The Real World

by Jacob Long

  I hear what sounds like the front door opening. I hope I'm wrong. "RT, we're about to have company. Anyway, you can expedite this process?" I ask. I hear a faint voice. It sounds like a female voice. A very familiar female voice. She only says one word. I'm not sure what the word is because the sound of it has to travel through the hall and is blocked by the office door. I quickly activate my imitation device so that my face and body return to normal but my clothes look like those of which Rich Jayden has been wearing all day. I hear a door open, and a footstep down onto a stair. I hear the word again. As clear as day. "Marco?" Elena calls out.

  "Polo," I respond as if I have no control over my vocal system. As if I'm a complete idiot who has no sense of self-preservation. What was I thinking? I just lost a few extra seconds. I can hear her turn and head back up the stairs. Her footsteps grow louder as she approaches the office door. My heart is pounding as RT tells me that he is finished and I pull the holographic interface device away from the computer. "Marco?" she repeats. I can't help it. "Polo," I say. The door opens, and I can tell that RT is telling me something along the lines of 'get out of there,' but it's just too late. The girl I love is standing right in front of me.

  22

  This is not a dream. She's here. I'm completely enchanted by her. Elena is standing in front of me, her medium length black hair, just the way I remember it. Her green eyes, gazing into my blue ones. She's wearing a blue dress with a V neckline. It cuts off where her shoulders begin and flows down to the top of her knees. The color of her dress and my shirt are matching. I instantly remember her doing that on purpose this morning. Of course, that is one of Rich Jayden's memories. In my world, Elena would often match with me on purpose as well. And she was always a little boastful about the fact that she never had to read my mind to do it.

  Part of me knows that it's not her standing in the doorway, leaning on the frame, her smile a bit mischievous. I know it's not her and yet at the same time, it is her. My heart is racing like it did the first time that we met. “I thought you were entertaining some friends,” she says. “They're out at the stables. I had some last minute work to do.” She shakes her head. “Work? While we have guests?” she asks as she walks over to me. “I don't think so. You need to take me down there and introduce me to them.” She grabs my hands and pulls for me to get up.

  “Uh, Jayden, this is a bad idea,” is what I think RT tells me as I follow Elena down the hallway. We nearly reach the patio doors before she stops. She looks down at her dress. There is a small stain that I didn't notice before. “Actually, I think I'd like to change.” She scans my outfit. “And you should too. Why are you always wearing business clothing?” “I just like the look of it,” I reply almost stuttering. I feel like I'm a boy in middle school talking to a pretty girl for the first time. She takes my hand and guides me.

  I gently pull her back toward me, and she turns to look me in the eyes. "What's with you today?" Her gaze is mesmerizing. "It's been forever since I've seen you," I state. She giggles and shakes her head. "Forever since this morning?" I smile and pull her in for a kiss. After a few seconds of growing passion, she pulls back. "Oh, wow," she exclaims. "Okay, well I don't know where that came from, but you're going to have to save it for later," she tells me as she takes off her shoes. "Now come on, I'll race you up the stairs."

  She swings around the railing and onto the stairs. She dashes up them. Immediately, I jump into action and start chasing her. We're like children at this point. I barely manage to catch up to her at the top of the stairs. "Looks like I win again!" She giggles the last word out as I tickle her. She continues to run in an effort to escape my grasp. She reaches the master bedroom and opens the door, tossing her shoes inside. She tries to shut the door on me, but I'm just too fast. I can barely acknowledge how big and beautiful the room is as I focus on tickling her.

  "Okay, okay," she says, pushing me away by the shoulders. She gives me a strange look. "We'll call it a tie," she proclaims as her gaze narrows in on my shoulders. "Your shoulders seem a little bigger than usual." I feel like I should have a response even though she didn't ask me a question. She shrugs the observation off and walks over to the closet. I'm standing on the right side of the bed facing the walk-in closet. To my left is the bedroom door, and to my right is the far wall where the head of the bed resides. Of course, I can only see these things in my peripheral vision because right now, I can't help but look at Elena. It only gets worse as she slips the straps off of her dress. As the article of clothing quickly descends to the ground, I freeze up more than before, if that's possible.

