What a difference a night can make! When I woke up the next morning, I felt horrible! I just lay there feeling depressed. What was wrong with me? I wondered. We had such a great time last night. Now I felt hung over and that is something I normally never feel. I was drained and lethargic and when I looked over the other side of the bed, Maggie looked like a mess. What was going on?

When I was finally motivated enough to get out of bed and go to the bathroom to brush my teeth, it didn’t seem to make any difference, they still felt dirty. First off, just getting up made me feel like I was going to vomit. I actually had to hang my head over the toilet for a minute until the experience past. Then after I brush my teeth, the feeling of sickness never really went away, I still felt horrible and my teeth felt un-brushed!

That morning contrasted brutally with the experience I had the night before. Maggie wasn’t any better. She was grouchy, she didn’t want to get out of bed. She ordered me to go and make her breakfast. I had liked the girl and all, but I didn’t worship the ground she walked on! She was not the queen around here! She can make her own damn breakfast!

After some bitching, some complaining and some arguing, she finally got her shit together and left the apartment on her own accord. It was the first time that I hadn’t drove her home afterwards, but I didn’t really care all that much about it. I had my own problems to sort out.

The abysmal feeling lasted all day, even into that evening. Now it was Saturday night. Every Saturday night Frank and I would meet at a random steakhouse in downtown Chicago, where he would have the filet mignon and I would have T-bone steak or sometimes the prime rib. Tonight, however was different. I was in such a weird mood that I ordered the lobster tail!? I don’t know why. It seemed tasteless to me. I don’t even care that much for lobster anyway!

When I met with Frank, I explained what had happened the night before. Frank just laughed. He explained. “Ah, what you my friend are experiencing, is the come down. It’s your serotonin levels, there all depleted right now. Don’t worry, you’ll get over it in a day or two. But you probably done some real damage to your nerve endings.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” I shot back. All right, maybe I was being a little snippy!

“Feel better?” Frank said. “Nothing is going to make you feel better, but time!”

I ordered my second shrimp cocktail. Or was it my third? I don’t know, I was losing track of these things, so I inquired. “You must have something else horrifying to impart on me than just my psychological state or the permanent damage I’ve done to my body. So go ahead, shoot! What do you got for me?”

Frank had looked a little frazzled since he came in here that night. He was a little more agitated than he normally was. I knew he had some peace to a puzzle that he was working on. Some new conspiracy theory or something of that sort.

Frank leaned in conspiratorial like. I could see that he had not shaved for a day or two and that was not like him. Frank was usually pretty particular about his appearance. He said to me. “You know, we still don’t know what’s going on down in Mexico. It’s been two weeks and there has been no contact. They sent somebody down there to investigate and we haven’t heard back from them. That was over a week ago.”

“Wow,” I said. I didn’t think it was possible, but he was making me even more depressed. “That does seem to be pretty serious.”

“Serious!?” Frank replied. “It is fucking crazy! And that’s not the half of it. The whole things getting worse.”

“Worse?” I questioned. “How can that be possible?”

“Because,” Frank replied. This time he gave a long pause before he added. “Now we have lost contact with the Miami branch.”

I sat there in stunned silence for a minute. The shrimp in my mouth had gone tasteless. I swallowed it without thinking. I grab my beer. It was a full mug and drained half it before setting it back down. I never even tasted it.

“What does this mean?” I asked as much to myself as to Frank.

“I don’t know,” Frank responded. “Nobody in management is talking about it to anyone. I only know about it because my boss let it slip accidentally the other day. He quickly tried to backpedal and cover it up, but it was already out there.”

“Did you ask around? Does anyone else know anything?”

“Most people don’t even know what’s happening,” Frank replied. “I tried to talk to Sherry about it, but she feigned ignorance. None of your friends have said anything to you?”

“This is the first I’ve heard of it. I don’t think any my friends would be in the know. They knew nothing about Mexico. Besides, they didn’t seem worried about it,” I responded. “Those guys cannot keep something like that a secret. If Dominic knew, he’d tell me for sure. Hell, he be worried about himself. Should we be worried about the company?”

“I don’t know,” that was about as honest as Frank was going to be about it.

“Should we be worried about our lives? About our safety?” I pushed further.

“I don’t know. Maybe,” Frank shrugged. He had no answers for me.

“Maybe!?” I exclaimed. “All you have for me is maybe!?”

“I don’t know what else to tell you,” Frank said. “I just don’t have enough information myself.”

