"Have you ever wondered why people still cling to the belief of free will?" I pose the question to the mysterious girl in my dreams.

"I don't know, why is that father?" The little girl answers me while I pat her head with love and care.

"Because we let them believe so. If they like it enough, people accomplish anything they like or want." The girl smiles and then vanishes for a couple of seconds before reappearing before me. This time, she wears long white robes with the slight taint of blood, albeit subtle.

"So that's why you don't let me go?" The girl's words startled me for a minute as I did not understand. What had she meant by that? I don't even know this girl. Why would she say that?

The scenery around us soon becomes a little darker from the perfectly white background of nothingness in the vast void of white, where nothing wrong can ever happen. Although I feel the urge to wake up from the dream, I'm not allowed to do so.

"You've fallen for that same free will conception, Father. You're also nothing but a slave." The girl's words strike me back again as I scratch my head, trying to process this information. I'm a slave, she said. How can I be? I'm the wealthiest man in the world! I own every one. I own everything!

"I don't get it. Who are you?" The girl's smile slowly turns slightly somber while I back out ever so slightly because I didn't think staying so close to her was a good idea.

"You're an old man about to die soon. Your clock is ticking. TIC TOC TIC TOC. Your mind is beginning to play tricks on you as the clock runs out!" The girl's face, that voice, I knew them, but who was she again? Have I forgotten someone and something?! I'm not close to the year limit, so it can't be me.

I'm not old! I still look young! I feel fresh! I feel better than ever! I'm not old! What are you talking about?!" Soon, the empty void summons a mirror in which I see myself as a decrypt old geezer holding a walking stick with nasty eye bags.

"UUUGH! NOO! That's not me! I'm not close to dying! That's not me!" The girl giggles right as I jump back from the jump scare of seeing myself aging so severely, so suddenly it can't be me. I'm not close to the limit! I uh? Alice?

"You don't own everything. Death still owns you. You're not above anyone just because you can afford to live twice as long." Alice? Why would she say that?! I want to see her live again! I've kept you alive for this long because I want you to hug me again! Didn't she love me?!

My memories soon begin to pour in as I feel the aging slowly start its impact on me. How long have I been alive?! Wait, Alice, please let me explain myself! I want to! WOAH!!

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

{??? Years ago - El capitano, USA}

"You're a good-for-nothing waste of a son! I wish You'd never been born!" An elderly man screams at me while I try to take in my surroundings, recognizing ever so faintly the place I was in. I was back in my childhood apartment in El Capitano city.

Was the old man screaming at me, my father, then? Yes! I remember my father never believed in me. He was, for lack of a better word, an asshole. Why have I come back here, though? What is my mind trying to tell me? What are you trying to show me!? I know all of this already!

"Dear, please let him be. He's just a boy! He'll straighten up as he grows up!" That soft, annoying female voice came from within the edges of my hearing and vision. That was Mother, yes I remember.

But why am I seeing this? Oh? Am I moving? I'm waiting, no, don't do it, little me! DON'T! My vision soon moves, and it points to my fists as I begin to groan in anger, letting my emotions take control. I strike my father in the side of the head, and he does not take kindly to it.

The last thing I remember from that occasion is the impossibly fast punch my father threw at me before I got the lights out, but in this memory, I can still see and remember what my unconscious body went through as I let myself go.

"This mother fucker! I pay for his rent! I feed him, clothe him and pay for his education for him to be a useless piece of shit! I don't want to see him in the house anymore! Get him out of here before I beat him to a pulp!" My father says while my mother groans, apparently carrying my knocked-out butt out of the house.

I could hear her heavy breathing and concerned tones, but I guess there was nothing she could do, was there? My dad did earn enough money to pay for groceries and rent alone without her having to work, so why would she abandon him?

The noise around me soon stops, and then it picks up again after a few minutes of silence. Once I regained consciousness, I realized I was where it all began, and my life turned around to become successful in sticking to my father. I was just a kid, not even twelve yet (officially.)

Yes, I remember. I remember it all. But what is the point of it? If anything, it makes your case worse, Alice. I had no love and support from my parents, and yet I give you all my love and support, and you say you hate that you want me to die!? Why?!

"Because You still have my sister with you, but you treat her worse than your father treated you. At least your dad didn't run the world to ruin your dreams. Have you thought about her? What did she feel about you?"

"She doesn't matter to me! SHE DIED THE DAY SHE KILLED YOU!" I scream in anger while I hold back my punches away from the living image of my beloved daughter.

"She killed me? But didn't you say I wasn't dead? Are you sure you're okay with your closed thinking?" Alice brought me down to my knees inside a dream that made me realize my conflicting interests. Alice was right. Why was I punishing Toshiba? If Alice had never died?

[SHE IS DEAD] UGH!? Shut up! No, she is not! I can bring her back to life! I've already preserved her brain, Alice, for ten years now! All I need is another new generation body like Android 52.

[But you know A52 is a random mistake! SHE CAN'T BE REPLICATED!] SHUT UP! Everything is possible! I can do everything! I've always been able to do everything! SHUT UP! [You need to get A52 back into your domain.] But I can't!

A soft touch coming from my left hand calms me down, but then I get startled when I turn around to see a putrid body bleeding out, still holding my hand. The jumpscare is strong enough to wake me up shaking in my bed, all agitated and pale.

"UGHh! UGHH! AHH!"