2.1.53

Chapter Twenty-seven: 2.1.53

"So, you are telling me I can choose my death.... Erm... How I die?" I asked.

"Yes" The man who introduced himself as Rino said in a very dramatic voice.

"But how does this work?" I asked

The man took a sip of water from the glass in hand and kept it on the coffee table in front of him. The face of the man seemed so familiar but I was certain I haven't seen him anywhere before. It was almost unsettling how he was looking straight, his gaze fixed and more so, because he didn't take off his sunglasses. There was a scar halfway between his chin and his collarbone, right in the middle of his throat. There was something eerie about his presence and his behaviors indicated in the same way

"We will provide you a chance of living your death before you actually die and choosing carefully the best one for yourself" He said.

I was confused, experiencing death and choosing from it seemed like an absurd idea. I didn't even understand what it meant.

"Living the death?" I asked.

"Yes. You will get to experience your death and choose a suitable death for yourself" He said, his tone still remained ice-cold.

I remained silent and looked down at my wounded hands, there were still some drops of blood popping out from where the glass shards had pierced me. I rubbed a drop of it with my fingers, smeared it in my skin but another drop appeared. 'Like regrets, one after the other' I wondered.

Perhaps Rino understood that I was confused, so he started to explain-

"To elaborate, we will put you under the influence of this" he pointed towards the boxes, "It will make you experience your life sometime prior to a virtual death. It is kind of like a super virtual reality machine, but all the information fed to the machine will be coming straight from your brain, to be precise your memories. You will meet the people you have known throughout your life, visit places you have already been to, feel everything that you have felt at least once throughout your entire life, and then you will die in a random way generated by the machine. You will have a faint memory of being in a virtual reality but it won't be clear to you until the very last. You will feel everything- the pain, the agony, everything but then you will be given one last chance to choose that death or try the next one" Rino paused for a breath.

I had nothing to say. One part of me believed it was all a lie, but another part of me knew that technology has advanced so much that nothing was impossible. But the one thing I was confused about is the confidence with how the salesman was making me believe that I actually ordered whatever it was.

The truth was that I wanted to die, some part of me was in a regret from losing the love of my life, the remaining part was in a constant sadness from the years of mistakes and filled with guilt. I wanted to see my dad, apologize to my mom, take care of my sister and hold my love again but deep down I knew I couldn't. They learned to unlove me, they learned to live without me because I was not there when they needed me, they learned to forget me and now I had no place in their lives. But I also knew, no matter how much I wanted to die, I didn't have the courage to actually do it.

"See I like how you want to see me whatever the hell you are selling. Big kudos to your technique, but I think you have got the address wrong or whatever. I am quite sure I didn't order anything like that" I clarified.

Rino kept staring at me, he looked as confused as me. He then proceeded to take out his phone and tap on it a few times.

"No sir I am quite sure, this is the address and you ordered it" He said and turned the phone towards me.

I look at the screen, filled with random details. But there was my name in Bold letter and my address just beneath it. I could even see my currency card details beneath it as well.