Walk

Walk

Written by Rida Kidwai

4:00PM

He squinted amongst the bright light that was shining greatly. Focusing on the brown, blue, gray, and green mixed together, he tried keeping his vision clear. Rubbing his eyes constantly, blinking and squinting non stop made his face hurt. He turned the other way, blocking himself from the sun. 

At that point, he realized he was on the ground, on a hard, concrete surface. The ground was burning, and as he noticed this, he quickly got up, refraining himself from the blazing sun. Soon, he felt his vision returning, enough for him to focus on where he was. Or.. who he was. 

He remembered. His name is Mateo Rodriguez. A grown, twenty year old man, who he remembered had long, dark brown hair, brown eyes and a clean face, with no facial hair. He wondered when he shaved, or how he shaved. He realized he was standing on a single lane road, surrounded by a desert that was occupied with cacti . Mateo looked at his clothes and noticed he wasn’t in normal, casual clothes. For some odd reason, he was wearing a lab coat, with a teal green collared shirt under it. He wore black dress pants and tight, closed sneakers. Where am I? Why am I dressed in a lab coat? Mateo couldn’t remember anything. A sense of paranoia engulfed him as he looked around at the desert. There was no one to be seen, not a single soul breathed this dry, rough air that felt suffocating. Mateo decided to walk on the road, tripping on the first step on a rock as his feet felt glued to the ground out of fear.

He continued to walk on the long road which seemed as if it never ended. He looked into the distance and saw that the road kept going, it seemed like a very long path. 

He eventually started running, desperate to reach the end, or find someone for help. Mateo again, fell on the ground as he tripped on another rock. He became anxious as the road didn’t seem any shorter, the distance was never changing.

When he looked back, Mateo saw that the path seemed the same, as if he never walked any distance. He started to panic and tremble, still racing forward. Again, Mateo nearly fell as he tripped on another rock. 

He was confused and puzzled why he kept tripping after a specific amount of time. When he looked around, he felt as if the desert wasn’t changing. As if pictures of the desert were copied and pasted. 

He looked around constantly, trying to spot something different, something or someone that could help him. He realized that his throat felt restrained, as he didn’t dare to shout out of fear. It felt as if someone had blocked all voice passages and he was terminated from speaking ever again. He kept running, racing, looking left and right. As he ran, he once again tripped on the ground, over a rock. Mateo became frustrated and kicked the rock away in the distance. When he kicked it, the rock disappeared when it flew in the air. Ignoring the bizarre image, he continued to walk until he came to a halt as something caught his eye.

Mateo slightly moved back and forward on the same spot and then he saw it. He saw it in a blink of an eye. He tried adjusting and positioning himself to see the thing again. 

As he stood there slightly moving forward and back he suddenly came to a position where he had a clear view of what it was. He was looking right, towards the desert and he saw a break between two deserts. 

A glitch. It was a teal, blue glitch that looked like a hologram. Mateo realized that the desert after the glitch was the same one before it. It then made sense to him. The road would never end. He was in a circle. 

The constant minutes, which felt like hours of him running, was all pointless. He would never reach an end to this road. Why, though? What or how is this even possible? Mateo thought desperately, inferring his theory was correct. He couldn’t understand or process what to do, should he keep walking or should he go into the desert? 

The problem with the desert was that it was full of cactuses and Mateo didn’t want to risk getting injured from unknown plants. So he made his decision. He will Walk. 

Mateo kept walking and walking and it was at that point he realized how thirsty he was. Being so occupied with panic and racing thoughts, he forgot about his overall health. His tongue matched the image of the desert around him, drenched, dry, sore, rough. 

He looked around lazily, and as he slowly turned around, what he saw made him jump and finally scream, as his voice felt weird. 

He put his hand on his heart as he looked out of terror of what he saw behind him in the distance. A man.

A silhouette of a figure that Mateo couldn’t make out. He seemed tall, skinny and terrifying. He couldn’t see his face or what he was wearing but the way he was standing there, just looking at Mateo made his heart race frantically. Mateo, again, was in a dilemma. 

Should he walk? Or should he keep staring at this man, which clenched his stomach further.

Mateo had a gut feeling this man wasn’t “sent” for help. He was sent for trouble, and the last thing Mateo wanted right now was trouble. He kept his eyes wide open, barely blinking, looking at the man. The man didn’t move an inch. Mateo inferred that the man was looking at him as he couldn’t exactly tell if he was standing towards or backwards of him. 

Eventually, Mateo started walking but he didn’t turn his back on the man, so he kept walking backwards. Suddenly, Mateo had a frightening thought. If his theory, where the desert is the same image copy and pasted over and over again was right, if he kept walking.. The man would rather be right in front of him or behind him, and he didn’t want this man near him. 

This made him stop and keep staring at the man without a blink. His eyes started burning and he started to tear up. 

