Virtual Reality

The sky was dimming when she made her way to the building. The doors were unlocked, but nobody was in the lobby. Not that she was expecting anyone to be in the building at this time of the day. Only customers would come.

The lobby was a little too dark for her comfort. Only the emergency lights were on, and there was a dampness about the place that made her skin crawl and the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Still, she marched up the stairs with her steps sure. After all, this must be at least the tenth time she had been to this place.

By the time she arrived on the third floor, she was already panting and her joints were aching. The corridor, like the lobby, was dimly lit. But even then she could make out the stains on the carpet as well as the wallpaper. Her hand instinctively went up to her nose when the moldy smell rushed to greet her. 

She proceeded to the end of the hallway, with her high-heels barely making any noise on the carpeted floor. It was eerily quiet in the building, as if it was totally deserted. But she knew it wasn’t; not when she had an appointment. Finally, she arrived at her destination. As was customary, she knocked on the nameless door four times before entering. Once she walked in she was greeted by the receptionist.

“Mrs. Allen, I presume?” asked the younger woman as she glanced at the schedule on her desk.

“Would you—would you mind changing my name to just Jane Malvern? I—I just got a divorce.”

If the receptionist were surprised she showed no trace of it. “Sure, Ms. Malvern. Dr. Lucas will be with you shortly.”

She was right. In a moment Dr. Lucas came out to greet her.

“I see that you have finally liberated yourself,” said her. Jane nodded but said nothing more. Dr. Lucas seemed to understand and bid Jane to follow her. Jane observed that this woman couldn’t be much younger than her, yet Dr. Lucas seemed much more carefree. Dr. Lucas led her to the lounge where several unhappy-looking middle age women congregated. No wonder the receptionist wasn’t surprised when she told her about the divorce, Jane thought, this place is swamped with divorcees.

The lounge was not as shabby as the outside of the office suggested. Still, Jane could see that it needed to be repainted and the sofas had to be replaced. The room was strangely silent even though there were enough women there to start a gossip session. Dr. Lucas disappeared for a while but came back with huge headphone-like equipments. She gave one to each woman in the lounge and repeated the instructions. Of course, Jane did not really need the instructions anymore, being the old customer that she was. She could remember how frightened she was the first time she was here, seeing those giant headphones. Her friend, the same one who first introduced her to this place, had assured her that the process was perfectly safe. Even though it was not technically legal.

No, the customers here were more like guinea pigs than anything else. From what Jane had gathered, Dr. Lucas was a former psychology researcher from some university who was fired due to her innovative but radical experiments on real people. Still not frustrated, Dr. Lucas opened a private lab of her own. The government did not condone this sort of things, so every customer had to help to keep the lab low profile. It didn’t even have a name. There was no advertisement or anything, and new customers came mostly from words of mouth.

“Just remember the new procedure,” said Dr. Lucas, “And you will be fine.”

New procedure? What new procedure? But Jane had no time to question as Dr. Lucas walked away and everyone else put on her headphones. It doesn’t matter, Jane thought, I have done this many times already. She put on her own, closed her eyes, and waited.

Jane was not disappointed when she heard a male voice calling her name. She slowly opened her eyes and saw a gorgeous looking man in his early thirties. Looking around her, Jane realized that they were on a beach by themselves. Very romantic, she thought and gave a little sigh. This was so much better than the world of arguments, divorce, and child custody. She and her companion held hands as they walked slowly along the water, observing the sunset in the distance.

“Too bad I have to get home early today,” she said aloud. Her companion turned his head and smiled in sympathy. “My daughter’s friends are coming over today, and I don’t know what a mess they will make if I am not home.” Jane looked at him one more time. He is, quite literally, her dream came true, thanks to Dr. Lucas’ technology. It didn’t matter that he would never be real as long as it felt real enough. She closed her eyes again and said softly, “Return.”

Instead of the usual jolting, she couldn’t feel a thing. So this is the new procedure that Dr. Lucas was talking about, she mused, The transition feels a lot smoother now. She opened her eyes and could see nothing but darkness around her. “Did someone turn off the light?” she asked no one in particular. However, she was only met with the echo of her own voice.

“What happened to the light?” she tried again. Still, no answer. She could hear her heart beating frantically now. Closing her eyes, she repeated, “Return!” Nothing. “Return! Return! Return!” No reaction.

This couldn’t be happening to her. Virtual reality was perfectly safe, as Dr. Lucas had reassured her. Wait, new procedure? Did she mean that—? Jane walked around in the darkness. She couldn’t breathe. She could hear her heart thumping painfully now. She—she needed to get home. She couldn’t be trapped. No, this couldn’t be happening to her. She needed to go home. She couldn’t be trapped. No she—

She screamed.