(TRIGGER WARNING

*mild depression 

*mild gender dysphoria 

*gore

*mention of death)

  I woke up to the sounds of birds chirping And the soft warm light of the sun shining through my blinds. Stretching and yawning I slowly opened my eyes to the familiar sight of my room. Mostly dark because of the blackout curtains I kept on all the windows but one, my PC softly illuminating the walls with purple led. 

Yawning some more I slowly rose and walked over to my computer desk, unplugging my phone from the charger. I begin my morning ritual of checking my messages and scrolling through social media, my phone suddenly pinged and I begin to smile as it was a text from my girlfriend of 6 years. 

Mia and I met in our senior year of high school, quickly became close friends as we shared many similar interests. She was as much into gaming as I was and we often stayed up late into the night, laughing and just having a good time playing together. 

We ended up going to the same university and after two years of knowing each other we begin dating. Up until the point of meeting her my life was how I like to describe as boring, uneventful and generally just melancholy overall. To this day I don’t understand how such a perfect woman like her could fall for such a boring, plain guy like me. 

Eh but I try not to think about those things or question our relationship, everything was good, we were happy and very much in love. In fact I had recently spent a good portion of my savings on a lovely engagement ring. I had no idea when to ask the question and my anxiety made situations like these so much worse than for normal people, but I knew I’d work up the courage to drop the bomb eventually, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. Breaking my chain of thought I looked back down at my phone to register the text Mia had sent. 

: morning cutie, I was thinking about having a little lunch date and maybe we could check out the new VR game system at cyberbuy? What do you think? My treat! *kiss emoji*:

:that sounds perfect! What time?:

:11:30? I’ll meet you at your apartment so we can walk together:

:sounds good, see you then:

I closed the texting app and checked the time, it was 10:30 so I had about an hour to get ready. I quickly got dressed, opting for a black oversized Cat girl hoodie from one of my favorite games. It was a rather unique game that came out a few years back in 2027, most people had never heard of it but it was one of my favorites. you played as a cat girl with magical powers and roamed around with your healer companion doing quests. It was almost at the point of being retro now as it was over 10 years old but I still enjoyed it to this day. 

Next I pulled on a pair of tight fitting jeans that fit my rather small and slim frame snuggly. After that I walked to the bathroom, brushed my semi short hair, then my teeth and smiled at my reflection, ignoring how much it bothered me, I gathered my strength and pushed those anxiety filled thoughts aside. If Mia could love the way I looked then so could I. 

I pulled on a pair of black and purple socks along with my favorite pair of purple sneakers. Satisfied at the way I was dressed I sprayed a small amount of sweet smelling, peach perfume onto my neck. I didn’t care if it was for girls, it smelled good and I liked peaches. besides Mia never seemed to notice me wearing perfume.. or if she did she never commented. I guess she didn’t mind. 

Checking the time it was 11:20. Mia would be here slightly early knowing her. I swiftly made my way downstairs my two story apartment , careful not to wake my roommates sleeping on the lower floor. 

Walking into the kitchen I begin making coffee, then as expected a soft knock from the front door alerted me. I walked over and undid the lock and chain then opened the door to see Mia’s smiling face. Her beautiful brunette Hair tied up into a fashionable ponytail, her chocolate brown eyes making my heart flutter. Her tall curvy 5’9 frame. All of this to match her wonderfully kind and compassionate personality made me fall head over heels for this beautiful woman. 

All these things made me wonder why she’d chosen me. Why she wanted to be with a short, skinny guy when she could do so much better. Again I pushed those negative thoughts aside and smiled back at her, she stepped through the doorway and wrapped me in a gentle hug, pushing my head into her so that my chin was resting on her shoulder. She begin to stroke the back of my head and softly run her hands through my hair. “There’s my baby boy.” She whispered softly. 

“You ready to go?” I cringed internally when she called me a boy but I pushed those feelings down into the pit of my stomach, trying to lock them away. I loved Mia her words shouldn’t make me uncomfortable. 

“Yes but could I drink my coffee first?” I asked her, still snuggling against her while she held me. She sighed a little but held me slightly closer to her. “Baby if we don’t leave now Cyberbuy will be closed by the time we’re done with lunch.. you know they close early on government maintenance days.” She pulled away from me slightly looking me in my eyes and pouting. I had completely forgotten Friday was one of those days. “Can I buy you a coffee on the way?” She pouted more. I sighed again, that look always did me in, I couldn’t say no to her. I smiled and looked in her eyes. “Oh alright I suppose I don’t really need it, I’m sure my roommates will appreciate it more anyways.” I laughed and took her hand, grabbing my Key’s and wallet. 