“How do we make an informed decision then?” I questioned.

“I honestly have no idea,” he replied shaking his head. He ran his hands through what was left of his grey hair that crowned his head.

“We could be in the belly of the beast here,” I said. But it echoed something I had said to him months earlier. He understood what I meant.

“I know,” Frank said. “And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. Let’s just hope that were both wrong about this and that there is a logical explanation for all of this.”

Yeah, I thought. A logical explanation was all but impossible at this point. I had no confidence in a logical explanation. I could tell by the look on Frank’s face that he didn’t really believe his own words either. I felt like everything was falling apart. It left me depressed.

What was happening in Miami and Mexico? If this was the government then we would already know because somebody would’ve leaked it. It would have been in the media. Someone would’ve reported the story. But this didn’t feel like it was the government. The company would’ve known what was going on if it was. They had money and they used it to buy people in the right places. This felt like something completely different. But I didn’t know what was. I suppose that whatever it was, we were going to find out soon enough.

After dinner Frank went back to his apartment and I went over to the diner that Maggie work at. As soon as I walked in, I knew that something was wrong. Maggie wasn’t behind the counter and she should’ve been. Instead, there was this other girl with pink streaks in an otherwise dyed blonde hairdo. So, I asked her what was going on. Why wasn’t Maggie at work?

The girl looked at me with her dead eyes and said. “Huh?”

I guess I was dealing with a real winner! “You know, Maggie? The one that supposed to be working right now?” I’m sure I sounded pretty irritated.

The woman, if I can call her that, just shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I think she quit or something.”

“Quit!?” I exclaimed. “Why would she quit?”

“I don’t know. Ask her,” the waitress replied. “Now, can I get you a drink or something?”

“Don’t bother!” I said and I stormed out of there.

I drove over to Maggie’s place. She was there, but she looked dreadful. Even worse than she had this morning. Even worse than I felt. And to top it off she was in a foul mood.

“Why would you quit your job!?” I demanded.

“That place was shit!” She complained. “The boss was an asshole. The shifts were horrible, and I just couldn’t keep doing it anymore.”

“Well do you have anything else lined up?” I questioned her. Shitty job or not, it was something. And something paid the bills.

“What are you? My mother?” She spat back.

“What will you do for work now?” I questioned.

“I don’t know,” she replied sarcastically. “Maybe I’ll become an escort, like my roommate.”

“You don’t have the looks for it!” I sneered.

“Fuck you I don’t!” She shrieked. “What do you know anyways? With your fancy job, your fancy car and your fancy degree!?”

“I see how it is,” I replied much more calmly. I suddenly realized what the problem was. It was over. Sometimes you just reach a point in the storyline where there is no going back. Even if you wanted to, it wouldn’t be the same. It would be weird and awkward. I asked a question that I already knew the answer to. “Is this what you been thinking all along?”

“You know,” she said and this time all of the fight was out of her as well. She sounded down, really depressed like she had just reach the same conclusion that I had. “I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”

“You got that right,” I replied. And just like that it was over. I turned around left the apartment. I got in my fancy truck and I drove back to my fancy apartment.

I sat outside the building in my vehicle looking up at the metal and glass façade. Somewhere on the fourth floor there was a party going on at the nightclub. Just a regular party, there were no masks on Saturday nights. People were drinking, laughing and having fun. They were blissfully unaware of the realities of this world. Or what was happening to the company.

The outward appearance showed no signs of crumbling, but in my mind I could see the cracks already forming in the structure and the darkness spilling out of it. Was it going to swallow me up? Or could Frank and I outrun it again? I guess we’re soon going to find out. I felt like time was running out. Like we were all rushing towards an impossibly illogical conclusion to this whole affair.

I got out of my truck. I walked in front doors. The security guys greeted me, Nick and Steve, they were good guys. They asked me if I was okay. I guess I looked as bad as I felt. I said I was fine. I got into the elevator alone. I punched on the fourth floor.

The party was happening as usual at The Adrenochrome. Place was quite busy. I looked around to see if any of my friends were there.

I found Jacob with Jaz and Tammy in a booth, that had one seat left, so I sat down with them. I had come into the middle of a debate and had to catch up.

“I’m telling you it doesn’t make any sense…” Jaz was telling Jacob. They seemed to be deep in a conversation. A debate of sorts. Tammy just sat there listless, like she was stuck in a holding pattern.

“What doesn’t?” I asked hoping to join in the conversation. It sounded trivial, but whatever.

