Bespectacled Girl's Apartment

Fortunately, I woke up shortly after that.

I was sprawled on top of a…big roomba, or at least something that looked like a needlessly oversized roomba. With some difficulty, I managed to rise and sit cross-legged without losing my balance.

I stare at my hands, which seemed definitely smaller. It was as if they belonged to a child. The patterns in my palms are also not what I recalled them to be. What sort of extreme treatment did I go through to have this kind of side effect? 

I also feel as if my hair is being tied up. I touched it and realized it seems to be tied in a ponytail. This only added more to my confusion since I thought I was not supposed to grow hair while being frozen in that casket.

While pondering, I look in front of me and see a girl walking in front. She seems to be the one the roomba is following around. She is also happily humming to a tune and is slowly bopping with her head and shoulders. She also has her hair tied in an ponytail and it is even swinging around. I can't see anything attached to her ears though. I assume she was just imagining the music in her mind.

The roomba started beeping different tunes. As if being called, the girl glanced back. Upon seeing her face, I immediately recognized it was the bespectacled girl from earlier. When she sees me, awake and staring at her, she panics a bit but eventually musters an awkward smile.

“Did I wake you up? Or maybe Meep has been carrying you around carelessly? I should probably modify Meep a bit to make him more comfortable to ride. But... since you have a working consciousness now, I guess carrying you around is no longer needed.”

“Mmm… You’re Anna, right? Where are you taking me?” 

“Yes, I’m Anna. We are currently in the hallway towards my apartment. I am the one tasked of maintaining your body. Of course, that includes bringing you home. That said, we’re done for today so we’ll just go home and hit the hay.”

“Maintenance of my body? Are you a doctor or something?”

“Hardly. I’m more of a clone maintenance engineer in training.”

“Clone maintenance engineer in training?”

“Yes, I am currently training to take on the job of some old clone maintenance engineer in the inner ring. He is not retiring or anything. He will just be reassigned as a head engineer in some new city. I wish I can be a head engineer too someday, you know? The pay’s great and there are lots of benefits like health insurance, free lodging and most of all, cooked food-”

"I'm sorry to interrupt but I would like to see my sister." I cut off her words as they all sounded like some elaborate made-up story to me.

"Your sister?"

“I am still under the impression that this is all one big prank.”

“Oh… right.” Anna's pace slows down a bit and proceeds to walk besides me and the roomba. My eyes followed her as she does so. "I can not really blame you for thinking that way. It must feel very surreal for you, right? Maybe if you see more of this world, you can figure how expensive of a prank this might have been, if it was a prank." She ends her words with a smile.

“And we are here.” Before I could respond, Anna stops in front of a door with the number 612. There seems to be a scanner beside the doorknob. She places her right hand on it and the scanner beeped. Observing Anna's hand and the scanner, it reminded me trying to use a photocopier without closing the cover. 

I suddenly hear the clanking of metal and turn my head to try find the source.

The door, next to the door of Anna's room, opened. An old man emerged. His droopy face wore a frown and his hair was a curly mess of grey hair. A scar stretches from his upper lip to his right ear. Aside from all these features, what stands out the most is his prosthetic right arm and leg.

The prosthetic limbs were complete with all the joints and structure of an actual human limb. It was only distinct by appearing completely lustrous and solid. It's joints were mechanical. As he scratched his forehead, I could hear soft buzzing of servomotors. His right eye also closely resembled the rings of a camera complete with the lenses.

"Good morning Mr. Hawthorne! Up early for jogging again?"  Anna starts speaking in a language I could not understand.

The old man turned to face Anna and the rings of his robotic right eye extended, as if to zoom in in the face of Anna.

"Anna..." The old man mutters and made a displeased expression. "You kids have pulled an all-nighter again, didn't you? Seriously, that thesis thing of yours is doing nothing but harm your health. Kids should have lots of sleep, you know?" The old man says in a raspy voice with a obvious tone of annoyance. 

