Myopia Chapter 1

Myopia By: E. R. West

Chapter 1 | Laura woke with a headache.

Laura’s eyes fluttered open, she lay for a moment staring at the blotched grey ceiling. A lifetime ago it was white, she shivered. The pain crept into the back of her head as she woke, a familiar agony she lived with for weeks. It would find her each morning and invade her mind, striking like a predator. She rolled her head to the side, staring at her night table, pawing meekly at the bottle of expired pain killers left over from an augment surgery. In response to the movement her malady began, starting as a stiff spark at the base of her spine and then lacing up into the middle of her head as she sat up, moaning softly. She leaned over the side of the bed and let the nausea wash over her as she massaged her temples. She moaned again thinking of the day ahead, she couldn’t afford to miss another day of work.

She unscrewed the top of the meds sloppily with the palm of her hand, tossing two bright red pills into her mouth. She chased the pills with some water from a clay mug on her bedside table and waited unmoving for the fuzzy edge of the medicine to creep in. She hadn’t eaten since early the day before, the meds would kick in strong and quick. After a moment the familiar warmth crept up from her torso and relaxed her mind with its gentle tendrils. She let out another soft moan, lower and more intimate as her gaze softened. Still irritated but ready to face the day Laura rose from her bed and wobbled slowly into her apartment, a single filthy grey rectangle lined with once-white furniture. She walked to her desk and sat down, looking at the worn matte surface. A flash of disgust crossed her face as she muttered something about cleaning up the drab hab. “Maybe tomorrow…” she stated to the empty room. She slid the center drawer of the desk open, revealing a gleaming white box which she picked up reverently. She placed the box on her desk with two hands and then gently ran her thumb across a sensor pod in the front center. The box emitted a soft warm tone and then clicked as it unlocked. She opened the lid, her ayar lay where she left them the night before. A sleek pair of transparent glasses framed by thin elegant rods of polycite. She tilted her head and smiled as another wave of the medicine rolled over her. She breathed in deeply through her nose and placed the ayar on.

The ayar made a series of gentle tonal noises as it connected with the net, cycling its systems up. Ayar synched with her eyes, projecting spectral lines of flickering photons across her retinas. Laura watched with a warm sense of satisfaction as art, furniture, shelves of books, windows, scenery and a massive view screen appeared before her. Colour, texture and details filled her once white-grey apartment as the ayar populated her vision. Vacant walls were replaced by floor to ceiling glass windows overlooking a lush alien visage with two pink rising suns on the horizon. The worn beige sofa became a burnished soft red leather, the tired old bedding turned into brightly coloured patterned quilts and comforters, and remaining water stained wall became the fireplace. Her apartment filled with beautiful, exotic things from her virtual tours around the world and items she purchased in the ayar markets. Wooden tribal carvings, books, knickknacks, furniture, historical busts and priceless artwork appeared in every corner.

She checked her schedule by pointing to the top right corner of her field of vision. A menu appeared floating in the air before her, tracking wherever she looked. A busy schedule, getting busier. She flicked her wrist over to her avayar tab, the wall in front of her faded into a mirror. Laura observed her avayar moving in flawless asynchronous movement, mirroring everything in perfect detail. She smiled at the only image she really knew of herself, a digital motion sensing overlay. While staring at her own false image something flickered in her peripheral vision, a liquid distortion rippling through the air. The pain throbbed again, she watched her avayar wince in the reflection. She watched the false reflection of her smooth legs tumble from under her bathrobe as suffered a severe bout of vertigo brought on by a beat of agony pulsing behind her left eye. She stifled a moan and gagged.

