Maybe Tomorrow

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the line: "I have to get out of this place."

Maybe Tomorrow

The force of the explosion lifted Eric off his feet, throwing him against a wall fifteen feet away.

His world turned silent, but for the distant ringing in his ears.

His HUD, heads-up-display, indicated an ultra-high anxiety level exacerbated by acute feelings of paranoia.

“This is not good,” he said to no one as an RPG flew a few feet overhead, blowing out the second level of a five story building nearby.

As the structure began to collapse on itself, Eric thought, I have to get out of this place.

Quickly blinking through the HUD’s menu, he called up the auto-inject protocol and initiated a full dose of Passivity. While still in the experimental stage, Eric had no option other than to use the Reality-Assist. The falling building had no interest in waiting for him to meditate his way to a more pasture-like environment.

Silent whiteness…

He felt the damp grass against his neck before his new reality came into focus.

First came the white puffs on a blue canvas.

Clouds, he noted with a smile.

Rolling his head to the right, he saw a unicorn with a rainbow tail sniffing at a butterfly that had landed on a nearby bush.

Eric felt the loving embrace of the world he’d created. Gone were the explosions and death that he’d just left behind. Here, there was no anger; no fear.

He stood and walked across the sweeping meadow lined with trees and crisscrossed by shallow fish-filled streams.

An incidental blink called up his HUD where a flashing red light in the corner silently screamed for his attention. Without a care, he allowed the “urgent” message to scroll across his field of vision.

“Complacency overdose,” it said, “Recommend moderate upload of fear-complex.”

Yeah…good idea, he thought, I’ll get right on that…maybe tomorrow…

Word count 300