"Uh... we can't really help it. The deadline is nearing after all." Anna apologetically smiles.

"Don't say I did not warn you to watch out for your health. Kids like you think it is fine burn away their health because they have the blazing fire of youth. Then, before you young'uns realize it, your left with nothing but a flickering candle." The old man scolds while pointing his robotic finger to Anna.

"Ah, right. Before I forgot." He seemed to have remembered something. "Wait here." He says as he quickly re-entered his apartment. He walked on a fast pace this time since I can clearly hear more frequent and louder clanking.

I started smelling freshly baked bread before he reemerges from his room, carrying a large bowl with both of his hands. It was filled and stacked with buns.

"A stupid old friend of mine thought it would be wise to give me two sacks of flour. And being an stupid old man myself, I thought it would be a wise to bake a lot of bread at once. You know, I got a little carried away and made too much."

He moved forward and gave the bowl to Anna. "You'll probably wake up in the afternoon again like the night owl you are. At the very least have some solid cooked food in your stomach before sleeping. Pair it with milk or maybe something green. I tell you. That nutrient paste they distribute. They say that does the trick, but I ain't living off with that. It looks like goo, tastes like boiled cabbage, and smells like toothpaste."

Anna awkwardly laughs at Mr. Hawthorne's last remark, but I can sense she is quite comfortable listening to the banter of the old man. "Thank you very much Mr. Hawthorne."

"Think nothing of it." The old man's eyes wandered to me who was still riding the roomba. "And give this little friend of yours too." 

The roomba then started to make high-pitched beeping tunes.

"What? The little tin drum also want to have some bread?" Mr. Hawthorne looks down to the roomba. "Well you too bad you can't eat it." He laughs heartily as the roomba makes sad noises.

"I'll be taking you to a walk later Meep." Anna says to console the roomba and it somehow does a little shake and chirps. I presume it is its own way of expressing joy. I presume this is a very expensive roomba to be able have such features. It is currently supporting my whole weight. I wonder if it is fine for me to keep riding it.

"I'll be going now. Any minute later and the streets will probably be crowded with those white collar brats who are too busy with their schedules. None even have the decency to greet an old man in the morning. Some even bump at me without even looking back, can you believe how rude people are today? Well, of course there are exceptions. A few polite lads and lasses like you, Anna, still exist. I'll see you lot later." The old man keeps talking as he walks past us. My eyes were glued on his prosthetics the entire time. He did not walk awkwardly like how you would expect from someone with a prosthetic. Instead he just walked like smoothly albeit slowly. Nevertheless with each movement of his leg, a clanking can be heard.

"Take care Mr. Hawthorne." Anna smiles warmly before realizing she has both of her arms occupied holding the large bowl. "I'm sorry, Iggy--" Anna turned to me and started talking gibberish before abruptly realizing that I can not understand her. "I mean. I'm sorry Ignacio. Can you open the door for me? It's unlocked already."

"Surely I can see you are occupied." I slide down the oversized roomba and proceed to open the door. I can't say I am surprised since I have figured my arms have shrunk. But it is still quite a strange feeling to look up to a girl who is supposed to be much younger than me. I hope I see a mirror to closely examine my current stature.

"What's wrong? Ignacio?" Anna asks me as she notices my prolonged stare at her.

"Nothing." I can't make sense of this, but I must pester her with more information later. I just proceeded to open the door and stepped inside. I then kept the door open for her to enter.

"Mr. Hawthorne sure baked a lot." She remarks before entering. She quickly moves towards the living room and placed it on a small table there.

“Light’s on.” She says quite loudly. “Light’s on!” She proceeds to repeat the same phrase three times before sighing. "What's the problem this time? I'll be right back." She taps her watch and it started to emit a beam of light akin to a regular flashlight. She then proceeds to one of the rooms of the apartment.