He kept looking at the man in the distance, trying to keep his eyes open, certain that within a blink he would disappear. 

When he couldn’t bear the pain anymore, he had finally blinked.

When he opened his eyes… the man was right in front of his face. 

Mateo screamed, punching the horrifying figure. It was a dark-faced man with long black hair. He had a mouth like a monster, that had many teeth everywhere.. Ready to vacuum its prey. His eyes were bloodshot red and he had claw-like hands. This wasn’t a man. It was a creature disguised as a human. 

The figure was untouchable, Mateo failed to damage him. He fell to the ground, as the creature hovered above him. Mateo’s heart raced, certain he had a heart attack. Not knowing why, he jumped up and ran as fast as he could. 

As expected, he saw the creature in the distance in front of him just standing there eerily. This time, the creature ran towards Mateo, with its hands outstretched.

 Mateo’s gut squirmed, his throat constricted, his heart pumped, his face was drenched in sweat and he felt dizzy. Really dizzy. At some point, Mateo had fallen to the ground, his vision went black and the creature was his last memory…

He felt himself gone, amongst the chatter he heard above him. His eyes were closed, and he felt his heart fail. He could tell his life was ending. He didn’t know who the people were who carried him and tried to help, and he didn’t want to either. He heard all types of stuff, one from the beautiful voice he loved, who said, “HE’S DEAD?” His name was the last sound he heard in the distance, uttered in a worried, deep tone, “Mateo?”

1 Hour Ago…

“Looks good, let’s test it. Insert the hologram in the sphere. That's you Mateo, do it just as we practiced.” A blonde, female worker nearby had announced it to the staff, nodding specifically towards Mateo. He had been frightened by the thought of being able to control a holographic sphere, coding whatever he desired. He had been even more disturbed by inserting a character in the form of a hologram. It's just a test, it's only fake, you aren’t torturing anyone in reality… It's just a test, it’s only fake… Mateo thought this over and over again to sleep, over and over in the car, over and over as he worked, and over and over as he stood in front of the computer, with his hands hovered above the keyboard, ready to code in the hologram.

“Mateo?” The blonde worker had asked, with her sharp eyebrows raised. 

As Mateo looked into her deep hazel eyes, his heart clenched and his stomach twisted, debating whether he should face his fear and impress the girl he loved, or chicken out and disappoint his inner soul. He stared at the floating, purple netted sphere that showed an image of a single lane road that was surrounded by a desert and many cactuses. It was indeed a bright sun portrayed in the sphere, as he squinted slightly to see through it. As much as the light shone, he dozed off, staring at the floating globe which was a mesmerizing look. Thoughts of the blonde girl and the poor holographic figure drowned him, and he wondered what life must be like in that small space-no. It’s just a hologram. It's not real life, it’s all code, light and science. Mateo again assured himself to destroy the guilt inside him. 

“Mateo? Mateo Rodriguez? Earth to Mateo? Mateo!” The whispered voice had suddenly struck him. The blonde girl was now in front of him, waving at his face, her eyebrows raised and her forest-like eyes staring into his.

 “Are you gonna code this thing or you wanna get in there yourself?” The woman boldly stated. 

Mateo felt the bug in his stomach sting him as he heard this. His eyes widened as he whispered to her, “T-That’s possible? T-To go in there?”

The staff laughed and chuckled as they heard this, the woman smirked, shaked her head and said, 

“Mateo, be a man and code the frickin 'hologram. How many times do I have to tell you? This life, these characters aren’t real! They are reflected lights and these characters are programmed to look and act natural. They are just tests to estimate and predict how humans might react if these scenarios come to life. It’s all a part of science and medical studies on the human body. Don’t you wanna help? Then suck it up and put your fingers on the keys!” The woman sassed in his face, spitting on the ground as Mateo nodded his head shamelessly. 

“Er- Ainsley?” Mateo gulped as Ainsley turned around, giving him a blazing look.

“Er- I’ll do as you say, just let me run to the restroom quickly.” 

Ainsley rolled her eyes and shooed away Mateo saying, “Hurry it up, you soft sponge.”

Mateo walked out, sniffling as he tripped on a water bottle on the ground. He slowly trampled to the restroom until he reached the door. As he was about to open it, his best mate, Antonio, had startled him. He laughed as Mateo put a hand to his heart and breathed heavily. 

“Hola señor, cómo está?” Antonio said, chuckling as he nudged Mateo.

“You idiot! You nearly gave me a heart attack. Step aside, I’m not in the mood.”

“Come ooon, what’s up with you again? Freaking over that purple circle thing?” Antonio said, catching up to him as both of them entered the restroom. 

Mateo turned around sharply, as he was most confident in front of Antonio. His friend looked energetic as always, with his black hair slicked back, his shaven mustache growing back and Mateo couldn’t help but smile at himself that he was slightly taller than Antonio.

