Inhuman: Anastasia's segment

Chapter III

The remainder of Kalyan's day was spent lying on his side under the thick covers of the bed. He scrolled through social media posts made by his wife in the past with his brightness all the way up. Tears threatened to fall down his cheeks and onto the old, wrinkled sheets each time he flipped to a new image. He stared at each bright smile and each glimmer in her eyes, hating that he'd never see them in person ever again. 

He set his phone down and rolled over in bed, burying his face into the soft, already tear stained pillow. He let his mind wander for a brief moment, thinking about everything she had done for him. Everything they had done together. He sighed. What was he going to do now? Without his anchor? Without his wife? WIthout Anastasia?

He reluctantly checked the time by making his virtual assistant read it to him. It read out a time he, on a regular monday, would never be up at, so he set his phone on his nightstand and slipped under the covers. As the minutes passed he could feel his already exhausted body drifting to sleep, until finally, he had lost consciousness.

Kalyan flinched awake as his phone erupted with an upbeat and garish notification sound. He sat up, disoriented and muzzy, and glanced at his phone. He tapped it and squinted before silently cursing at himself and pressing the read-aloud option on the small device.

"You have one new message from: Unknown Number," the artificial voice stated flatly.

Kalyan let out a hoarse grumble and sat up, turning on the phone and muttering into the virtual assistant button, "Read it to me."

"Reading your message from: Unknown Number," The voice pauses before reading the text out loud, "You seem down. Well, fret no more! Check out subtlesamsara.org (We're workshopping the name, don't come at us) for tips and tricks to bring your loved ones, idols, and many other dead people you feel the need to bring back, back from the dead! I promise these work, and we aren't trying to sell you junk. We've got message boards and stuff too! Anyone can edit, but please be chill about it, okay? It took a while to figure these things out."

Kalyan sighed and closed his phone, knowing it was most likely spam. He hated the thought of people already knowing about his wife's passing and using it against him. They just wanted money, Kalyan knew that. He wasn't dense enough to believe something so far-fetched. And the way the message was so poorly fleshed out? It was so informal. Not professional at all. 

Kalyan almost- almost- wanted to visit the website out of sheer curiosity. He would never believe what they claimed, of course, but it would be nice to get his mind off of the excruciating agony crushing his very existence. He sat up and rubbed his eyes before opening his phone and clicking on the link, which, due to its bright indigo hue, was the only thing he could really see on the screen. 

The link opened up a basic looking website with gifs galore and oddly scientific discussion boards with brightly colored bold fonts, which Kalyan could see. He, despite still being unconvinced, was impressed at the advanced dialect these supposed amateur scientists possessed. He studied the colorful and in depth conversations and notes jotted down on the forum with surprise. They spoke of certain issues such as 'disappearance of the bodies' or 'having paranormal abilities,' which made him chuckle despite his initial shock. They had photographs of newspapers depicting a person's death next to an article about the sightings of that exact person days after their passing. Links to articles about random people appearing in random places around the globe. The globe. He flipped through each page with bewilderment before reaching the last. It was a simple paragraph in black that he couldn't read himself. He pressed the read-aloud option hesitantly.

"I know what everyone thought at first. 'This is stupid. Magic isn't real, I'm not falling for this hogwash!' Yeah, I get it. I thought that at first when I figured out the formula. It sounds fake. Like something out of a book. A sci-fi movie or something. And yeah, we haven't been able to stop the resurrected people from teleporting to the place they died. I don't know why that happens, believe me. And I don't know why they have amnesia when they come back. And only god knows why they have those weird abilities. We're working on it. But it works. It does. I saw my son, who was hit by a car. on the news. He was scared, confused, and terrified. But it was him. Back from the dead. And you don't have to take my word for it. You can leave our website and continue your life as if we never existed. But one day this will change the world. We know what we're doing. Crazy, I know. And you can help. We just need to figure out this last, final thing. And maybe, just maybe immortality will be real. But we can't just do it alone. I'm not asking for money or anything. If you know science and stuff I'd really appreciate the help. I know there are people we would give anything to have in our lives again. So let's bring them back, okay?"

For a brief, fleeting moment, Kalyan pondered if it really was legitimate. That'd be stupid, Kalyan told himself, resurrection is fantasy. But, just maybe, it could be true? He weighed his options. Did he have anything to lose? Did he really have any reason not to trust these dimwits? To chase this small glimmer of hope? Sure, he would be getting his hopes higher than any man on earth could reach, but he, for some stupid, idiotic reason, began to believe the odds were somehow in his favor.