  Standing in her underwear, she turns back to see me frozen. "You are so weird today." she smiles. "Come on. You need to change too." I should walk away. I should run, but I can't. An intangible force pulls me toward her. "Jayden!" I think RT may be yelling at me or maybe I imagine it. Either way, the interrupting noise ceases as I deactivate my helmet and toss it onto a plush nightstand near the door. Elena is too preoccupied with choosing something to wear to notice it land. I walk up behind her, place my hands gently on her waist, and kiss softly at the nape of her neck. She turns around to face me and kisses me on the lips. It's all coming back to me.

  As we continue to kiss with more and more passion, it feels as though she is not Rich Elena nor is she my Elena, and I am not Julian nor am I me. All of the memories, all of the experiences are melding into one. I am having a strange identity crisis, and yet, I can't focus on that right now. She starts to unbutton my shirt. She throws it onto the plush nightstand, covering my headset. She pushes me toward the bed and pounces onto me. I nearly lose my balance. A smile crosses our faces. A small laugh escapes our lips. We stare at each other and continue kissing.

  Part of me says that we should stop. Instead, I turn around and carry her toward the bed. "The door," she says. "Someone could hear us." I pivot before reaching the bed. She closes the door, and I spin around making a beeline for the bed. Once we reach it, I drop her down. "It hasn't been this long, has it?" she asks, her emerald green eyes staring up at me. I stare deeply into them. I place my hands on the sides of her shoulders. As we continue to kiss, she places her hands on my back. I can feel her fingers press down against my burn scars, and instantly, I know this was a mistake.

  She pulls away. "Jayden?" she asks, surprised. "Let me see your back." There's no way I'm going to get out of this one. As much as I'd hate to, maybe I should just tranquilize her, and erase her memories of this whole experience. I can't bring myself to do it, so I turn around. She gasps at the sight. "What did you do?" she asks as she gently caresses my back. "I don't understand. These scars aren't new," she says in a tone that expects me to give her an answer. "I should put my shirt back on." I move toward my shirt, but she grabs me by the hand. "Wait. You need to tell me how this happened."

  My gaze lowers down to her hand holding mine. I gently rub my thumb over her knuckles. "I don't know if I can." Tears are forming in her eyes. She knows that something horrible happened to me. How could she not? I'm sure that the scars are horrendous looking. "I need to put my shirt back on." I walk over to the nightstand. She looks over and notices me picking up the shirt. Her brow furrows as she focuses on the shirt. "Weren't you wearing a button up?"

  She says as I reach for my ISF shirt. Strangely enough, it is a similar shade of blue to Rich Jayden's shirt. However, as it hangs there from the nightstand, it is plain to see that it is not a button up. Before she can move toward it for further inspection, we hear the sound of footsteps. We look toward the direction of the sound and then to each other. She cringes. “They must have gotten tired of waiting for you.” My heart starts beating even faster than before. The door begins to move. “Elena? Is that you?” Rich Jayden says just before peering inside of the room.

  He stares at Rich Elena and me, dumbfounded. Neither of them is sure how to react. He manages to get a hold of himself and switches from shock to anger in a flash. It's just how I imagine myself looking when I become enraged. It's not a good sight. I
put my hands into the air and back away. "All right. Let me explain," I say. Elena stands up and points at Rich Jayden and I. We both look at her simultaneously and say, "It's going to be okay." She faints as if hearing two voices at once is too much to handle. I catch her, and carefully lay her onto the bed. Rich Jayden glares at me.

  "Step away from my wife," he says. I put my hands up and step back. He hurries over to the bed. He checks her breathing, makes sure that it's good. He turns to me. "Who are you, why do you look like me, and what have you done to Travis?" he asks the questions although he doesn't really want to talk. "Listen, I can explain," I reply, trying to magically calm him down with my hands. He backs up to the closet, carefully. He's backing away, but the look on his face isn't fearful. He looks like he wants to fight. He pulls out a pen from his pocket, presses a button, and throws it at me like a dart. I step aside to dodge it, but it doesn't matter. A blue sphere of electricity bursts out from the pen. I can barely realize that it's about five feet in circumference before it knocks me down.

