Dreamland

I breathed deep and took the dream interface in my hand. I watched my trembling hand. Fuckidy fuck, this game… this game is so intensive!!

I watched my scrawny, shaking legs. I giggled. My heart was drumming in my chest, and my hands and feet trembled.

Wow, never before did any game have this effect on me. I was so excited, shocked, and even a bit scared. I could tell that waves of adrenaline were swarming through my veins.

And I only played for less than an hour. Maybe fifty minutes, and I had the experience of two days of gaming, not to mention this intensive, balanced fight that stood in suspense for so long.

I took another deep breath.

“Oh, mama, this is a hell of a game!”

“Huch? Where am I?”

My heart beatings accelerated. The tremors in my hands accentuated. I put the dream interface down near me.

What was that?!

Did I hear voices? Did I hear a voice? A specific voice?

I did not dare ask. I only gathered my legs under my hands, embracing them and holding them tight, sitting in my bed.

No, no, no, no. The game is the game, but not here!

My breathing accelerated.

I am too excited. The game is good; it is too good. All those feelings...

I looked at the window. It is early morning.

I know, it is Saturday early morning. Yesterday I came from school and went to bed. Today, as I woke up in the morning, I thought of visiting Dreamland before breakfast, and now I am totally… sweaty. Yes, my pyjama is wet, and my legs tremble.

I listened attentively, but there were no more voices in my head. My heart stabilized itself slowly. My breathing frequency normalized itself, one breath at a time. I slowly stood up. I went to the window and opened it. A wave of fresh air entered the room.

I breathed deep and closed my eyes.

Yes, it was such a brilliant idea to rent the apartment here, if it would be only for the fresh air. The park and the nearby forest almost always guaranteed fresh air. Such a difference to an apartment downtown where it smelled… well, like people, cars, food, garbage…

I took another deep breath. My legs trembled no longer.

Wow. If I try to think about the last two days… What I did. I mean everything that Cala did. I remember it as if I would have done it, but it was not me; it was Cala.

Crazy! Is this allowed? Is it allowed to do such a thing? How did they do it? Did my brain relive all that Cala did in a fast forward?

I did not have that feeling. But how else could they have done it?

I needed to look back into the gamers' scene to see if I could find any chats in this regard. The gamer groups must have a lot of information about this. It must be the hottest theme with them.

I gathered my courage and went to the toilet. A shower will do me good.

I undressed and went under the shower. I let the water run over my skin. Oh yes, it is good. I took my time thinking further about the game.

Incredible what they did. I've played many games, you get adrenaline, and you get all kinds of emotions. I've even played some romantic games. OK, romantic. Let's be honest; those were sex games. And yet, there was never this deepness. The feelings here were so much more, went more profound. In all directions. How would love be in this game?

I chuckled at the thought.

A bit calmer, I thought about it.

This was not your regular gaming. They could not have achieved this without some exceptional tricks.

I guess they did some experiments. They must have done it. I think that the feedback that Ivar mentioned is highly illegal. And yet…

“Are you Dolores?”

I froze, looking at the image in the mirror. Did the image speak to me?

“I think something went wrong!”

I turned and looked behind me: there was nobody there. I am alone in the bathroom. I breathed deeply and looked around. Are any loudspeakers hidden somewhere?

"What do you do?" - the voice asked.

“Who are you? What do you want?”

I spoke with my image in the mirror. I cleaned the mirror. No, my image was not speaking. The image was that of a frightened eighteen-year-old girl. It was my reflection.

“I am White Flower. I don't know where I am...”

I almost fell to my knees. Now I saw it. Now that I cleaned the mirror from all that vapour condensation, I saw it.

The tattoo was running up on my body, from my left ankle, up on my leg, over my left hip, touching my waist, running near my breast and under my left arm, around the shoulder, and up to my temple.

White Flower's tattoo.

“I can make it disappear if you want me to do it?” - the voice in my head said.

“No! No! You are not here!”

“Dolores, are you ok? Who is there?”

Somebody knocked at the door. I almost made an infarct hearing the knocks.

“Yes, yes, I'm ok!”

“I need the bathroom! Are you going to stay longer?”

Clara. Fucking fuck Clara! I wrapped myself in the towel and opened the door.

“You may come in; I'll leave...”

“With whom were you talking?”

She looked carefully around for the hidden lover that I must have shovelled under the sink.

“Just exercising for... my performance...”

I went out and closed the door behind me.

“You can talk with me in your mind; you do not need to be loud?”

“Oh, shut up! You do not exist here!”

“OK, OK. I'll shut up, but I exist. You need to help me go back. Where did you bring me? Where am I?”

I sighed, going back into my room. My legs were again trembling, but I was trying to control them.

Keep cool, Dolores! Don't panic!

These game characters do not exist as individual persons, as physical manifestations. They are an artificial intelligence construction and exist only in the electronic world. In the bytes and bits world. Chips and wires and wi-fi.

There must be some kind of connection between my brain and the internet. She is not really here; it is only an illusion made by this damn connection that should not be here. I do not have wi-fi in my brain!

I went to my room and started to dress.

Now I am like that crazy guy who said he has a radio in his tooth.

I know a place not far away from here, with no internet connection. I'll go there. There will be no more voices, and this will help my strained brain. Probably just severing the connection will be good enough to make the AI think it is back into the game. Then I'll need to think and understand how the heck this connection to my brain came into being.

There is so much garbage on the net about biological computers and mini chips ingestion that I do not even dare to search for it. Let me take it methodically and understand what case I have here.

Can it be that I only imagine things? Or is this some form of telepathy?

A shiver passed through my spine. At least the AI is listening to me and not talking all the time. What did I get myself into?