Lost in Yesterday

There's no school tomorrow, and Frankie's drawers are replenished with his favorite snacks, zesty Ranch 3D chips he purchased with his parent's allowance money. He's so excited for the new Pro Skater game that he destroys the plastic from its case with his bare teeth and shoved the disc inside the console. He flipped open the instruction booklet while the game loaded and took a whiff of that heavenly new-game fragrance. 

"Mmm... I miss that smell." 

His eyes unapologetically rolled back while a big grin painted his face.

After a few seconds, his expression changed to a more deadpan look.

It's all fake of course.

Frankie's really a 35-year old Line-haul driver and family man in real life, but he supressed that to appease his brother. He enjoyed the over stimulating nostalgia trip down the past to a simpler time. Little Frankie quickly rushed over to where he remembered his parent's bedroom was located and stopped in his tracks.

"Frankie, is everything alright?" his mother said, her voice sounded exactly how he remembered it sounding, the familiarity was almost haunting, yet it filled him with dopamine and a comfort he'd long for. Maybe for a moment he felt like it would be okay to start his life allover again.

Frankie quickly removed the VR glasses from his head and tossed it across the corporate office room with his trembling hands.  

"Frankie!" His brother Miguel who had been watching him closely picked it up. 

"It's just too fucking weird." 

"You know it's 6 thousand dollars for a pair, right?"

"Is this why you missed so many of my kids Birthdays? How could you put yourself in this situation day in and day out knowing it's all fabricated and fucking delusional." 

"What situation? Seeing my Mother alive for the first time in over a decade?"

Frankie got up and headed to the door bearing a golden placard of his brother's position embedded on the door. "Miguel Fuentes - Lead Technician".

He turned to Miguel once again with glistening eyes. 

"It's all wrong anyways. She wasn't even alive in 98'. You wasted your time."

"It's the most sophisticated A.I. Technology on the market!" Miguel reassured him. "We've got the algorithm down to a Tee! Trust me on this, there may be some anomalies in it, sure, but the new update will get it down to near perfection!" Miguel shouted loud so that his brother could still hear him outside his office. "Just give it another try, you won't be disappointed! Come back to our old bedroom and play some of those retro games we used to play. Remember the jungle mission?! Fucking asshole."

The look on Frankie's face when he turned back through the window of his office told him he had already ruined that blissful feeling Miguel desperately helped cater.

Frankie didn't say a word and just kept walking out pass the onlookers of Miguel's coworkers leaning up from their cubicles and towards the elevator exit.

"You don't know what you're talking about! Who needs you." Miguel continued. "This is my baby!" he clasped the glasses into his tight grip. "What do you even know, you drive a fucking semi truck for a living. You don't know jack shit about sinking a big chunk of your life into something that means a lot to you. My literal blood, sweat and tears went into this program. ...And I won't get those years back. And you react like this?" he rambled on to himself so much that one of his concerned assistants walked closer towards his door. Then a text message distracted him. His nephew had sent him a GIF of an awkward robot falling down after getting kicked from a person in a lab coat, possibly testing his equilibrium. His nephew added a text, "This is you at work, Uncle Mike!" 

Miguel took a deep breath to calm himself. 

He walked over to close his office door and the blinds for more privacy.

*****

Later that night, Miguel woke up to the subtle sounds of a jungle drum beat. His white tank top drenched in his sweat, despite the air conditioning blowing cold air. His eyes were bloodshot red and his neck fully condensed. He tried to regulate his breathing again but needed to take his pills and a sip from his water bottle. 

"Go to sleep, Honey." his wife mumbled besides him on their bed.

"I can't fucking sleep." he whispered. "Can't believe we're going live tomorrow."

He looked over to his wife breathing deep and caressed her back.

He heard the familiar song again outside of the window. The closer he walked towards it, the louder the video game jingle became. Miguel cautiously opened the window and the music blasted through the entire house, loud enough he needed to press his palms aggressively to the sides of his ears. "Fuuccckk!!!"

"Boss! Boss! Wake up!" Miguel's colleague rattled him. 

He yawned and removed the Virtual reality glasses from his head and realized he had now been in his office at work. 

"You fell asleep with the VR glasses again, sir." 

"I don't... know. What..." 

"Ha. Sorry to wake you up but, the presentations going to start in twenty minutes, thought you'd want to watch and get a feel for the public's reaction." 

"Right. Thank you, Leslie. I'll be right over." 

"Sounds good." she smiled.

"One other thing. Please have the engineers program something to nudge you awake when they feel your heartbeat pattern simmer down. This thing shouldn't have let me fall asleep with it feeding me all of that information from the system." 

"No worries, sir. I'll get right on it."  

Miguel sighed. 

He made his way to the presentation room filled with the Journalist and Tech gurus that eagerly awaited an official public reveal of their state of the art VR glasses and newest patented system. His coworkers were on stage presenting their product and introducing the device Miguel and his team worked years perfecting. The project was going to be a hit, and it was expected to be utilized from every upper and middle-class household who could afford it it's hefty price tag.

Miguel sat on the chair overlooking their reactions. They were all excited, frothing at the mouth for a way to relive their most cherished memories, but Miguel's only thought of his brother Frankie's reaction and what he said. Frankie had been right that once Miguwl settled in on his new position, their communication was mainly through video calls from his devices. 

After the forty minute presentation concluded, there was an uproar of applause. The Public relations manager sitting a few seats ahead, walked over to Miguel and leaned over to his ear. "We're changing the whole world, mate. We're going to be household names when this thing finally releases. You should be so proud of yourself."  

Miguel nodded and smiled. 

He looked over to the crowd and saw the smiling faces of people gawking at the product behind the glass cube displayed on stage in various colors. The most sophisticated VR glasses and technology sold as one, creating a familiar world through our memories.

He envisioned them all with the glasses over their heads, smiling, and crying. 

Then he noticed a familiar woman in the crowd who smiled at him and waved.  

He walked over to her, but she walked away towards the hallway from the conference room. "Excuse me?" Miguel said. 

She turned back and smiled at him again, but continued on to her path.

"Where do I know you from, Miss?" 

Miguel found himself following down the spiral staircase and started hearing the catchy drum rhythm of his favorite childhood game again. He looked around to find whom was playing it. The voices of chatters in the conference room were now silent the further Miguel walked away. He followed the woman further down to another room through an empty corridor where the room had been dimly lit from burned out bulbs. 

The mysterious woman laughed and beckoned him over. 

"I missed you so much." the voice said in her nurturing tone. 

Miguel continued over to the balcony of the building where she waited for him at the edge of the rails with opened arms. 

"It'll be alright, my sweet baby boy."

Miguel listened to her calming voice, and the beautiful music of his favorite game playing in the background along with the birds chirping, the heavy winds and sounds of traffic several hundred feet below him. 

He leaned down closer for that firm hug from his mother he longed for.