Beachside Quarrel

Bread really liked the new scenery. He felt free! There were flowers everywhere, little sideways walking crabs, and a bunch of pink turtles! It wasn’t anything like his records! And the sun looked so much closer.

His heart suddenly pumped with excitement. It made him want to see everything with his own eyes—the forests, the deserts, the expanse of inner worlds that swirled in his mind. He wanted to see more. More of what he’d only seen in his records.

He wanted to see it all.

The lady who had saved him stood a comfortable distance away. He didn’t know who she was, but he remembered Azan mentioning her name—Ms. Valerie. She was talking to someone else. She kept calling him Coach. They seemed to be in a heated discussion.

The man had a rugged beard and a short stature. Most likely suffered from dwarfism. From the relatively longer torso, Bread speculated that it was achondroplasia. At least, that’s what his records told him. Was it wrong to keep using his records this way? Would that be considered uncreative? He didn’t really know. Dad had left him anyway. What was the point in being creative now?

The two suddenly started to yell. He overheard them mentioning him in their conversation.

“This is a chenkey! A chrono-encryption key for that—that thing over there!” The man named Coach pointed in his direction. “And you accepted a deal with who? Azan?! I never agreed to be a corpo lackey!”

A thing? That sounded pretty rude. Even Dad wasn’t that rude. He was just… a little scary.

“Coach, how could you say that?! He’s just a kid!”

“No, don’t you get it, lass? If he needs an encryption key to log out of Simular, then he’s just code! An NPC! He’s not even real! What did you even sign us up for?”

Not even real… Dad had said that before he left. He had also mentioned that this place was a simulation. That he wasn’t… Was it true? Was he just…

“He’s real, Coach! He’s realer than your stupid ass!” She grabbed the key away. “I can get him out of here without your help.”

“No, you can’t.” He sighed. “Alright.” He brushed her comment aside. “It’s been gone and done. I’ll help. But that Azan fellow better pay up.”

“He will. I think I can trust him on that.”

“I’ll be back. Don’t cause another ruckus.”

“Where are you going?”

“Where do you think? I’ve got some spare cyber-ups I could use to host that… lad.” Coach glanced over at him. “Gimme that.” He took back the key.

“You’re logging out? How long will it take? We have to do this in an hour!”

Logging out? What did that mean? His records told him it had something to do with exiting a program…

“I know! Quiet down, will ya? I’ll be in contact.” Then with a few swipes of the empty air, he was gone. Vanished without a trace.

Bread was momentarily dazed. Where did the man go? He had just disappeared into thin air. A sudden thought surfaced in his mind—

Can I do that too?

No. His records immediately shot the idea down. Of course not. People couldn’t just vanish like that. Not in the real world. Common sense told him that much. But then he stopped to reconsider—

What about when I teleported here?

And he started to realize…

There was weight to their words. There was truth, real emotion in their arguments. Just like when Dad had yelled at him. He knew they weren’t just making all this up. With all the teleportation and the invisible boundary walls he had seen before, he knew…

Dad was right. This place was a simulation. A place where you could log in and out. A place where invisible walls and teleportation was a thing. That was the only true explanation to this impossible world. It wasn’t real. None of this was… real…

Bread longingly glanced over at the turtles. If this really was a simulation, those were fake too. Even the flowers. Even himself… The thought finally started to sink in. He was born here. In a fake world. He wasn’t even real… But what did that even mean? That he wasn’t human anymore?

He didn’t understand.

Maybe he should’ve just accepted it. Stayed put and got reset. Maybe he shouldn’t have cried. He should’ve just acted happy. He should’ve just listened. Then maybe, she would’ve never found him. And he could’ve just forgotten about his deepest desires…

To be free.

“Hey, kid.” The lady walked on over.

“Hi, Ms. Valerie…” Her expression was soft. The way she smiled at him… It felt nice. It made him want to stay just a while longer. He didn’t want to forget. Maybe just not yet.

“Oh, god no. Call me Val.”

“Val?”

“Yeah. What’s your name?”

“Bread.”

“Bread? Like the food?” She let out a stifled laugh. “Sorry, kid—Bread. Sorry, Bread.”

He was right. He kind of liked this feeling.

“Wanna walk?” She held out her hand.

Bread nodded. He gingerly grabbed her wrist.

“That’s not my—whatever. How about that way?” She pointed towards the shoreline. “Nice and peaceful. Never thought there’d come a day when I’d like it.”

They walked on the beach for a while, just watching the water wash seashells ashore. He thought it was pretty. Even if he wasn’t real, he could still enjoy this, right?

“You’ll be fine. We’ll get you out of here.”

“But I like this place…”

“You’ll like it outside too. Don’t worry. We’ve got beaches and a lot of other things. It’ll be better than being stuck in that weird hospital room.”

Hospital room? “My room? I like that place too.”

“No, you weren’t supposed to be there. It’s probably… What’s it called again? Sherlock Holmes Syndrome?”

“Stockholm syndrome?”

“Yeah! That—wait, you know what that is?”

“I don’t think I…” Did he have Stockholm syndrome? No, he liked Dad. He wanted to be there. He was promised…

Memories suddenly resurfaced—memories of when his dad had angry outbursts, when he was berated for not thinking outside the box. Memories of all the times he couldn’t leave that room…

No, he wasn’t promised anything. He was lied to, trapped. Dad had never planned on letting him go. He was going to be reset if it wasn’t for her.

His eyes started to water.

Maybe it really was Stockholm syndrome. Dad was never there to help him grow. He’d said it himself. All of it was faked. He wasn’t even real. He was born here—in a simulation. It was all just a made-up fantasy. Just like his dad had said.

Did he really even matter?

“Hey,” she called. “Are you okay?” Her expression changed beneath her tinted glasses. She watched with worried eyes—a look his dad had never made for him.

Bread wanted to ask her. He wanted to know for certain. “Am I… real?”

“Wow, asking some real deep questions. Did you overhear our conversation?”

He nodded.

“Don’t worry about Coach. You’re plenty real to me.”

“I am?” But he wasn’t. He knew he wasn’t…

“Sure you are. All the NPCs I’ve met sounded like police recordings saying the same shit all the time—oops. Don’t use that word.”

“What word?”

“Nevermind.” She suddenly averted her gaze and started kicking at the sand. Silence quickly fell between them.

But Bread still wanted to know. “Is this really a simulation?”

“Oh, this? Well. It’s, uh…”

She had hesitated. That already confirmed his suspicions. “Please,” he begged. “Tell me.” He just wanted confirmation.

She sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess it is.” But then she grinned. “But not for long! We’ll get you to the real world.”

“You will?” He wondered what the real world was supposed to be like. Was it really like what the records had mentioned? Or maybe the knowledge he had was all just fake too. Just like himself…

“Yeah, I promise.” She ruffled his hair. “I’m sure Coach got everything under control.”

It wasn’t enough; he wanted more. “Do you… care about me?” More confirmation that he mattered.

“Well, I cared enough to pull you outta there, right?”

“Do you really think I’m real?”

“Again?” She gently smiled. “If I were you, I wouldn’t care what I was. You can be whoever you want to be. I was a thief before. But now I’m—”

Coach suddenly reappeared. “It’s ready.” He handed over a small, black device. “Hold it tightly in your palms, lad. I’m not sure this’ll—No, it’ll work. If it’s just decryption and downloading.” He turned to face Val. “I’m off. I’ll be on the other side.”

She gave him a thumbs up.

And with that, Coach disappeared again.