Not an everyday life encounter

“Aren’t I supposed to be dead, the building I was in collapsed and I don’t think the chance of me surviving would be greater than zero.”

“Well aren’t you pessimistic, of course you didn’t survive gu hu! I only collected your brain from your former dead body and put it in your new one. For some reason, yours was the only one that wasn’t damaged in the least out of the 378 casualties, crazy gu hu hu! So consider yourself lucky.”

Wow, 1 out of 378, since when was I that lucky. If I was a certain red head boy I would have developed a mental disorder that would make my whole future into a living hell. But since I'm not really a kindhearted person I don’t think that will be the case.

“A new body” The sentence that I just heard seconds ago crosses my mind, concerned by his term “new body”, I quickly look down over my body. A woman’s, not just any woman but one that looks almost exactly identical to mine, guess I won’t be living the rest of my life as a four testicled monkey or whatever was in my mind.

“Hey, why does my body look so much like my former one, did you take my old one as a model for this?”

“Well no lady, your body was crushed entirely, your brain was the only part that wasn’t damaged at all gu hu hu! Your body is designed be the epitome of straight men’s and lesbians’ desires, since you’re working at a brothel from now on and all, so that means you have quite a body before dying.”

The epitome of sexual thoughts huh, pretty ironic since my whole personality is to act like I’m a dude, a tomboy If you will. Well saying “tomboy” is too much of an overstatement, considering the fact that that term is used to describe the ideal woman for many modern men, and I act like an obnoxious thirteen year old boy, something I despise the most.

“So let me make this straight, you’re a 06 manufacturer working for a brothel? Not a crazy scientist experimenting on my body?”

“No what? What makes you think that?”

“Well, I am in a very shady place with a guy that makes weird ass laughs.”

“First of all, a robot brothel is not really a place you call fancy, using human brains as to control 06’s actions making it sexier is not entirely illegal, but it’s still bad for advertising, so they only let me do this kind of thing in places no one would be want to be near to, an abandoned hospital. Secondly, sorry for being socially awkward and not knowing how to act like a normal person, I’m an engineer that devoted my life to the art of transplanting and grafting human parts so knowing social skills isn’t really something I paid my mind to.”

“Hmm, sorry for assuming you’re a messed up scientist, well, when you explain things you really do sound like a normal person.”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment gu hu hu?”

“I guess?”

Although this conversation may sound as normal as it gets, I’m gonna be working as a prostitute from now on, because this guy revived me, or more like gave me a new body. As bad as that may sound, it gives me hope in thinking that I will have a good ending, because, at least I am still alive.

“Hey, how long has it been since the outbreak”

“About a year or two, the outbreak was the same day you died, right? The gatherers found your body months after your building collapsed, and since transplanting isn’t an easy process so.. But it would have taken longer if it weren’t for my genius so be thankful gu hu hu!”

“A year or two since that whole disaster huh. Those damn fucking outside people man. Can you believe it? How many people died just for the people outside to finally gain equality, not like the people from the inside starting to have the same life as the outside’s would change anything.”

“Well, maybe because they can’t stand the unfairness, the people inside get to live without a worry in their life but the outside folks have their ass on the thin line everyday, I’m not justifying their actions but, you can sympathize with them.

“Unfairness huh.. Isn’t that just selfishness? I mean, c’mon now, they still ruined so many lives, I don’t know the specific numbers but no way is it acceptable.”

“Well, the outside citizens now have better lives.”

“What? How did a total massacre benefit them in any way?”

“The outsiders didn’t just kill people in the breakout, they also reached the inside’s government that has been ignoring them for the longest time and made a compromise with them. There are no longer boundaries between the insiders and outsiders, and there is literally no way to identify who was which. Hence, racism isn’t a problem and though people’s lives are still in shambles, on average they are still better than the outsider’s previous.”

“That still doesn’t justify anything you know, they are still a bunch of massive assholes.”