“Ready Player One,” Jaz replied.

“It’s a classic,” Jacob proclaimed proudly. He had his usual stoner smile on.

“Are we talking book or movie?” I asked what I thought was a fair question.

“I don’t think it really matters,” Jaz stated. To be honest he was probably right. The storyline hadn’t been changed much for the movie.

“It’s like the Lord of the Rings, but for the VR world,” Jacob gave his solemn opinion.

“Are you on fucking glue!?” Jaz said to him seriously. He was looking at him like he had two heads.

Jacob just shook his head. “Help me out here JR,” he said to me.

“Okay, look I get it. It was made by saint Spielberg himself. And it’s a movie from our youth,” I decided that I would talk about the movie. “But Lord of the Rings? Come on Jacob, you’re reaching here. This one only stands out because there aren’t any other good movies about VR. Which does seem strange considering how important VR has become over the last twenty years.”

“Exactly!” Jaz said. “Let me explain, even something simple that we take for granted in VR, say private chat for example. In the movie, the two main characters have a conversation in a night club in VR while someone else is eavesdropping which results in the main characters being attacked. It’s fucking VR! When have you ever been in VR and had a private conversation with someone that wasn’t in a private chat? You can even encrypt it if you want too! Why would you talk, just the two of you, on an open proximity mic where anyone could hear you? It’s nonsense!”

“It’s fun,” Jacob said. “I’m not looking for logic when I watch the movie. I love the look and feel of the movie and don’t care. VR needs something like the Oasis in it. That would be so cool.”

“It’s just a vehicle for a bunch of references! 1980’s references no less! Why would anybody like that crap?” Jaz countered.

Man, that hit home. Is that what people will think when they read this? Is that what you’re already thinking!? Am I wasting my time writing this down at all.

Suddenly I felt something against my leg. It felt like a foot. I looked at everyone and realized that Tammy was looking at me. Was she expecting me to do it back or acknowledge her in some way? All it did was make me feel uncomfortable, especially with Jacob right there.

“Sorry Jacob, but I have to side with Jaz on this one,” I told him. “I get it you like the visuals and the oasis is super cool and all of that, but honestly, it’s just nostalgia for an old pop culture era before our time that was centered around white male privilege. The culture of the 1980’s is terrible and one where women and minorities were marginalized. We live in a much better time then that now. I want to live in this time, am I right?”

Jaz and Tammy both nodded in agreement.

“But it doesn’t take place in the 1980’s, it just references it,” Jacob pointed out. “It takes place in the future, which is only a few years from now.”

“We have better VR equipment now, then they had in the movie,” I pointed out. Okay, I didn’t like using a treadmill or a body suit and I preferred my AR glasses to VR, but still all of that existed and more and it wasn’t 2045 yet.

Jacob admitted defeat. “I just wish we had some movies that were better. VR in the last ten years has really taken off. And Ready Player One just made VR look so cool.”

“Have you seen the TV show Upload?” Jaz asked him.

I picked up on what Jaz was doing. Cool show for sure.

“Oh, that’s a good one!” Tammy spoke up. It was the first real thing she had said.

Jacob shook his head.

“Then we need to go and watch it!” Jaz told him. “It’s better than Ready Player One.”

“You think so?” Jacob asked.

“I know so,” Jaz told me. “Trust me it’s very cool.”

“Yeah, we can all go back to my place and watch it I suppose,” Jacob said starting to get into the idea.

“You guys go ahead. I’m too tired,” I told them. It was true I was feeling really tired. My brain was just done. Also, I saw the series already. Before I left, I said. “See you guys later.”

I had to get out of there before Tammy pulled something else weird. The way she kept looking at me was giving me the creeps. I don’t know why, but it seemed like the elevator took forever. When it stopped and the doors opened, I stumbled out as if I were drunk. The hallway seemed impossibly long and it had changed color again! I stared in disbelief. The walls were a blood red. How was this possible!? How do they keep changing color all the time!? How did no one else notice it? What the fuck was going on here!?

I felt like I just lost my mind. Like it just shattered like glass, into a thousand pieces and now I struggled to put it back together again. It was an impossible task because so many of the pieces were now missing. I staggered to my door and stopped. Without realizing it, I had sunk to my knees. I was crying. Thankfully, no one was in the hallway but me. No one saw it and I don’t think anyone heard me, not that I cared much anymore. I felt like I just gone completely insane. If only I had known what was to come, then I wouldn’t have thought this moment was so crazy.