“Cmon let’s get going, I’m excited to see this new game system just as much as you.” I said winking at her, she grinned and we walked out the door, closing it behind us. Heading down the flight of stairs of the apartment complex I lived in, we quickly made our way to the street. Hovering electric cars zoomed past us, the smell of street venders frying up delicious goodies filled my senses and I smiled happily. We walked hand in hand, making our way to one of our favorite street vendors, both of us opting for a quick lunch of soft tacos with shredded chicken, as we were both were very excited to get to the electronic store before it closed. 

After eating Mia held my hand and led us to the subway entrance where the nuclear powered community train was free for all to ride. A luxury my parents before they died had told me they didn’t have till they were in they’re late 60s in 2024. I was still saddened that they had passed before me being accepted into university. They would never see me graduate. All because of the reemergence of a virus that almost ended humanity in the early 2020s. Scientists quickly found a cure due to already developed research and medicine, but in the 5 months that it plagued the earth once more it was already too late for them. 

I shook myself out of my depressing thoughts as Mia tugged my hand, signaling for us to board the train. We climbed on and sat side by side in the comfy leather seats dotted around the interior of the train cabin. Mia smiled at me as the train begin to speed along, I smiled back and leaned up to kiss her just as a loud crash echoed through the tunnels. It was like the world was slowing down, a loud alarm screeched. The ceiling lighting up with a holo display. :GOVERNMENT WARNING MAINTENANCE FAILURE DETECTED SEEK SAFETY RESCUE SERVICES DEPLOYED: 

It took me awhile to notice but Mia was panicking, gripping my hand incredibly hard, almost to the point of hurting me. I hugged her tightly trying to calm her down. The train screeched as large blocks of concrete from above started falling, shattering the glass roof of the train, people were screaming, cowering, someone had already been crushed. 

More debris begin to fall before a large statue sized chunk of concrete fell on our train cabin, the train begin to fail, the busted speakers emitting a disoriented emergency siren. The train came to a halt as most of it had been destroyed. Debris rained down from above, then the concrete below begin to crack. More screams of panic. The train slowly started to fall, the ground opening up into a lower maintenance tunnel, the tracks snapped like brittle bone and we all begin to descend. I don’t know what overcame me but my sense seemed to pump into overdrive, everything slowed down as I looked on in horror at what was about to happen, a large metal pipe had impaled itself into the front of the train, people were slowly falling all around me, I was still wrapped tightly around Mia, we were falling straight down, right into the path of that jagged, severed pipe. 

Instinct overcame me, with everything I had, all the strength in me I pushed Mia off, shoving her to the opposite side of the pipe, she screamed and her eyes widened in horror as she realized what I’d just done. I felt a sharp, intense pain, deep in my gut as my abdomen was pierced, the pipe impaling me straight through the stomach. I heard sirens, Mia screaming, survivors screaming, I looked down and saw dark blood pouring out of me onto the cold metal floor of the train. My vision begin to blur. I looked up and smiled at Mia before whispering “I love you” then everything went dark. 

I blinked, I heard voices. It sounded like an argument. I couldn’t see anything. Just darkness. “He’s lost too much blood, some of his vital organs have been completely severed in half, he’s barely hanging on. He won’t make it.” A strange muffled voice said. “I don’t care what you have to do just make sure he lives! Do you hear me!?” A familiar voice.. but one I couldn’t quite remember. Suddenly it hit me. That was Mia’s voice. Why couldn’t I see. What happened. 

“Ma’am please calm down we are Doing everything we can, as much as modern medicine has evolved in the last two decades we can’t bring the dead back to life. I’m sorry.” I heard Mia begin to sob and my heart shattered hearing her pain. Had I caused this? “There must be something you can do!?” I heard Mia scream, her sadness quickly becoming rage. The muffled voice spoke again. “Well we do have an experimental body transfer program.. but it’s very expensive and we only have one unit at the moment.. ma’am the psychological effects this could have on your boyfriend could be devastating for him.” 

“I don’t care! I’ll pay anything, I’ll do anything! Just fucking save him!” I heard Mia scream again. My head was swimming but I felt no pain. The voices slowly grew more and more distant as I begin to slip back into that empty void.