The takeout bag swinging from Sarah’s arm hits my knee as she changes direction abruptly. “I can’t wait to get there!”
“I know, it looks really cool!” Her excitement is contagious. The Vertix H2 launch is the biggest in history. Steve Jobs would have been blown out of his little white socks. My steps are light and the night is young.
But the little boy’s face remains imprinted in my mind.
It’s a quarter past eight when we get to the massive traffic jam leading into the Scarlet Meadows Plaza plaza. I scan the crowds already in line and wonder if we’ll even get in the store before tomorrow.
Sarah groans and throws herself back against the seat like a frustrated toddler. “God, I hate these one-way streets! You’d think they would have come up with a detour to direct the flow of traffic better.”
Andy looks over his shoulder into the back seat and grins. “Calm down, Sar. Everyone in Boston is coming here. We’re lucky we even made it this far.”
“But what if all the H2s are gone? All of this would have been for nothing!” Sarah crosses her arms.
“They’re not selling the H2 until midnight. We have plenty of time to get in line,” Andy says, turning back around like an exasperated parent.
Sarah lets out a dramatic sigh. “Can’t you program this thing to go any faster?”
Andy turns to his left. “Toyota? Can you go faster?” He frowns. “I’m not sure he understood.”
“Your jokes are so funny,” I say dryly.
Andy raises his hands in surrender. “I don’t know what you want from me,” he says with a laugh. “These things are programmed to follow the laws of traffic. I can’t punch the gas and start driving on the sidewalk.”
“Why don’t we just get out and walk?” I ask.
“Walk?” Sarah repeats. She considers this, peering out the window at the pulsing lights and loud music coming from the Vertix crowd, and then at the line of cars still in front of us. After a moment she looks down at the heels on her feet. “Oh man, my feet are so going to kill me.”
“Come on, you big baby,” Andy says, opening the passenger door. “When they start to bleed, I’ll carry you.”
Sarah and I climb out and wait as Andy matches the iJewel on his wrist up to the laser scanner built into the steering wheel to complete payment. It blinks green and my brother slides out.
“Look at that,” Andy says as he walks around the front of the car, pointing up.
We both look and find a firework display of enormous proportions looming above. It thunders, booming like a rumbling cannon. The firework crackles, the gunpowder exploding in a shower of golden sparks as a giant letter V dominates the skyline. Vertix.
In spite of my reservations about the new technology, I can’t stop the butterflies in my stomach as we admire the sights and sounds of this celebratory rave. This product is revolutionary; a virtual reality legend.
I look back at my brother with a large smile that immediately begins to fade. Andy and Sarah had taken advantage of my momentary distraction to get some heavy flirting in. Their expressions are guilty as their hands slip away from each other.
“Oh, go on then,” I say with a sigh. It’s pointless to fight this. I have to let it play out.
“Really?” Sarah squeals. She crushes me to her petite body and I inhale her warm scent of jasmine. “Oh, Mags! We promise, nothing’s going to change between the three of us. Andy and I will just hold hands!”
“Thanks, little sis. This is really cool of you,” Andy says with a grin, pulling Sarah back to his side and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Oh well. “Come on, let’s go.”
We start in the direction of the Meadows, leaving our grid-locked automated UPick car behind. The sidewalk is now teeming with eager Vertix enthusiasts as others have decided to abandon their cars as well. We make it a little over a mile when Sarah cries out in pain.
“Forget it! These shoes can go to hell!” she yells, plopping down in the middle of the sidewalk and fidgeting with the clasps on her strappy heels. “I feel like I’m stepping on glass.”
“Wait!” I cry out, realizing the girls behind us don’t see Sarah on the ground.
All three girls have their eyes focused straight ahead, their arms raised high so their iJewels are angled to capture their perfect strut. The one in the middle, with sky-blue curls to her shoulders and eyebrows to match, bumps into Sarah’s back. She stumbles to the right, directly into her friend with black and white tattooed sleeves cascading down her arms. They both lose their balance, trying to catch themselves with one another, but it doesn’t work. Both girls join Sarah on the ground.
