Vacation to a Parallel Universe: The last summer he was with her

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The last summer he was with her

Since Brom had lost Samantha in Medina Beach, ten years ago, he had taken to using the modern Infinity machines that the government had placed in every public office for all employees to take virtual vacations.

This modality had brought great benefits to the government, since not only did the workers not have to be away from their jobs for long periods of time, but also the government did not have to pay vacation bonuses to all its employees. The Infinity could be used at the time they wanted, for as long as they wanted and with the company they wanted.

Brom was a regular visitor to these machines, going once a week, and Lola already knew him and knew where Brom chose to vacation: Medina Beach. Lola was the girl in charge and she was very attentive to all the customers:

"Good morning, Mr. Brom. I guess you are coming for your usual weekly beach bath,” she said in that melodious and kind voice.

"That's right, Lola. I only work for this moment,” Brom always answered, getting into a kind of transparent capsule and pressing the option: Caribbean Sea Beach and then clicking on the screen, on the name of Medina Beach.


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But that day was different. When Brom arrived at Infinity, it wasn't Lola who greeted him but a mechanical, robotic voice that came from a small speaker placed at the front of each small crystal ship:

"Welcome to Infinity: discover the world with us. We are in charge of offering you unforgettable experiences and taking you to incredible worlds. Live, dream, travel. Your escape starts here -then a screen with the different options was displayed. Brom pressed the usual one and entered the capsule.

With the device already in place that covered his eyes and ears, he began to listen to the sound of the waves caressing the shore, felt the warm breeze swaying the palm trees and their particular smell of salt and fish. Then he saw how the horizon projected a golden glow and in the middle of the beach, she, his wife: Samantha.

Brom ran into the sea and grabbed the woman, who was on her back, by the waist and she turned around smiling at the simple touch of the man:

"I was waiting for you! Let's have some piña coladas and then we'll come back,” she invited as always and walked away through the foamy waves.

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Brom knew what would happen next: the artificial intelligence was programmed to repeat the event over and over again. So Brom accompanied his wife and they both ordered their drinks.

Their glasses clinked in a toast and Brom tasted the salty lips of Samantha who smelled of coconut suntan lotion.

The beach was starting to get lonely as the sea began to get choppy and when Samantha told Brom she was going for a swim, he knew it was coming to the end of the experience. Brom would have liked to tell her no, not to go swimming, that they'd better go home, but he knew it was impossible: events can be relived, but they can't be changed, Lola once told him, who sensed what Brom's case was, since she had checked his file.

Then Brom saw how his wife was moving away from the shore giving long and fast strokes in a gray and fierce sea. Then he saw the raised arms calling for help in the middle of the sea. Brom, like the first time, rushed to the rescue, but the raging sea would not let him go any further. His lungs ran out of oxygen and his mouth filled with water.


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Inside the capsule, Brom's punches and movements resembled his fight against death. The fight was suffocating in that confined, enclosed space. On previous occasions, Lola would have pressed the word Stop and Brom would have returned to reality, but Lola was not there.

The transparent capsule began to fog up as Brom's breathing accelerated and his lungs felt like they were exploding. Suddenly, in the middle of the struggle, Brom remained motionless, with his body stretched, tense, like a bow and its arrow. At that instant a beeping sound was heard in the capsule, the hatches opened and a robotic voice said:

“We are Infinity. The place where we make your dream trip come true. We hope you had an incredible experience and that you will come back very soon. We look forward to seeing you". But Brom's body remained in the same place, eyes open and mouth agape, like a dead fish on the shore.

All images are free of charge and the text is my own, translated in Deepl

This is my participation in S&S + Dreemport: Late Days of Summer - WEEK 2: Vacation to a Parallel Universe . If you want to participate, here is the invitation post. Success

Thank you for reading and commenting. Until a future reading, friends

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Gripping and sad! Brom's experience of reliving his last moments with his wife turns out to be his exit point out of the world. I guess robots can't fully replace humans beings or simulate discretion and empathy! Beautifully written as always. Thank you for participating in Week 2 of the collaboration.
!PIZZA

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Thanks to you, friend, for your comment. Regards

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