For the past three weeks she’s been taking more and more time off as her symptoms became worse. She had to get back to work soon, her savings where almost diminished and her anxiety was getting intolerable. She’d be done paying off her ayar by the end of the year, and she’d be damned if she was going to miss that. She needed them paid off before the next release so she could refinance the new model. She flipped a hand through the air habitually, bringing up the calendar. She reviewed the timeline again and sighed, she could still pay off her ayar before the new model was released, if she got better in the next two weeks. As if responding to her hope a needle of pain lanced through her temples. She staggered to her couch and sat down, massaging the sides of her head in an effort to abate the sharp pain. Resolving to ignore the affliction Laura made a second attempt to get through a review of her days schedule. Looking up she swiped her hand through the air navigating the floating menus, “Please book a visit with Conrad” she said causally. An androgynous voice replied pleasantly, “Visit booked for tomorrow at 10 am, Laura.” Another wave of violent, sharp pain cut through her head. She let out a sharp yelp, and quickly slipped up her ayar, pressing the heels of her palms into her eyes. Tiny floating lights exploded behind her eyelids. There was no way she was working today.

With her ayar sitting on top of her head disengaged she walked over to the cooler, a door mounted flush with the wall of her hab. The cooler’s interior looked like a mini version of her apartment, a dirty, empty once-white rectangle. There where blank bottles of unlabeled condiments and a stay-fresh full of leftovers. She sighed and lowered the ayar back over her eyes. The blank bottles suddenly lit up with overlaid animated labels, the white stay-fresh container became transparent, showing a perfect representation of what the contents should look like. An advertisement ran across the rear of the cooler, Milju at discount prices! Order today! Please plan on 30 – 60 minutes for delivery. She hated the mustard, the label was so bright and animated you couldn’t even see what was left in the container. She made a mental note of ordering some food and renting a cleaning synth. Another voice at the back of her head reminded her it would never get done.

She couldn’t decide on what to eat, her head was throbbing too severely to concentrate. Nausea started to creep up her throat as her head swam, her body tensed as she slumped to her knees. A single beat struck inside her head, a single reverberating thump like a heart beat in her brain. Pain fired through her eye, stabbing like a nail. It began to fade as soon as it began. She let out her breath in deep huffing gasps as she recovered from the experience. After several minutes she stood on shaky knees and motioned in the air, producing a floating screen in front of her. Laura waved her hand across the screen, pointing with her fingers as she selected different options, navigating menus with habitual ease. Another window appeared, floating beside the first, Laura pointed at it and spoke “Call Tom.”

A pleasant rhythmic tone filled her room, a pulse indicating the call was accepted. The polite asexual voice chimed “Call Inbound.” Laura shielded her eyes and peered over the alien horizon. She saw the call, a flying cube silhouetted by the smaller of the two suns. It rushed towards her hab at unreal speeds, stopping instantly just a fraction of an inch from the glass wall.

The cube outside the glass wall contained a moderately unkempt living room with a blue suede couch sitting in the center. The couches sole occupant was a lazily strewn, devilishly handsome man sporting a frock of blonde hair. He was wearing an unbuttoned white dress shirt and a pair of loose pants. His body underneath the shirt was tanned and taught.

“Hi Babe!” Laura could hear him yelling from behind the glass. “Oh, just come in.” Laura sighed through the pain. He waved the glass open, it slid seamlessly into the adjacent window pan as if melting into it. He ambled into Laura’s hab walking over to her couch, flopping onto it in the exact same position as prior. “Are you going into work today Tom?” Laura asked from her kitchen corner, rubbing her eyes with the backs of her hands.

“No, I think I’m staying home, my head is killing me,” Tom replied, wincing as he spoke, “I think my eyes are about to pop out.” he grimaced holding a fist to his temple. “I’m starting to worry about these headaches, everyone seems to have them at work as well.” Laura shrugged. “My headaches come and go. It’s just that I’m too stressed.

I need to relax somehow, Maybe another trip.”

Tom looked over skeptically, “Real life, or ayar?”

Laura shrugged, “Ayar most likely.”

Tom looked at her backside from the couch, “You think it’s what they’ve been saying that’s causing it?” Laura shrugged with a sly smile, “My dear Tom, how could it be ayar? People have been using it for decades, and honestly, could you imagine life without it? We use it for pretty much everything. It’s the new perspective.” Tom smiled, “The new medium, blah, blah, blah. I know. I wouldn’t know how to live without it.” Laura felt herself smile, “That’s an understatement.”

He replied with a sheepish grin, shrugging meekly, “Maybe.”

