I haven't written anything serious for quite a while so I feel a bit out of practice. I'm not even sure what direction this was supposed to be going in, but thanks for reading.
Alcott looked up from his desk and stared blankly at the monitor. The computer had stopped working several years ago and now sat in the corner of the room collecting dust. He hadn't used it much and decided that the money would be better spent somewhere else, yet the past week he had barely spent a moment away from it. Ever since the incident he felt that it was his duty to keep constant watch over it, expecting it to spring into life at any moment.
It had been a Sunday evening when it first happened. He had been clearing out his old office when the machine suddenly powered itself on. The monitor displayed a large text box on the screen, the words 'I'm waiting' were etched into the LCD display.
Who was waiting, and what where they waiting for? Alcott begun to ask himself those questions again and again, but more importantly, he wondered why the message had been sent to him in particular. He wasn't anything special. In fact, he thought of himself as the least interesting person in the entire town. He wanted to convince himself that it had all been a dream, but his gut told him otherwise, and so he sat night after night, waiting for a message that might never come.
He had always relished the prospect of excitement, but that wasn't to say he was necessarily unhappy with his life. He had a job at a small but steady company. He had an ordinary looking wife named Nancy who had worked as a secretary for most of her life. On his free days off he would visit the park with his wife, or would occasionally meet up with his colleagues. Even so, he longed to be torn away from his monotonous life and the computer had been his last hope. And then one day it finally happened. He was abruptly woken as the glare of the monitor illuminated the room. It took him a moment to comprehend what had happened, and even then he didn't quite believe it. He moved the monitor closer and peered at the screen. It clearly read:
Do you want to live?
What kind of question was that? Hadn't he been living until now? He pondered the question. Sure, he was living in a physical sense. But had he ever truly experienced life? What did it even mean to be alive?
He hastily typed 'yes' into the keyboard. There was no response at first, and he was just about ready to dismiss the entire thing, blow it off as some elaborate prank. Just as he moved from his chair the screen blinked, and the reply finally came.
Then wake up.
The computer flickered for a moment before shutting off, leaving the room in complete darkness once again. Who had he been kidding? Of course it was a prank. The whole idea was absurd, and for a moment he thought of himself as a character from a popular sci-fi movie. This was real life, and real life was bound by strict rules. He chuckled to himself, then made his way to bed. Nancy was already fast asleep so he settled himself next to her. His eyelids felt like lead and it didn't take long for sleep to sweep him away into its currents.
"Wake up sleepy head."
"Nancy?"
Alcott sat up but immediately felt a shiver down his spine. His blankets had disappeared, and he found himself sitting on an old mattress covered in grime. He looked around the room in a panic. Several other beds were spread out evenly. They were occupied by men and women who seemed to be of a similar age to his own. They barely made a sound, though if he concentrated hard enough he was able hear them breathing. He spotted several life support machines and automatically assumed he was in a hospital of some sort. Had he been in some accident? If that were the case he must have been admitted to the most poorly kept hospital in the country. The stench of the mold alone almost made him throw up, never-mind the state of the room.
He had been so focused on inspecting the room that he hadn't even noticed the girl sitting on the end of the bed. It wasn't until she prodded him on the cheek that he even realised she had been sitting right beside him. He jumped back in shock then eyed her carefully.
"W-Who are you?!" he asked cautiously.
"My name's Rafa. And you?"
"Alcott."
The girl was much younger than him. She seemed to be about 12 years of age. Her long hair was as white as snow and hung loosely down her back. She had clear, emerald green eyes and seemed about average height considering her age.
"Rafa, can I ask you a few questions?"
"Of course!"
"Well, first of all, where am I? Is this a hospital?"
"Of sorts."
"What do you mean by that?"
"This place isn't really used for healing people. Rather, it's a place for containing people."
"Containing people? I must be going crazy. First the computer and now this."
"Yes, that's right, you were muttering something about a computer weren't you? I sometimes sat by you while you slept."
