Christina walked through the cobblestone streets with gusto.

Today was a great day. The sun was bright in the sky, the breeze soft on her face.

- Mother! Here!

- Grandma, grandma!

A woman with three kids hanging out of her signaled for Christina, and she happily went in their direction. A man was next to the said woman, a young man with good eyes.

She felt fulfilled as her white hair was gently rubbed out of her forehead.

- Thank you - she said to the man behind her. He was as old as her himself, but still could walk.

The man simply smiled while pushing her wheelchair. It was a nice day, indeed.

***

- Miss Christina - a young lady in a loose dress welcomed her in the modern greek styled house - this way, please.

Her husband left her chair and sat obediently on a chair. She was then brought in front of a computer screen.

Computers.

How long had it been since no one in the “regular” world used one of those?

Even those in the “underground” circles rarely used those old pieces of equipment.

Of course, the world hadn’t halted its advance due to the Great World Purge. In time, the political situation calmed down and a certain level of access to electronic technology was allowed to the public once more.

However, it had to reinvent itself. The internet as a whole had been extremely limited, and all content was carefully scrutinized by A.I. software. The freedom once sought and achieved by the people of the time was but gone with the wind.

Still, the world reinvents itself. No more internet, no more ways of direct digital communication except by the old telephones and cellphones with no access to the internet?

No problem.

People could now get in touch by simply thinking. A whole new world had opened itself once Squeam proved the human mind was greater than the human body.

That, and, of course, fifty years of improvements and safety measures in order to avoid the Purge to happen again.

The computer’s screen lit. Christina looked at it with eyes which, for once, seemed to have lost a little bit of their brightness.

The neuroset near her emitted a green light. However, she didn’t put it on.

She hadn’t, in those fifty years. Nor she wanted to do it now.

- Christina! - A known voice soon made itself present.

- Hello, mother - she answered, her voice frail.

***

- No - Sasha answered, bewildered at the news she was receiving. An old woman looked at them through a huge crystal screen located deep inside Jack’s dungeon - You can’t. I won’t accept this! How can you even say that?!

Tears started to roll on her face.

- It’s my decision, grandma. I won’t change it.

- YOU’LL KILL YOURSELF?! THAT’S YOUR DECISION?! - Sasha yelled at the old woman in the screen.

- No - Christina thought of all of the loved ones she had near her. Her husband, whom had lived so long side-by-side with her. Her daughter, her son. Her grandchildren! She only had one headset. The one which used to belong to her mother. And she decided not to use it. Never. - I have decided to live, grandma. Live with my children and grandchildren. Until the day I die.

Christina looked vibrant at that moment. Her health had been deteriorating ever faster but, with each passing day, she seemed livelier and more lucid.

- JACK! DO SOMETHING! - Sasha said to her son.

Jack, however, simply looked at his daughter through the screen and lightly smiling.

- JACK! - Sasha grabbed him, his human form, by the collar. Elicia looked at him expectantly. The children had already left the room, off to play.

Jack looked directly on his mother’s eyes.

- She may have better things to do than staying here with us, mom - Jack could see a light on his daughter’s eyes. Something which had been dying before. Something beautiful, which was now back, brighter than ever.

- BETTER THINGS?! - Sasha backed away from her son, incredulity on her face.

- Honey… - Elicia said - you… couldn’t you…

It was interesting how things were. At that moment, this lazy bastard was the one in charge. His wife, obviously, could just batter him and order him around like always.

But she knew it was useless. What could her ask of him? That he ordered the people on the Real World to arrest their daughter? For them to force the neuroset on her head and then kill her?

The words died on her throat.

She was split. One part of her wanted to bid farewell to their daughter. The other wanted to keep her close at all costs.

- You can go. I give you my blessings. - Jack said - I hope you live a good life, Christina.

- Thank you, father.

- CHRISTINA, DON’T YOU DARE!

The computer screen turned black, and a man in a black suit left the shadows.

- You heard him. Now, please take me out.

- With pleasure, ma’m - the man wouldn’t let her leave, hadn’t Jack given the order. Sure, Carlos had been dead for a while and he himself had never met the guy. However, the man on the other side of the screen was a VIP which lived inside Another World. Even if his importance had faded away with time, he was still important enough.

***

Christina breathed the fresh air with pleasure.

- You seem better. - Enric, her husband, said.

- I am - she answered.

So, have you taken care of your business in there? Will you have to go back next year?

- No. Not anymore. - Christina looked to the blue skies with a smile on her face. She didn’t expect for her father to accept so promptly. A few times she had been unable to show up in time for their annual reunion, and people in black suits looked for her right after.

Of course, they never harmed her in any way. But she had grown weary of that place. Of Another World, this virtual reality thing.

She liked her grandma, of course. But was the thing in there really her deceased grandmother?

Were those really her parents?

And even if they were, did she want to keep them in her life any further?

It was highly uncommon for someone to have living parents at her age. Did she really want to keep a “long-distance relationship” with those relatives she hadn’t met even once?

Her memory had been faulting her those days. Her body wouldn’t be around for long. The doctors gave her three years, at maximum.

She didn’t want to expend those years inside a virtual world. She didn’t want to expend those years with people whom she only met once a year. Even if they were blood of her blood.

She wanted to live freely and to be able to die once death came for her, instead of hurrying things up only so she could keep on living in a strange world with strange people who thought highly of her for some reason.

She could close her eyes and enjoy every single moment alive. No need for immortality. This was enough for her.