The third friend, a stunning young girl, finally breaks her concentration and looks down at her mangled friends. “Can you two watch where you’re going for three seconds? This is the eighth time I’ve tried to capture myself,” she complains.
A few startled gasps and curses echo around the small space the chaos has carved out, but for the most part, the gathering crowd behind us maneuvers the fallen girls easily, barely glancing away from their iJewels.
I offer the tangled girls a hand. “Sarah, are you okay?”
Sarah scrunches her features and puts a hand to her head. There’s no blood but I can see where her forehead scraped concrete. “Nooo,” she stresses, sounding like a little kid again. “We should just go.”
I can’t help chuckling. “You are so pathetic.” I grin, helping her to her bare feet. The other girls are ignoring us, already checking their reflections and primping themselves back into perfection. They’re probably using that stupid Catwalk app.
Andy appears. “Hey, what happened to you guys? I look back and you’re gone. I thought you were right behind me.”
“Sarah ditched her shoes and then caused a minor traffic collision,” I report, stepping back.
Andy brushes past me, enveloping Sarah in his muscular arms. “Are you all right? Did you get hurt?” he asks.
Sarah’s eyes begin to well up with glassy tears. I roll mine. She’s such a drama queen. “I just can’t go any further. My feet are killing me and my shoes are gone. Can we just go home?”
Andy leans in and kisses her lightly. Like he’s done it a thousand times already. I push the thought away.
“You don’t want to go home,” my brother teases, swooping Sarah up in his arms as if she weighed no more than a notebook. “Come on. We’ll find you some shoes and get you a drink. Look how close we are!” He glances down at her and grins. “Or I’ll take you home if you want. We can always get the Vertix later—after everyone else.” He turns around, walking against the flow of traffic.
I remain where I am. I know how this is going to end. Sarah doesn’t like to lose, to be out of the loop.
Sarah’s tear-filled eyes look over Andy’s shoulder, seeing everything she’ll miss if she leaves. “No, no, wait. I mean, we’re already here, like you said. I’ll be fine.”
“Ready?” I call over the numerous bobbing heads between me and the lovebirds. Andy leans down and kisses Sarah again. “Get a room!” I cry, turning around. Feeling like an awkward third wheel, I unlock my iJewel and pull up the latest cover design I’ve been playing with for Just a Taste. I can’t decide how literal I want to go with it. The author hasn’t really provided me with much to go on so I’m kind of winging it until I hear from him.
“Maggie! No more work!” Sarah giggles, back to her old self. She reaches out as Andy carries her by and covers my iJewel with her hand. “Let’s go have some fun!”
I groan loudly as the three of us melt into the crowd, but my heart is racing. The flashing lights and pumping beats draw us like moths to a flame and the tips of my fingers tingle with nervous excitement. Maybe this will be fun.
• • • • •
“Jump! Jump! Jump!” the crowd screams behind me as my toes curl around the edge of the rocky cliff. The beautiful turquoise ocean shimmers like a portal to another world and I’m standing on the edge, ready to break through. With a shaky breath,
I lean forward, teetering a little.
“Jump, jump, jump!” the crowd yells wildly, watching my adventure, eager for me to fly.
I look down at the clear blue water splashing against the rocks. White sea foam sprinkles my legs even way up here. The deep roar of the ocean calls to me like a Siren’s song. The water looks so far away.
It’s closer than you think, a tiny voice in the back of my mind whispers.
“Jump, jump, jump!” the crowd cries even louder, sounding like a frenzied pack of hyenas after a carcass.
I exhale and give in to their demands, stepping off the edge of the sheer cliff face. There’s nothing beneath my feet and I am falling, dropping, soaring back to the earth. My arms float above my head and my fingers create a ripple through the sky as they catch the wisp of a cloud. My long brown hair tickles my inner arm, the soft tendrils weaving around my wrists like twisting vines.
I am all alone, sailing through the endless blue sky. My long white dress billows up around me, exposing my stomach and white panties, but I don’t care. I squeeze my eyes shut. For the first time my mind is wondrously blank as I drift to the awaiting waves below.