Alcott found it difficult to make sense of the girl, was she playing tricks? He climbed out of bed and began pacing up and down the room impatiently.
"What on earth are you talking about?"
"Where should I begin? Perhaps I should start by telling you that the human race is almost extinct. That you were one of the lucky survivors who was admitted to this hospital in time and that you've been living most of your life in a medically induced coma, implanted with fake memories."
"Wait just a minute! This is way too much. You expect me to believe all this?"
"Yes, I do. I think that you're different from all the other patients around here. Come, I'll show you."
Rafa suddenly grabbed Alcott's hand and dragged him out of the room. He was only wearing a pair of striped pajamas which hardly provided much resistance against the cold. A shiver ran down his back but he continued to run until they made their way outside. Rafa had indeed been telling the truth. The world had been reduced to nothing short of an apocalyptic wasteland. The sky seemed to be a permanent shade of grey and stretched out as far as the eye could see. The buildings lay in complete ruin, mighty skyscrapers now reduced to unsightly piles of rubble. But worst of all was the bodies. Hundreds of skeletons lined the streets; some hadn't decomposed entirely yet and Alcott was soon forced to look away. He was never a great believer in hell, but he had the feeling that this must be pretty close.
"Why am I here? Were you the one that woke me?! What future could possibly be waiting for me here?"
The girl shrugged. "I didn't do anything. You woke up on your own. You must have chose this for yourself."
"I wanted to do something different for a change. To step outside my ordinary life just for a moment. But this... death might be an even kinder fate. Take me back! I want to go home.
"I don't know how. I wouldn't even know where to start. Just come with me. You haven't seen everything yet."
Alcott followed without saying anything. What could she possibly have to show him? More death? More destruction? He hesitantly began to follow. He didn't like the idea of being lead around by a child, but he disliked the idea of being alone even more.
They walked much farther than he had expected. He was forced to take several breaks along the way, but they eventually reached the bottom of a large hill.
"This is it?"
"Not yet. We need to climb it first."
He sighed and began to follow her. He was envious of her endurance. Were children always this full of energy? Alcott had only traveled halfway up the hill by the time she reached the top, and it took him a further half-hour to catch up. He hadn't noticed while he was climbing, but gradually the sky began to open up. Rather than the dull grey mass it was now coloured a brilliant blue. He turned his attention forward and couldn't stop himself from gasping in surprise. A verdant valley stretched out before them, rich with colour and life. He had almost completely forgotten about the town by now and he turned to Rafa, who was picking a handful of berries from a nearby shrub. She turned around and handed some to Alcott while stuffing the remainder into her mouth.
"See. It isn't all bad."
It felt as if Alcott was experiencing beauty for the first time. Maybe it was because of the drastic change in scenery. He found it difficult to believe a whole other world could be hidden so closely.
"Thank you Rafa."
"Hmm?"
"I never realised it before. Back when I was asleep I had everything easy. Everything seemed too perfect. A loving wife, a place to belong... I was living in a fairy tale. Back in that city I couldn't believe it, it was the most horrifying thing I've ever experienced. But that's life isn't it? You can't just reject pain and misery. That's a part of being alive too. I was scared when you woke me up, but seeing this makes me think it was worth it. Is this the reality you wanted to show me?"
Rafa nodded and looked into the distance.
"The other patients might be content to spend the rest of their lives in an illusion, but you're like me right? Even if it's hard or painful, I'll except this world over a lie. Look in front of you. Isn't this more beautiful than any dream?"
Alcott turned back to the valley and started to smile to himself.
"Rafa, come with me. I want to see what's out there. I want to live."
Raffa nodded and took his hand while smiling innocently.
"Where do we start?"
Alcott picked up a twig from the ground and scratched a mark into one end, then threw it high into the air. It fell to the ground a couple of feet in the distance, the end which had been marked pointed north west.
"Let's go."