  My abilities must still be significantly reduced from the teleportation sickness because that hurt. I reach up onto the bed, barely managing to pull my eyes above the covers. Rich Jayden is in the closet. He's putting on a strange looking suit. I let go of the bed, fall to the ground, and start crawling as fast as I can toward the door. With the effort I am giving, I feel that I should be outside of the house by now. The open bedroom door is so close to me now. Only a foot or two away. My body is starting to recover as well. Steadily, I bring my right foot forward and stand up. As soon as I reach for the handle, Rich Jayden bursts into view. The door quickly closes before I can touch it.

  I watch as his fist closes, the punch coming for me, and I lift my arm to block. Tiny stars pop up everywhere as my jaw stings with pain. My block was too late. My reflexes are not very fast right now. Fortunately, the bed softens my fall. I gather enough sense to roll away immediately. I know that he plans on following up. He lunges toward me, and I kick his leg out from under him. He catches himself, and without missing a beat, he moves toward me. His right fist comes crashing down at my face. I slide over to my left just in time. The floor crumbles beneath the pressure. I think it's safe to assume that he is wearing a suit that provides some strength augmentation like Xyla's.

  For a moment, his hand gets stuck inside of the floor. I take my opportunity by rolling over to the wall and standing up as he yanks it out. My body starts to feel better. I'm recovering a lot quicker now. As he runs at me, I lift my foot up and kick him in the chest. His body flies over the bed and back to the closet. I walk around the bed, over to the closet, and throw a punch to his face. He catches it, squeezing my fist. It's a tad painful. With his other hand, he lifts me up at the armpit and twists me around and downward. My back slams into the wall of the closet. I reach to the side, and grab hold of some clothes, wrapping them around his face. I spin him around, and twist my body, backing away from his grasp.

  He tears the clothes away. His face is red with fury. He moves toward me at lightning speed. I block his first few punches, but they land hard even on my arms. Something is stopping me from fighting back. I guess I don't like the idea of hitting myself. He doesn't seem to mind at all. Finally, he manages to land a punch to the gut. Even though I flex my abs, his blows still incur a lot of damage. He keeps going, pummeling my stomach into annihilation. Finally, I move in, grabbing him by the neck. He doesn't have enough space to deliver a good body shot anymore.

  I launch my knee upward, jamming it into his rib cage. I do the same with the other knee and repeat the process, moving him backward while each knee takes a turn pulverizing his ribs. That turns out to be a mistake however as he catches on to the rhythm and grabs hold of one of my legs. My head and torso fall backward as my knee and leg lift into the air. He lets go with one hand and places it on my hip. He squats down slightly and throws me up into the ceiling. I smack hard against the solid structure and fall down landing hard against the lightly carpeted floor. Pieces of drywall raining down beside me.

  I can barely comprehend anything at this point. Rich Jayden about to kick me when someone attacks him from behind. Real Jayden grabs Rich Jayden's jacket and kicks him in the back of the knee. I'm guessing he picked up that move from our connection. Rich Jayden crumples backward but quickly recovers. He rolls over and stands up, facing down Real Jayden like a feral cat. He does a double take of both Real Jayden and I. "They said you'd look like me. I just didn't realize how weird that would be until now," says Rich Jayden. Real Jayden approaches Rich Jayden and throws several jabs and crosses at his face. Rich Jayden slips all of them and hits Real Jayden in the stomach.

  The super strength is too much. Real Jayden crumples over and nearly passes out. Rich Jayden lifts him up and throws him against the wall. He lands near the door. I focus on regaining my composure. I could use my full strength right now. Most of my martial arts training is even escaping my mind at the moment. I can see him coming for me, so I roll away. He continues toward me, so I muster up all of my focus and kick his foot out before he reaches me. He falls, and I roll him over, getting him on the ground. I throw hit after hit. He won't knock out. I barely manage to keep him down by repeatedly punching him. My shoulders are running out of energy. I throw some elbows too. It feels so strange to hit myself like this.