Figuring she would not be back for a while, I made my way through the living room. Even without the lighting, the room is bright. After all, an entire side of the living room is walled with clear glass panes. Though, the source of illumination is not moonlight from the sky, but city lights from below.

The resulting scene is a dim room dyed with a plethora of faint colors. I could make out the sleek minimalist couch and table. On the walls are several posters of people and characters I do not recognize. There are also all sorts of devices I am unfamiliar with. I assume them to be those consoles youngsters are fond with.

On the table, where the bowl is placed, there are several tables stacked on each other. Anna's parents must be quite rich to afford all these gadgets. In the corner of the room, there are several disassembled electrical appliances on top of a desk. Below the desk, toolbox lies open with some tools even sprawled on the floor.

I moved closer towards the glass panes, aiming to get a better view of the city. As my palm touch the glass, a cold sensation envelops it. This thin transparent sheet is the only thing that protects me from the chilly night breeze, I thought.

My eyes laid upon the urban cityscape. This building must be quite tall compared to most of the surrounding buildings, since I have a wide view of the city.

Low-lying buildings with glowing neon lights dominate most of the vicinity. I presume they are two to three stories at most.

Rising conspicuously through the sprawl of low-lying buildings, are a few sky scrapers. I assume these buildings are around as tall as the one I am in.

Just above the sprawl of buildings, is a messy system of railways. Some seem to connect, some go to abrupt ends, and some intersect with each other. There are countless trails of light following the railways. I could only guess that these are super fast trains which my naked eye can not see in detail.

Despite the messy layout of rails, they all seem to be rooted somewhere; the area concentrated with skyscrapers. The area is conspicuous by itself as all the high-rise buildings in its cluster have a soft light-blue glow, as if it was a planned distinction to the assorted bright neon lights in the rest of the city. I could hardly make it out, but there also seems several flying things circling around the area.

From my perspective, they all looked like flies flying around a night lamp.

Lastly, and most notably, there seems to be a singular tower that rises far above compared to all the skyscrapers. It was so high that it has probably pierced through the clouds as such the top is no longer visible.

This cluster of skyscrapers seemed to be the heart of the city itself.

I start noticing the sky becoming less dark. Dawn must be breaking soon.

With the horizon becoming brighter, I could make out something from the horizon. Something like a titanic wall that spans across the horizon. The lights I assumed were stars were instead dotted on the said wall. I presume they were actually man-made lights. However, it is so far away that I can not really fathom anything about it. Though, I know for sure it is wide and outstandingly high. It might be even higher than most of the skyscrapers in the vicinity.

While gawking at the city, I notice a bunch of the small flying things start to approach my building. As they grow closer and closer, I start to make out their figure. They resembled flying cars. I start to hear a buzzing sound that kept getting louder and louder. They kept moving closer and closer that I start to worry if they are heading straight towards the building. 

Fortunately, a dozen meters away from building, they turned. But not without leaving behind, a very loud series of sonic booms that made even the glass panes shake.

While thinking it reminded me of motorcycle riders that put noisy mufflers and make their exhaust emit a louder and more annoying sound, the lights in the room opened.

Anna's words echoes in my mind. "Maybe if you see more of this world, you can figure how expensive of a prank this might have been, if it was a prank." While letting the realization sink in, the light in the room turned on and I hear Anna's voice once again. 

"I heard a noisy zooming sound. Those troglodytes are at it again. It so early in the morning and they are already racing around with their noisy vehicles. I swear, I'll rig those flying cars with explosives if given the chance. They are so annoying." Anna says, in a rare moment of pure rage. However, I was hardly listening to her.

I was once again filled with confusion on the sheer absurdity of my situation. Some part of me hopes this was nothing but a vivid dream despite all the sensations I've experienced. Anna's job is concerned with clones, I should have guessed when I learned she was taking care of me.

As the light from the room's own sources of light reflected in the glass pane, the cityscape blurs as my vision switches focus to my own stature.

Thus, I confirm. This body I reside is surely not mine.