Originally published 1/26/2019.

NOTE: The following was going to be part of a larger story to read, but plans for it were discontinued. For archival purposes, you can still read it here.

Nothing lasts forever. But with the growing power of a large corporation comes a solution to change things, for better or for worse. 

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I don’t remember what the last thing I saw was, but I do know the first thing. It was a black canvas with very light shadings of blue, violet and purple. It was hard to tell, but there were some subtle borders that made the outline of edges, making the shape of corners in the room. The place was like a fish tank that has submerged into the deepest abyss of the ocean. And there was nothing but a purple book in the center of the room on the ground. 

I was just standing by one of the transparent walls, in a t-shirt with jeans and my hair had been a mess like usual. My old watch that I received from my uncle’s funeral was around my arm, and the clock was still stuck at 3:42 as the battery had died and the watch required a special kind that was no longer produced. I wondered how badly I looked. I hadn’t taken combed my hair in the morning. I didn’t remember anything else about earlier that day, but I still knew I needed to get ready to head to the university. 

But here I was, in a room somehow lit brightly yet still in complete darkness. I took a few steps towards the book to pick it up. It looked worn, and the cover felt like it was made of leather. It was covered in dust initially, but the moment I retrieved it, the specks of dirt disappeared like it was a cloth pulled away to reveal a very special surprise. The cover was embossed with lines and presented an emblem on the front, carefully displaying an outline of a bed in silver lining. There was no title on the sides, but it didn’t need one. When I flipped to the first page, I remembered something upon reading the title. 

The sentence that triggered something I would never have recalled was “Mememorari: Home Edition, courtesy of the Silver Bed Foundation.” It was predetermined that I would suddenly know the truth of the barren room at that moment, because I chose this to be the case. 

I had died. It doesn’t matter how, or why. It had happened, and nothing could change that. But prior to my ending, I had written a contract to start a new beginning. Mememorari would allow me to live on, with my conscious recorded into a device stored away in a vault of a corporation. I could live here anew. But there were restrictions. 

I had chosen the Home Edition. I would be confined to some memories of my past and this one room was where I would primarily be located. If any other people signed up for this, they would eventually join the world, like a digital neighborhood and I was the first inhabitant. I could somehow recall every single rule and restriction with the new home, likely due to the foundation embedding it in my brain. My digital brain, at least. 

But I felt like I was missing something. It was like a large gap between my past and this new world. I felt like I had lost many years of knowledge, yet I could memorize my age now and previous years at Vincent’s tri-grade school before graduation. I could even remember my earlier years. I could see an event my parents told me about where I had an ice-cream birthday cake and the cake started melting from the candles and the table caught on fire. I could remember exact words my teachers said. But I still felt like something was gone. 

I decided to stop trying to live in the past when I should embrace the present. I flipped through the book, trying to see if there was anything telling me what I should do. It could be anything, some set of instructions and commands and I’d obey them. But there was nothing to obey. The book, besides the first page, was completely blank. The crisp, empty pages had no contents. I set it back down. Perhaps something will change in it eventually. 

Looking forwards, an outline of a door knob appeared on one of the barely visible walls. I walked towards it and turned the knob and found a tunnel that seemed to be… real. What I mean by real was that unlike the devoid sea of violet in the other room, the pathway that the door opened to was filled with color. There was a bright, blue sky with some clouds and vibrant, green grass growing upwards. It felt familiar. 

It seemed like the only thing to do is go forward into the new land. It would be something new, and I could continue onward. Perhaps it would be a whole new adventure and story about myself. Wherever it leads to is a place I could find peace in. And with that, I walked in. 

I just wish I knew what would come next before I had to make choices and have regrets.