A second later, I hit the azure water, plunging beneath the lazy waves. My eyes open. The whole world has changed. It’s as if the sky has swallowed me whole.
All around me stretches light blue water as far as the eye can see. My hands fan out and graze soft white sand. Thick ripples from the ever-flowing tide dance like ribbons on the sea floor, evidence of this strange world’s landscape. My arms and legs move easily through the water, passing through the sunlight’s rays as they pierce the vast ocean.
My white dress twirls around my body and my long hair has taken up a life all its own. I feel like a mermaid. I don’t ever want to leave this paradise.
You don’t have a choice, the same voice from before speaks up, shattering my perfect moment of peace.
A steady beeping sounds and I twist around to look behind me. The beeping grows louder and my frail world blurs with each passing second. Faster and faster the beeping becomes, pulling me toward the surface with each new sound. My body arches, my head tilting back as I’m propelled upward.
The beeping continues, louder, faster.
At last, I breach the surface, gasping a huge lungful of air. My eyes flash open and my underwater world is gone, replaced instead with a thousand faces all watching me as I stand in the middle of a green screen, a brand new virtual reality app seducing me with help from a fitted eye mask.
All at once, sound filters against my eardrums as an employee removes my mask, effectively disengaging the virtual reality. I take a wobbly step back, holding my head. I don’t even remember getting in line or putting on the mask. I close my eyes and try to go back to the cliff, to my silent bubble underneath the rhythmic waves, but I can’t. I’ve lost it for good.
“And that ladies and gents was Acceleration! A brand-new app only available on the Vertix H2! Step up and let your mind go blank. Acceleration will infiltrate your mind and make your deepest desires a reality!” the young representative yells loudly. His voice carries, echoing in the distance, but I don’t see a microphone or speaker attached to him.
He’s suddenly right beside me, gripping my elbow, his other hand on my lower back. “I hope you enjoyed your experience,” he says with a smile. He has too many teeth. “Give them this when you buy your Vertix and they’ll give you a discount.” He hands me a card with the name Acceleration blasted onto it. His other hand has yet to leave my back and I feel his fingers dip lower, grazing the top of my panties. “Come back and see me later.”
I step away, confused and still woozy from the experience. A girl with spiky red hair has taken my spot and the awaiting crowd whoops while they wait to see her paradise broadcasted on the green screen behind her, just as they watched mine.
I walk away from the new technology, stunned by what I saw—what I felt. How did a machine do that? I felt alive, free, literally on top of the world. I want to do it again. I pivot on my heels and am heading to the back of the line when Sarah appears.
“Maggie! Where have you been?” She grasps my shoulder for balance and attempts to spin around on the ball of her foot.
“You find some tasty drinks, Sar?” I ask, holding her upright. Slyly I glance back toward the virtual reality station, trying to judge the length of the line.
“I did! How did you know?” Sarah laughs loudly in my ear. I wince but don’t move away.
“Oh, it was just a guess. Where did you find them? I’m so thirsty.”
“Andy found this really cool bar!” Sarah says, pointing wildly in a random direction. “They poured the vodka and lit it on fire! And it went right into my mouth and didn’t even hurt.” Her eyes are huge. “It was amazing, Mags. What were you doing?”
I gesture to the green screen behind us. “I tried out this virtual reality thing, it was really…wait, where’s Andy?”
Sarah looks confused for a minute and squeezes her eyes shut. I recognize her look of drunken concentration. “Umm,” she starts. “He saw something and said he’d be back. He told me to stay at the bar, but I got bored and found you instead!”
I shake my head, surveying the endless sea of faces and wide eyes. There must be over two thousand people here, entertaining themselves until the mysterious H2 makes its midnight appearance.
“Time,” I say, but my iJewel remains black. “Time!” I shout, louder this time over the symphony of voices and electric dance beats. At last my iJewel displays the time digitally in pale purple numbers. Eleven forty-three. Only a few more minutes until the H2 arrives. I bite my lip, curious as to where my anticipation is coming from. I’ve seen the ads and commercials a hundred times, but until I leapt into the virtual sea, I had no idea what the new technology could do, could make me feel.