 Antonio worked in the other department. They all worked in SciNet, the science lab where different tests are runned to conclude results to medical experts. Antonio worked in discovering medications for unique diseases, by observing different medicines, cells and bacterias. 

His friend really enjoyed his job as he was passionate about science and biology. On the other hand, Mateo was forced into this field by his parents. His passion lay in architecture, building new homes and starting futures for people and families. 

Mateo sighed, pushed Antonio, locked the restroom and looked at Antonio with his head in his hands. 

“Yo. My guy, if some dude wants to enter the restroom, they’ll be forced to wazz in their pants!” Antonio said, laughing hysterically.

“Antonio, I can’t do this. I don’t wanna enter a hologram into the sphere. Before you start, I know they aren’t real, but I just can’t stand the look of some figure being scared and tortured, knowing I put them in that- EVEN IF THEY AREN’T REAL. But man, at the same time, I really wanna impress Ainsley and get her attention.” Mateo vented, ignoring Antonio’s comments.

“Alright, amigo, alright. I got the solution for ya. Stop worrying about this Ainsley chick- she’s ruthless, a whole freak! She puts you down, makes you embarrassed and when she tries to help you, she shouts at you 95% of the time!”

Mateo’s head jolted up hearing this. Yes, Ainsley was horrible to him but that’s what he liked about her. She was hard to get, and she was stunning. If he won her heart, he’d feel accomplished. Mateo glanced at Antonio’s hand, where he was holding a tablet and that's when Mateo had an idea. Mateo was a highly empathetic person and he was everso willing to sacrifice himself for others, remembering what Ainsley said to him back in the room.

“Yo. Toni, I need a favor.”

“Aw man, didn’t I just give you back your 20 bucks last week? How much do I owe you now?”

“Man, shut up, I need a huge favor.”

“Shoot.”

“Alright, so I’m not sure if you heard, but humans are able to enter holographic spheres through codes. You might call me crazy but I’d rather test myself than watch some figure getting tortured.”

Antonio tilted his head, furrowed his eyebrows, staring at Mateo, observing him. Then he replied, “Dude. Firstly,  once again, THESE FIGURES AREN’T REAL. Secondly.. I’m risking my whole job. You may hate this career, but I don’t. If I get caught hacking myself into another department, I could get fired!”

“C’mon man, you’ve always told me codes are barely noticeable because of how detailed, and hidden they are. I’ll blame it on myself. It’ll be my excuse to get fired and leave this job.”

“Look amigo,-” Antonio started, 

“Please Toni, you’re my only way, unless you want me to humiliate myself in there again” Mateo pleaded, interrupting Antonio.

“Alright. I’ll do it. I dunno why but I’ll help you.. under one condition. Your whole goal is to get Ainsley’s attention right? When you get married to her, you better gimme credit in your speech for winning her.”

Mateo laughed and said, “You’re awesome!”

“Sure, but just to let ya know, you’re sick. Insane bro, like you're sacrificing yourself for a flippin 'photograph?”

“Just shut up and code.”

“Alright, I’ll do it. I’ll set you up for an hour, but . you won’t be aware of the time and day. You won’t have any memory of the outside world, considering how your department programmed this.”

“Okok, quick before I change my mind.”

Antonio leaned against a wall and started coding all types of languages on his tablet. Within several minutes of impatience, Antonio had succeeded. 

“Here we go, all we need is your thumbprint to unlock the portal.”

“Why?”

“Uh because this is some super high-tech stuff? You need proof of identification to access advanced technology. If there was no proof of identity, wouldn’t the whole world just spawn themselves into portals?”

“Oh.. it's like full commitment? Once I scan, can I access this portal?” 

“That's right, c’mon man, I feel like I’m talkin to my ten year old son. Aren’t you like a scientist, workin at one of the biggest labs in the country?"

Mateo sighed, as he stared at the tablet, in fear. He thought that if Ainsley found out he survived that holographic world, because of his empathetic nature… he was certain she’d fall in love with him.

He took a deep breath, and walked to the pad where he saw the purple, green and blue code on the tablet. He spotted the place where he had to put his thumb. 

He hesitantly, slowly placed his thumb on the pad and instantly a blue portal had come out of the tablet, hovering over the device. Mateo and Antonio stared in awe, at the blue portal. It showed the same image that was in the sphere of the road, surrounded by a desert. 

“Siiick. So, the code says you gotta touch the portal with the thumb you used to scan. Go on bud, risk your freaking' life for a hologram.”

“Anything motivating?”

Antonio chuckled, patted Mateo on the back and said, “Yeah, just be brave. Consider it as a vacation. See ya in an hour Mat’.”

“See ya Toni. Thanks.”

Mateo touched his thumb on the portal and he was sucked in like a vacuum. Before he knew it, his mind and thoughts were spinning, his stomach and head felt dizzy, ultimately him feeling the urge to throw up. Soon, his head hit the hard, hot ground of concrete.