Forgotten Day

"However, years passed and the war was forgotten, till Tokyo was bombed. It was quickly discovered that it was of machine origin. The crusade against the thinking machine began again, however it was only the machines fighting and not their human masters that created them. A new enemy was realized with the machine faction that banded together against their programmed enemy.”

Herbert Stein, Machine Historian - 

The hospital that Satoru was in was a tall building considering it was only a hospital and nothing more. Rising up to the sky for roughly fifty stories, it branched out across four city blocks each as a wing of the main building that actually stood over the intersection of the street. Only two stories off the ground, the main building rose in unison with the other four wings. Each wing was a quarter of a pyramid that climbed together towards the main structure. It was one of the most unique structures in the city.

Satoru walked out from the east wing of the hospital looking back as he slowly departed to find a ride. He had finally been released from the hospital after a week and was now free to go home. Though he still had some of the bandages on him, he was feeling better than he looked. They were overly cautious about him for some reason. But it could have just been that fact they were doctors caring about a patient. He didn’t know, nor care at this point. He was just glad to be out and able to walk. If the walk home wasn’t so far, he might have walked home.

Satoru raised his arm signaling the taxi that was coming down the street. The taxi stopped right in front of him perfectly, its door opened for him inviting him in. 'An automated taxi, wonder if they'll ban these in time? They don't even come close to awareness…' Satoru paused his thoughts to give the taxi orders. "Hirayoshi Apartments." The taxi pulled out into the street immediately upon receiving the orders. He resumed uninterrupted by his command. 'Not that the government really cares. They will just ban whatever they like in the belief that it makes the people safe. No thought at all, not that the public has much sense either. AI's have their awareness because of us and are only as smart as their programming. The stupid public.'

Time drifted away with his thoughts as the kilometers passed by and he finally reached his apartment building. He inserted his bankcard into the slot to pay the taxi. Satoru stepped out of the taxi, looking up at his apartment building. It was a good sight to see from the plain walls of the hospital. Pulling out his keycard for his building, he let himself in. The elevator was at the bottom floor ready for him, it was a good sign. A better day for him than when he left last.

He had been in his apartment just a week ago; it was in a slight mess from the morning rush. Clothes strung about the floor and breakfast that he had decided against eating still sat on his table from when he was watching the morning news. The TV was still on too, he pushed the button on the wall by the light that closed the panel over the TV. It was one of the TVs with almost no back and mounted inside the wall. During use it would come out flush with the wall as though it was just part of it. It was an expensive piece of technology, but it was adjustable to any size of screen, so it eliminated the need for a large unwieldy monitor.

Satoru proceeded to his bedroom to find it in about the same state as the living room. Sheets unmade and the closet wide open with clothes shuffled around. He had forgotten how much of a mess he left the place in the morning. His head wasn’t in the right frame of thought then. There was little that he cared about, just a bad day that was going to get worse. Now he had to clean it up. "I was in such a rush, what a mess…"

There was little he was going to be able to do until he got something to eat. Something to eat that was more than hospital food. At least the kitchen wouldn’t be a mess as breakfast wasn’t too messy. Satoru walked in grabbing an apple out of the refrigerator. He gave it a check and squeezed it lightly. "Hmm…still good…I'm going to have to buy some new food to replace this. More things to do, great..." As he bit into the apple he looked over to the comm line to see over twenty messages left. "Mom, no doubt."

He pushed the button to begin listening to the messages cycling through them quickly knowing what they were about as they were all from a concerned mother. "Better call her before she gets any more worried." Satoru pushed the button on the comms opening the TV panel again. This time it displayed a listing of phone numbers that were stored. "Call mom."

"Dialing mom…one moment please," a woman's voice said. It only took a moment for the call to go through. On the other end was an aging woman with more wrinkles on her face from endless worry. The sudden jump from her made Satoru choke on his apple forcing him to cough to clear his throat.

"Satoru! Satoru! Are you okay?"

"Yes, mom, I'm fine." He was better now that he had the piece of apple free. He had felt better a moment ago. Satoru pulled up a weak smile for reassurance to his mother. "Out of the hospital finally."

"You're so lucky, dear, are you in any pain? Maybe you should sit down."

"Mom, I'm fine, the pain is gone and the bandages are just a precautionary measure. The doctors I think are a little overly protective. Seems like they didn't want to lose another patient to the attack."

"So you were in danger of dying?"

"No, no, I was just joking. They said that I had a concussion, but nothing too serious. Just a lot of scraps and bruises, but they are all healed up now for the most part." Satoru decided to sit down, though he waited until it was his choice. He didn’t know how long it was going to take to comfort her. It was understandable to be worried; he knew what it was like. She needed her time to calm down and release everything. He slowly ate through his apple more cautiously this time.

"We were so worried about you, without so much as a word from the hospital. We didn't know what to think. I remember that you said you had a meeting there that day. It wasn't until recently that they said you were alive."

"I'm a little surprised that they waited that long. That’s a little strange. But that explains why you weren't at the hospital." Satoru finished his apple and threw it away. It had him a little concerned that his parents weren’t visiting him. The emptiness left him with unanswered questions. He only thought that they must have thought he was dead. It was impossible for him to even call out from the hospital; they were so tight lipped about everything.

"Well I'm glad you're alive, it was frightening enough to live through this once, but twice."

"Yeah, I know…just like with dad all those years ago."

"We were lucky twice, I don't know what I would have done without the two of you."

"You would have managed…" He looked around his apartment again realizing the mess that it was in. There would be plenty of time for him to speak longer to her. She knew that he was alive now and that was what was important at the moment. "Mom I need to be going…"

"Oh, of course, you must have just gotten back home. Thank you for calling, Satoru."

"Bye." Satoru pushed the button again, closing off the TV. "Now what..." He started to scan the room examining the typhoon that had come through his room to destroy its peace. Even that morning was a blur to him now that he couldn’t remember the events that lead to the heap of destruction now present. "What am I going to do about this…"