“Where did you see Andy last?” I ask Sarah, gently guiding her chin to look at me.
“Umm, that way I think.” She gestures.
We pass the crowd gathered around the virtual reality station and my mind longs to turn back. All I want is to stand on that cliff once more, feel the wind tangle in my hair as I fly toward the soft sea.
“There he is!” Sarah shouts, instantly dispelling my daydream.
“Where?” I stand on my tiptoes.
“Over there! By that guy lifting the dumbbells,” Sarah points, sticking her hand directly between a couple leaning in for a kiss. She doesn’t notice. “Come on! Andy! Andy!”
My brother doesn’t respond. He has a black eye mask wrapped around his head and a pair of large weights gripped in his hands.
“What’s he doing?”
“I don’t know.” Sarah shrugs, pulling me toward the edge of the red mat where Andy is standing. “Andy! Hey, Andy!”
An employee dressed identical to the creep at the virtual reality station looks over Andy’s shoulder toward us. His eyes widen in appreciation as he looks Sarah up and down. That gray top really does make her boobs look amazing. He taps Andy on the shoulder and leans in close to his ear. I see his lips move but I can’t hear what he’s saying.
Andy sets the heavy weights down and stands up, waiting for the rep to remove the black mask. He’s facing away from us, but he shakes his head and stumbles backward, catching himself before he falls into an artfully arranged display of yoga mats. He turns, his mouth gaping open as he mouths the word, wow.
“Andy! Hey, baby!” Sarah calls again, taking a step closer to him, her foot on the mat. For a split second I wonder where her flip-flops came from, then see the Vertix lettering.
“Hey, guys!” Andy grins, walking off the mat as another guy takes his place. “Sorry I left you at the bar for so long, Sar. I saw the weights and all the machines and wanted to check it out. This tech is amazing! He tied that mask around my eyes and then made me do a few reps with the weights. Every time I pumped, I could see the way my muscles worked and expanded, stretching and contracting as blood pumped through them. It also outlined areas to improve
on and a voice told me how at the same time. It was like having my very own personal trainer inside my head!”
“I did something like that too,” I chime in. “Nothing with weights, but I saw myself on a cliff, diving into the ocean. It was the coolest thing.”
“Yeah? I’d love to try that out!” Andy enthuses. “They have a ton of virtual reality here. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Well, where do you guys want to go now? I haven’t really tried much out. Except I did get my nails sprayed again—see!” Sarah holds out her hands and instead of the lavender polish from earlier, her nails now sport a bright blue color. “It’s mood changing polish. Blue means I’m really happy!” She places a sloppy kiss on the corner of Andy’s mouth.
“I bet you are,” he says with a laugh, kissing her forehead. He points toward the stage. “I did see another station with giant empty picture frames over there. Want to check that out?”
“Time,” I say, bringing my lips close to my iJewel screen. My warm breath fogs across the cool black background causing the numbers to appear slightly blurry as they dominate the screen. Eleven fifty-seven. “Guys, it’s almost midnight. Should we get in line?” I volunteer, nodding to the store several hundred yards away.
Andy leads the way, using his broad shoulders and over six-foot frame to clear a path as smaller patrons melt out of his way. I grip Sarah’s hand tightly, afraid to lose them in the packed crowd. It’s like New Year’s Eve in Times Square on steroids.
We pass by several stations I haven’t seen yet. One has several older couples sitting around a holographic spinning globe, suspended in the air. Their lips are moving and their eyes are blank as they whisper words in languages I don’t recognize.
Another station spans the length of several stores as we walk around it, with huge blow-up obstacles littered about. The blow-up structures range from five to twenty feet tall and between them are long, twisting mazes. I try to see inside, but the walls are too thick. A sign on the outside wall challenges: Can you escape?
“Andy, can we come back to this one after?” I call out, eager to ditch right now.
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