  I stop to take a breather. Rich Jayden is still conscious and looks like he's about to get a second wind. I look around for something to hit him with and spot a lamp on the nightstand by the bed. I get up to grab it as he grabs my leg. I hear a whooshing sound, and his hand goes limp. I look up to see Xyla and Callum. Xyla's arm is raised, she is holding her tranquilizer pistol aimed at Rich Jayden. I look down to see a dart sticking out of his neck. "Thank you." I stumble over to Real Jayden who is still passed out on the floor. "He needs medical attention." Xyla rushes over to his side. She assesses his vital signs, opens his airway, and starts pumping on his chest. She pinches his nose and breathes into his mouth. I'm sure that this will be one of his favorite memories.

  After Xyla revives Real Jayden, we administer anesthetics to all of Rich Jayden's family and their maid. RT informs us that Rich Jayden set off a silent alarm so we will need to get out of there quickly. We have a taxi pick us up to take us back to Xyla's place. RT finishes scouring through Rich Jayden's files and informs us that he is indeed part of the Ministry. I stare back at the Lancaster estate. It's getting smaller and smaller as we drive away. Real Jayden turns back and looks at it as well. It is so much like the original estate. It was almost like being there, visiting my family's original home. The one that I had seen in pictures. The one that I have heard so many stories about. "There is still a chance that he was brainwashed into it," Xyla says, reassuringly. She seems concerned.

  "Yes, hopefully, that's the case," I reply as I turn my head back. Although, I know that I may have to accept the reality that my Rich World doppelganger chose the wrong side. What could have possessed him to do this? I wonder. Whatever the reason, he is heavily involved. RT updates us with the news that Rich Jayden financially backed the current U.N. President when he first ran for office, and they continue to have frequent discussions. These discussions are about the Ministry's impending take over of the Rich World. We sit in silence, absorbing the information. "Sorry to break up the reverie," Callum says, "but what were you thinking back there with Elena?" "I wasn't," I reply flatly.

  Somehow, even with all of the vast differences between our worlds, Elena and I still ended up together. In my world, these are the things that brought our families together and enabled us to meet each other. Her great-grandfather father and my great-grandfather were two friends coming together to try and save the world in a time of war. In this world, they were two friends coming together to better the world in a time of peace. No nuclear fallout. No hostile government takeover.

  She's alive and happy. And there I am, a successful businessman and a successful family man. Never having had worried about the struggles of war. Never hav
ing had dealt with the pain of losing my first family and not being able to start a second. Now I want to go back and punch that guy. Although, things aren't working out for him now either. Carlisle is messing Rich Jayden's life up as well. Whether it was through brainwashing, telepathy, or some other reason, my Rich World doppelganger is involved in a lot of bad things. I take a brief moment to look at each of my teammates. "I'm compromised."

  They seem taken aback that I would admit such a thing. That is good, because it allows me the time I need to explain. "I have an obvious weakness. A few, actually." I pause, exhaling. I've been spreading my attention to all of them, but now I look directly at Callum. "You and Barrett came to me, and I told you, I wasn't fit for this kind of thing anymore." I look to each of them again. "I need you guys to help me. I need you guys to do your best to keep me out of situations like that. We're a team now. When one of us makes a bad call, it's up to the rest of us to help each other. I'll do everything I can to protect you guys and make sure that this mission is a success.”

  I direct my attention specifically to Callum again. "You wanted me, you got me," I look at Xyla and Real Jayden, "and you guys are just stuck with me." I hold my hand outstretched to them in a fist. They pause for a moment. "Don't tell me this isn't a universal sign." They grin and bump my fists with theirs. The heaviness of the moment breaks up when RT feeds us another large chunk of information. The corruption in the Rich World is much much worse than we thought. "How many?" I ask RT after pressing my comm button. "Over fifty percent," he replies revealing to me the number of corrupt agents working for the IDPA. Xyla's eyes grow wide, and the color fades from her face.