To Repair, Place Bread In Rice

His appearance being a shocker was an understatement.

When Bread peered at the bedside mirror, his face loomed back like some sort of horror film. It was a metal, skeleton faceplate with no distinct human features except for an odd similarity to the human skull. But mostly, it was just two holes for eyes, a lack of any nose, and a mouth that suffered from shoddy patchwork. The lips themselves were roughly molded into shape but didn’t have the necessarily plumpness or angular definition found in real lips. But what frustrated him most were the wires.

Coach has insisted—no, forced him to be tethered to the nearest wall outlet. Since his energy core—which was supposed to be his heart—was broken, electricity would leak out. In his words, it was supposed to accumulate juice and retain the charge like a battery. It wasn’t supposed to be fed like some sort of iv drip.

But Bread didn’t care. He didn’t want this. He wanted to go outside, see the city and the beaches that he was promised.

He could try sneaking out. Coach wasn’t around. He was on the other side—the gym area of the building. A few minutes without cables couldn’t possibly shut him down. He was more human than that. He was sure he could fight through it and rush back to bed before he crashed and burned.

Bread slid off the bed with as little noise as possible. The cable was plugged directly into his chest, so he grabbed the hefty cable tight in his hands and pulled. It slid out without much resistance. Then he paused as if to gauge himself. He didn’t feel any different; he felt completely fine.

Tiptoeing across the room, he made his way to the backdoor. It was the same one Val had left through last night. He turned the knob—it wasn’t locked—and pushed it open.

Sunlight immediately splashed his eyes. The ultraviolet rays dripped down his neck, and he could feel the heat prickling his back like a light rash. He scratched his arms; it felt so real. Everything felt so much more… touchable. As he walked, he could even feel the slight aches in his joints, the change in weight that distributed throughout his legs.

It felt so different. This was nothing like the simulation. Was this what it really felt like to be alive?

The world was rougher around the edges. It wasn’t so smooth like in… Val had called it, Simular. All his movements felt like they had some sort of impact. It was harder to do the most basic of things, and this made him feel… more real…

Suddenly, his hips creaked and groaned. Balance went out the window, and he collapsed. A strong thud reverberated through the ground as he was suddenly displaced upside-down. Panic crashed in like a tidal wave. He couldn’t move his legs. He couldn’t feel them!

He was trapped; he couldn’t get out. He was going to be reset! No, he didn’t want that. He wanted to be free! He wanted to—

The sun dawned on him, warmth finally flowing through his entirety… He could feel it. Not just the arms. The prickling in his legs… This wasn’t Simular. He wasn’t trapped anymore. He had a road paved out for him. An exit.

Comfort washed over him… Slowly… He was going to be okay. He was real. Val had said so. He was still human…

“Lad?!” Coach rushed out of the gym; tools and utensils flew everywhere. “What’re you doing here? Ah, now you’ve done it.” He grabbed Bread’s legs and pulled.

No…

Coach started to drag him back. All the way into the abyss.

“No!” He grabbed at the dirt. He clawed his way back towards the sun. He wasn’t going to be trapped again!

“What are you doing? Stand still! You’ve broken your back!”

“No!” There was a flower. A flower the color of the sun, beautifully growing through the cracks between the paved asphalt. He grabbed the stem and held on for dear life. It was going to save him! This flower that had pierced through the hard, solid blacktop—it was going to pull him to freedom!

“Lad! Let go!”

“No, I don’t want to go back!” The flower started to tear. No, don’t die… The roots revealed themselves from between the cracks. It wasn’t going to hold for much longer. It was tearing at the stem. And finally…

It snapped.

“I said LET GO!” Coach smacked him hard on the head. “You can go outside after we fix you up! I’m not holding you in there because I want to, Bread.”

The flower… It was a dandelion. His records told him so. He gazed at the dying flower in his hand, ripped out from its own underground home. It was going to die now. All because of him. All because he didn’t let go…

Coach pulled him inside. Bread stopped resisting. The man took out his toolbox, plugged the cable back into his chest, and got to work.

“I’m sorry,” Bread whispered.

“Stop talking. I can’t concentrate.” He screwed away, twisting and turning between the links. He hammered and tinkered with the most delicate of tools. “Just like the lass.” He fastened another bolt in place. “Causing so much trouble all the time.”

“I—”

“Stay still.”

Bread stiffened up.

“Not that still. Loosen up.”

He relaxed his body.

“Good. Now stay like that.” After a few more swings, he stopped to admire his work. “Try moving your legs.”

He raised his legs up and down.

“Good.” Coach placed his hand on his shoulder. “Ouch!”

Sparks flew.

There was a weird taste. “Blueberries,” Bread said aloud.

“Blueberries?”

“I taste blueberries.”

“Ah, maybe it’s the smell. I had them with cereal this morning.”

“But I taste it…”

“You’ve got funky taste buds, lad.” He put away his tools. “Maybe we’ll have to get that fixed too.”

“Can I go outside now?”

Coach groaned. “No. But you will. When Val comes back with the new core.” He strolled back to the other side. He called out through the walls, “But don’t even think about getting out of that bed, ya hear?”

He wondered if Coach really cared about him. Did Val care? Did anyone really care? All he wanted to do was go outside. Into that new and unfamiliar territory.

Bread looked out the small window beside the bed. There were half-eaten slices of what looked to be roast beef dangling out from old, moldy BLTs, and tangles of rainbow wires sprawled across the empty downtown streets. Plastic shards, broken restaurant signs, and crushed paper cups cluttered the corners of tall, worn-down architectures.

It was all just garbage. Colorless and dull. Nothing about it was pleasant to the eyes. But to Bread, there was only vibrance. Just like that dandelion. It was a new world with new possibilities. A chance to finally be out there instead of here.

And yet, he still couldn’t leave. Just like before.