Advance Detective

Meeting A Ghost

"You arrogant prick," says Karen, "Don't talk as if you're really him. You're not him. You're nothing but lines of code churning away in a motherboard somewhere. When this farce is over someone will press a button, and that's that, you'll be gone, no ashes, no funeral, because you're not real. And I'll tell you something else, I hope to hell the person who gets to press that button is me."

"Shit Karen, when did you get so fucking bitter?" I say, because something is breaking in me, "You were never like this before. Never nasty like that, never so fucking nasty."

I realise my voice is breaking, too, and the tears running down my face are obscuring the video screens. They even simulated the damn tears right.

When I look up again, something has changed in Karen's face. I think maybe she's crying, too.

"Jesus, John, don't you think this is hard for me, too?" she whispers, "To see you again, to see how you were, before things went wrong..."

She trails off, then starts up again.

"You look exactly like he did," she says, "You look like him, sound like him. The way you talk...It's like meeting a ghost. It's just like meeting a ghost."

Then she puts one hand out and touches the screen. I reach out to her, but all I can feel is cold glass.

"The kids...Tommy...he can't bear to see his father go like this." Karen is not quite looking at me as she speaks, "There was a lot of bad stuff between them, at the end. After the divorce, things got pretty messy. If he was to go now...look, maybe John won't wake up. Maybe he won't. But if he just hangs on a little longer, maybe that'll give Tommy the chance to...I don't know. To say some things, even if there's no one listening. To make peace with himself, or...or something."

I can feel my resolve caving in. I love her. How can I say no to her? She wants me to hold off on my decision on account of her/my son.