“Well, you aren’t them are you? How would you know if they had a life that is sufficient for them to have the will to live? As they say, surviving isn’t living. You might choose to end your life rather than living to suffer for the rest of your life, not finding a single moment to put your mind to rest. Can you put up with that?”

“.. Well, how do you know so well then, were you an outsider yourself? Don’t think so since you’re a smarty and all.”

“It is exactly that I’m an insider that I know the outsiders have it much worse than me. I.. had a time when life wasn’t so good and really considered whether to continue or not, but the fact that it made me reach that point even though life here is supposed to be so perfect just means the people outside could reach an even lower point. I mean, can you imagine what they have to go through everyday if they’re average moment in life is worse than your worse?”

“…”

Not so good childhood, but so do I. Then why, why do we have such a great difference in our opinion on this topic. Failing to find a reason, I stopped.

“The words you just spoke don't say that you know nothing about people at all, what are these contradictions!”

I chuckle with astonishment, and, like the surprise not planning to stop there, the man chuckles along with me.

“Does that mean that you’ve accepted that you had lost?”

“Were we even arguing? Didn’t think you were such a competitive person.”

Who would have thought, out of all people, he would be the one I would be chuckling with for the first time in a long while. If I had met him differently, I think we would have been friends, or at least someone I would consider a nice guy to be around with. Uh, how entitled am I? Even if he’s a nice guy to be around with, who said that he’ll enjoy being around me. After all, I’ll just be using him like a tool. Like it was with him..

With nothing more for us to talk about, silence consumes the room.

After a while, time leaves its state of stagnant.

“Looks like your brain functions normally, I’ve already checked your body’s movements and it seems stable gu hu hu. Since I’m done with your tests now, there’s no reason for you to be awake anymore, the next time you open your eyes you will be working as a prostitute. You won’t be getting any pay since the only thing you need for your body now is electrical energy, that may sound bad but at least you won’t have to worry about the troubles in your life from now on.”

The man stops talking for a moment and has a distant look as though thinking about something, or to be more exact, it looks like he’s deciding on whether to do something or not. Now, with a melancholic and slow tone, words come out of his mouth.

“This is only advice coming from a guy that had a horribly boring and unfulfilling life but, I really think you should try to forget anything that would make you sad and happy, since living like a soulless thing is better than living just to regret everything. Waking up everyday just to look into the mirror and see yourself, someone who wasn't able to do something, someone who couldn’t help a loved one, a useless monster. Even though you can’t change the past, that feeling of lament will stay.”

Like emphasizing on the last words he spoke, his eyes depict the exact same emotions. Genuine sympathy. As unreal as it may sound, this is the first time I felt genuine emotions from a man. How ridiculous, I don’t even know anything about his past, I know almost nothing about him, don’t act like I’m all kind and intimate, I’m supposed to be an asshole, remember?

“Nevermind what I just said, it would be terrible advice for a person like you. We are completely different people, I shouldn’t assume you will face something even remotely similar to something I did.”

“I never got to know your name did I.”

“Where did that come up all of a sudden? Well I don’t think we will see each other again so I think it’d be pointless to tell you but, whatever, my name is Marsh, pleasure to meet you gu hu hu”

“I’m Adiko, nice to meet you too”

It was a simple greeting, one without a handshake. After exchanging our names, Marsh pressed a button on the laptop laying beside my bed.

“Oh and by the way, drop the ‘gu hu hu’ laugh, it’s clearly fake. Now it’s my turn to give you advice, I don’t know why or what happened to make you start laughing like that, but if you want to appeal to people like a nice guy that you are, just literally smile whenever you’re happy, some people may find that creepy with your face and figure but surely some wi-”

The sudden night comes and with it, the death of sound. In this condition, I’m supposed to be unconscious, totally unaware of anything that happens outside. Nonetheless, words still came through my ears.

“I can’t.”

You just chuckled. Can’t my ass.