly wonder if I went too far with my teasing.
"... him finding out and using it to see what his Fear Toxin-induced victims see." Edward was saying. "He'd most certainly get some sort of sick pleasure out of it."
I nodded absentmindedly, still wondering if I'd somehow screwed up their friendship.
Edward snapped his fingers in front of my face and I jumped, "Are you listening to me?"
No, not really.
Edward let out a huff, "At least try to pay attention ok?"
Well, you're in a piss poor mood now, I signed, getting fed up with his attitude.
"Do you want to do this or not?"
Not particularly.
"Just do as I say." Edward scowled, tossing the headset at me.
I caught it and wondered if it'd be worth it to throw it at his head before deciding against it. It wouldn't do me any good and probably would put him in a worse mood than he was already in. Which also didn't make any sense, did he act this way towards everyone that he thought was less intelligent than him? He certainly held himself in high regard.
"The simulation that I'll be putting you through only allows you to make illogical choices," Edward said, walking over to the machine and turning it on. "Of course since we want this to be as realistic as possible, there will be nothing too illogical. No stopping bullets with just your thoughts here.
"Of course if you decided to jump off of a building, that is possible in the simulation because that's possible in real life. I wouldn't recommend it though. Keep that in mind, logical becomes illogical and illogical becomes logical. Your actions are only limited by your logical imagination as well, so just imagine what you want to do, it and don't, you know, actually do it."
Yata, yata, yata, ok whatever. You talk too much. I put on the headset before he could reply.
It was rather interesting to find out that I actually couldn't really tell that the headset was even there, it was that light. I heard Edward mutter a few things and flip a few switches before the simulation flipped on and I found myself sitting in a sparsely furnished living room.
Glancing around I simply willed myself to stand up and to my surprise, that actually worked. A small part of me was still in the room with Edward, but a major part of my conscience was in the simulation. Now having somewhat of a better grasp, I went around and investigated the room. From where I was standing I could see basically the whole room. One wall was covered with a floor to ceiling bookcase, while a large TV cabinet occupied the opposite one. Brown colored couch was in the middle of the room, while the chair I'd been sitting in was in the corner. Walking over to the door, I tried to open it, only to discover it was locked; go figure.
Turning around I surveyed the room and figured that there must be a key around somewhere. The first thing I should do would be to look at the couch to see if it fell between the couch cushions. Finding nothing, I sit down on the couch and cross my arms. There had to be a logical explanation for this... or not. Edward said there would be no logical answers.
How did you manage something not logical though? Anything, no matter how illogical, becomes logical one it was done. Breaking a window to escape, for example, the logical thing to do would be to walk out the door and not break the window at all. What if the door was locked? Well, then the next logical thing to do would be to look for the key. No key? Then you'd break the window, it only after you went through all the other possibilities.
So what other possibilities were still open for me? I could continue looking for the key in hopes that there would actually be one, but that made me feel self-conscious. Edward was watching me right now and probably would the whole time. I bet he was criticizing me at this very moment. There would be no key, no matter how long I tried to look for it. It'd be too simple to have a key, too logical. Like walking out the door instead of breaking the window.
Wait, breaking a window... There was no window in this room, but there was one thing I needed to break to get out of the room; the door.
Walking back over to the door, I inspected it more closely. Tapping my fingers against the dark wood, I discovered that it seemed a lot thinner than I expected. It didn't make that dull hollow sound that doors usually made. It was more, sharp; crisp.
I wonder it throwing a book would be enough to break it, up quickly dismissed the idea. I was being watched of all things. Throwing a book at the door would be stupid. For whatever reasons, I did not want to look stupid in front of Edward. Why did it suddenly matter to me? It shouldn't have, but it did. It was like when I was back at school; I'd tell myself that I didn't care about what the other kids said, but deep down inside, I did.
Wrestling my insecurities aside, I focused on the task at hand. Since I'd already ruled out book throwing, I had to think of something else. I wasn't strong enough to forcefully push the couch, or move the bookshelf or TV cabinet. Maybe I could push the chair, but what would that accomplish? It'd just block my way even more. Breaking down the door by getting a running head start would probably be my best bet.