Laura looked at the floor “Well, I have another appointment at the medicae today. So hopefully they’ll find out what’s going on. I’ve had pain off and on for months now. And I’m pretty sure it’s getting worse.” Tom’s face drooped in concern. “I know. I’ve been here every day. I’m glad you’re finally listening to me and getting a check up.”

She glanced over at him, “I know, I know. I’m getting it done. Haven’t been out in awhile, not looking forward to it.”

Tom leaned forward, “Take a chillnow and have no worries, a short trip down a few sections is all.” Laura stiffened, she didn’t want Tom to know her monthly prescription was long gone. She devoured them in the first 3 days, trying anything to escape the pain, “Yeah, you’re right.” She agreed easily.

They finished up their morning small talk. Tom was the closest person to Laura, and they had never met in person. His avatar loafed on her couch every morning, making small talk and joking. He probably knew her better than her parents. They spoke about meeting once, but nothing seemed to come together. Laura couldn’t remember the last time she met someone in person, besides certain appointments outside her hab. She was very active, but all through ayar.

People rarely met in person, hesitant to trade their avatar, a perfect mask for reality even for a moment. Most thought of their avatar as their real selves, they considered their physical bodies as vessels for their minds. Entire lives acted out in a virtual arena, a new reality.

A chime sounded and a calendar item faded into existence, Laura had to leave her hab for her medicae appointment. This would be her first time outside in weeks, since her last appointment. She incoherently accessed the door to the hall way and stumbled out, teetering dizzily from the pain in her temples. Her head was getting worse. She made it 10 feet down the hallway before spinning vertigo upended her equilibrium. She stumbled against the wall as her ayar vision wobbled crookedly. She lurched against the parallel wall before falling flat on her face, bloodying her nose.

She rose on all fours and crawled back into her apartment. Tom was still on her couch, paging through an ancient looking paper-bound book. She gasped from the floor while rolling on her side, “Tom! Tom, I need help. Call the meds. Call the med…” She was cradling her stomach, her head flared with stabbing pain.
“Tom… Please… Help…”

Before Laura could say another word ice-pick pain stabbed into her left temple, it felt like a cold steel rod had was suddenly jammed into her head. She began twitching and screaming in short sporadic bouts as her eyes rolled back into her skull. She felt pain like never before, her eyes shut fast, but she could still see bright flumes of colour as she was racked with spasms. Her body was failing her in some way she could not comprehend.

A horrible pressure mounted under her left ocular socket, it felt like a balloon was expanding inside her head with every beat of her terrorized pulse. She screamed in moaning wails as she fell to her knees, both hands clawing the sides of the head, pushing together with all their might as if trying to keep her skull from splitting apart. Tom watched in shocked silence while raising emergency services over ayar. Desperately swiping through menus like a dog paddling in the air.

Abruptly, Laura stopped screaming. She paused, staring dumbly at Tom on the couch who was now desperately waiting for aid services to respond. Tom watched a length of clear drool track down Laura’s avayar, creeping from the corner of her perfect mouth down to her chin. Laura become very still as if she was suddenly at peace with whatever was now happening. She slowly raised herself up, kneeling on the ground. Dark crimson blood from the corners of her eyes tracked down her face in two parallel streams. She stared blankly into the eyes of Tom’s avayar, who was now in a state of panic. He watched her, frozen in a state of detached and horrified curiosity, whispering “..it’s going to be okay…just hold on…” over and over. Laura grimaced as if having a stroke. The left side of her face contorted with pain, Tom heard a grisly wet popping sound from inside her head. Her left eye splashed red, as if someone splattered paint onto it from the inside of her skull. She fell with dead weight face first into her floor, dark crimson blood pooling around her head in a slowly growing circle.

A male avayar appeared in the room. He was tall, wearing a navy jumpsuit. His face was hard edged and stern, staring at Tom disapprovingly on the couch.

“What’s the nature of your emergency citizen?” The man asked with a calculated tone.

Tom raised a shaky finger, pointing at Laura’s prone form. The male avatar looked on wide eyed before nodding to Tom and then dissolving without warning.

Submitted October 29, 2019 at 02:31PM by _r_reddit https://ift.tt/2q2VYxo