Touch: Awakening

Part Five

"I don't see how you can watch this crap," I say. Bee elbows me in the side and shushes me, her attention focused on the screen. The movie we're watching is so full of angst it's ridiculous, and Parker's been snort-giggling continuously for the past thirty minutes. On the other side of her, Shannon shifts in her seat, probably trying to find a more comfortable position. The size of her stomach makes me nervous.

It ripples. It's like something possessed, like it's not wholly her own body anymore. Given there's another human growing inside it, I guess it's not. She's a few weeks from her extraction date, and I hope she doesn't come back screwed up, same as Parker.

They're there, Lex. They're not completely gone.

I don't want to lose my memories. I don't want to go bumping into people with an expression of abject misery. I want everything to stay exactly as it is, with sappy, melodramatic movies on Friday nights, too much research to conduct, and the occasional student to drive me nuts. I don't want anything to change. We were fine the way we were before.

The darkened theater is about half full for this "newly restored" version of some movie made in the 2000s. Honestly? The scene that intrigued me the most was the one in the rain, where the hero declares his undying love for the heroine. Not because of the notion of romantic love - science proved a long time ago it doesn't exist, that it's simply hormones manipulating our bodies - but because of the rain itself. I want to know what it feels like. Their clothes are soaked and sticking to their bodies, yet they're engrossed in their fight. It has to be uncomfortable. I can barely tolerate my sweaty clothes and always want to get free of them as quickly as possible.

It's like the ocean. I don't know if rain still exists, or if the world beyond the Realms is little more than scorched, barren earth.

Finally, the movie ends, and we file out of the theater, Shannon sort of waddling along behind us. The building lobby is crowded for a Friday, considering all that's showing are restorations. New films are few and far between, and when they are released, they aren't very good. A group of guys about my age are heading into one of the theaters, and Drew's with them. He lifts a hand in greeting and smiles before he disappears into the gloom, and my chest squeezes once.

Bee's chattering at Parker about the movie, Shannon standing next to her, discomfort etched in the lines of her face. She's got a hand braced at the small of her back, and gives me a small smile when she catches me staring at her.

We move away from Bee and Parker. "Ready for it to be over?" I gesture toward her stomach.

"Sort of? I dunno. I hope the wipe doesn't screw things up too much." Shannon's in the middle of a master's degree in computer science and hopes to end up with one of the jobs overseeing the AI in the Realms. While the wipe performed is designed to be delicate, even intricate, there's enough evidence to prove it doesn't always end up that way. People come away missing those tiny bits of information that at first seem trivial but prove to be the missing link. For any job overseeing any of the tech involving our lives, you need your smarts about you. If Shannon's wipe doesn't work out, she'll have to relearn months, possibly years, of information.

I think of Drew and purse my lips. "There's a guy who's been hanging around campus the last few weeks. He works on the programming for the Realms. I know it's not the same area, but he might be a good person to talk to. Give you an idea of what your average day might look like."

Her face lights up. "Really? That'd be awesome. Do you have his comm number?"

"No." Her smile falls away so fast I laugh, and she sticks her tongue out at me. "I'll get it the next time I see him." I don't know when that will be. Soon. He's shown up every couple of days for the past couple of weeks, usually a quick hello, what're you up to. Nothing on the same level as when he showed me how to adjust the lights in the hall. Nothing like the strange closeness when he walked me to the portal.