Clearing away all the furniture that could take some effort, and I was sweating (even if it was simulated) by the end of it. I was determined to test out my, however, so I dealt with it. I didn't really have a choice in the matter. I was certain that Edward would keep me in the simulation until I accomplished whatever he wanted me to do.
Backing up as far as I could from the door I prepared myself before sprinting towards the door. I had a moment to think, 'This is stupid' before the wood splintered under my weight. I was correct in my theory that the door was thinner than normal, it was just balsa wood painted to look like a regular oak door. I didn't have time to think more about it, shock overcoming me as I found myself falling through empty space.
I frantically tried to get my bearings as the wind whipped past me. The ground was still a long ways off, but hitting it was inevitable. Casting a glance to either side of me, I saw that there were tall buildings on every side. Hoping that there would be anything for me to grab onto, I was severely disappointed; there was nothing within my reach and nothing was even slightly sticking out of the buildings. No ledges or balconies, the builds were made of smooth reflective glass.
Becoming disoriented from both my equilibrium being thrown off and the feel of my stomach rising into my throat were not good feelings, and made it all the more harder to concentrate. What the heck could I possibly do right now? My options were even more limited then they were when I was locked in that room. Time was running out and I most certainly didn't want to end up a pancake on the cement, virtual or otherwise. How the heck could the system be this immersive? At any other time I would be able to appreciate it, but certainly not now.
Getting to that point of where I would do anything just to stay alive and NOT die, I somehow managed to get myself into a position where I crashed through a window of one of the buildings I was falling past. Groaning, I rolled over and tried my best to shake the glass off of me. I felt the blood run down my face and could see cuts on my hands, but they didn't hurt at all; a reminder that I was still inside the simulation. It must've been those types of things that kept people from believing that such a thing was not their actual reality.
Scrambling to my feet, I wiped my hands on my pants leaving streaks of simulated blood on them before I took in my surroundings. I expected to be in some corporate style offices, but instead I was inside a homey living room. It was different than the one that I had been locked in though. For one thing, the layout and style was different. The room was brighter, but not because it had more light, but because it had a more homey feel to it.
"You're finally home!" A woman cried, walking into the living room from what must've been the kitchen. "Don't just stand there in the doorway! Come in and join us for dinner!"
The doorway? I turned around to find that the shattered glass and the window I crashed though was gone. In its place was an elegant looking front door painted white.
Focusing on the woman again I studied her carefully, something felt familiar about her. Shoulder length dirty blonde hair and a small build, nothing that stood out except... her grey eyes. Something in the back of my mind told me those were important, and they definitely did feel familiar, but where did I see them before?
"Come on!" The woman said, grabbing my arm and tugging me along into the kitchen.
Woah, woah, woah. I resisted her. "Who the heck are you?" I said.
I said.
What!? I couldn't hear myself actually talk but my mouth moved and the woman seemed to understand me because she gave me a quizzical look.
"You don't recognize your own mother?" She asked in surprise. "Are you alright?"
My mother, did she say? What was going in? Was this some sort of sick joke or something? It was a definite oddity, that was for sure. Why would this pop up in my simulation? Did Edward know who my mother was, or was this just a test to see my reaction to specific situations?
"Are you alright, dear?"
The woman reached out to feel my forehead an I instinctively batted her hand away.
"Fine. I'm fine."
A hurt look flashed over the woman's features but it quickly disappeared.
"Let's get you into the kitchen." She said tugging on my arm again. "It's not every day that your birthday happens after all."
My birthday? Confused, I allow her to guide me through the door.
"The birthday girl's finally here!" The woman declared a big smile on her face.
I stopped in my tracks, completely surprised by what was in front of me. The kitchen was decked out in pale blue and green streamers and had a few sad looking balloons taped to the wall above the kitchen table surrounding a "Happy Birthday" sign.
"About time!" A man with light brown hair smiled at me. He was wearing a dark purple button up shirt and I had the strangest sense that I knew him from somewhere too.
"Don't just stand there," the woman said, "sit down! I thought that you'd be all excited because Bear's here."
"Don't call me that anymore!" A familiar voice snapped, coming from the seat situated right in front of me.
"I'm not a kid anymore! My name is-"
Before I could hear what was being said next, I found the VR headset being ripped off my head. Blinking in confusion, it took me a minute to register the infuriated face of Edward taking up my line of sight.