What the hell?Some people came to stare at me like I was some spectacle they’d never seen before. “Are you really okay?” A doctor with the kindest eyes I’d ever seen asked, her face filled with worry. I couldn’t understand why, though.“Never better,” I replied. They were overreacting to something as small as an accident, and I didn’t feel as much pain, which was curious.“How are you even—how’s this possible?” She seemed stumped for words, but I just shrugged. “The impact was bad, wasn’t it? Well, I’m fine now.” I smiled, all teeth. She looked at me, fixing the glasses at the bridge of her nose.“I don’t know how to say this, but... I wasn’t there.” She replied hesitantly, and I didn’t know why she bothered mincing words with me; she was a doctor and I was a patient. There was nothing else that held us together. “Of course, that’s to be expected. Where is my family? I want to tell them I’m awake.” I was happier than I’d been in a while, and nothing could dampen it, not even the c

A few weeks later, Grace came for me. She came with her "grandchildren,” which felt weird because they were all older than I was.“Hi,” I said, wondering if I needed to use honorifics. But I was older than they were, according to the future.“You’re alive!” She was a lady with the quirkiest personality I’d ever seen and one of Grace’s favorites because, apparently, she acted the opposite of me. This was told to me in confidence, of course.“Yes, unfortunately,” I quipped, and she placed a hand over her mouth in horror, as if I said something worth being lynched for. I wouldn’t know because I hadn’t exactly been active for the past 50 years. “Lay off, Rebecca. He’s technically our grand uncle.” A man of maybe 23 years old spoke, his prim and proper manners evident in his words. I wanted to get to know them more and see the people that came from Grace. They probably wouldn’t believe it if I told them about the antics Grace always got up to, so I decided not to. She needed to maintain

Rebecca humored me most of the time, and Saul was almost never around. So, I was stuck with Rebecca and Elijah, who were suddenly becoming my two favorite people in the world (sorry, young Grace).The life they lived was not too different from the life I was used to, except they had a Kaiju or two to think about, and I couldn’t use their appliances without almost hurting myself. Saul calls it healthy training, but I have a nagging suspicion he’s trying to murder the socks off of me.Elijah was the older sibling, and his academic achievements were nothing to scoff at. Even on the New Liberty Front, he was a force to be reckoned with. I also found out about the amount of knowledge I was lacking, and the thought almost sent me into a spiral of depression.The world had become a technocratic society, ruled by the technologically savvy. With the threats of the other worlds and the tear in space, AI became humanity’s biggest weapon to ward off the danger. The platform—that’s what it was ca

Rebecca was dead. There was a knife sticking out of her body, and her eyes stared at me, full of unspoken words. Then, her bright eyes went dull, and her body flopped onto the ground.Even while staring at her lifeless body, it didn’t feel real. It couldn’t be. There was no way that the one person who made life even more adventurous for me was dead.“This is a prank, right? Elijah? She’d appear from behind the trees and try to scare me, and we’d all laugh over my reaction. Right?” My fingers were shaking, and my eyes were unfocused. My head was banging, and I wanted to scream out loud.“DO NOT TALK TO HIM, WARNER!” I heard Elijah’s voice and turned to see a badly beaten-up version of Elijah, eyes swollen and lips bleeding. I couldn’t recognize that once handsome face anymore.“Run, Warner! Don’t let him catch you!” Elijah screamed, but I didn’t move. His eyes roved around and latched onto Rebecca’s form on the ground, lifeless.He ran toward her, tears streaming down his face. But I s

For the next two weeks, I did everything with my family. I couldn’t stand to be apart from them even for a short while, and even though it must have been a gross inconvenience, they took it in good fun. 
Of course, bathing and private time were an exception. But everything else that could be done by a family, we did. We played board games, went to amusement parks, and did things we didn’t usually do. Mother even took a leave from work to take care of me, and Grace was on holiday. So, it was the perfect time. 
But I couldn’t sit still. Everything spooked me; everything made me worry. I was losing sleep, and I was losing myself too. My paranoia became an all-time high, and if anybody wanted to leave the house, no matter the time, I kept watch like a hawk and didn’t budge. 
“Okay, this has gone on long enough. Can you tell me what happened? What’s gotten you out of sorts? You’re acting so unlike yourself, and I thought it’d be different after a week, but nothing has changed. You used