Clear
I open my eyes. The view is so clear! And there are no glasses on my nose.
The operation must have been successful.
The doctor leans over me.
“Awake, I see. How do you feel?”
“I feel great! Young again.”
“Good, good,” they reply.
“Can I get up?” I ask, “When does my rehabilitation start?”
“No rehabilitation! You are good to go straight away. But I advise you, do not seek out your friends or family yet. The adjustment is often harder for them than for you. Now, just confirm the completion of the treatment here.”
With that done, they leave the room. I pick up my few possessions, change into my clothes. At the front desk I ask if there is anything for me to sign, but they just wave me through.
When I step outside into the world I realise just how my old eyes, my old body was failing me. Everything is so bright, so colourful, so pristine.
There are no aches in my body, not when I bend down to sniff a rose. On impulse I break it from the stem, lift the flower up to take a closer look.
Wait, something is strange. The curve of the petals… I gaze closer. Are they…
Pixelated?
I recoil in shock.
No.
NO!
I have been lied to. It was always a lie. A scam. My body has not been anti-aged, regenerated, made young again. Not in the real world.
I have been digitised, banished to a virtual world.
In the real world I am…
DEAD.