“I’m afraid I have some bad news” the doctor announced as he saw Tyler in the lobby. “There just aren’t any available transplants that would work that would get here fast enough, nor can we grow an artificial heart fast enough to save her.”
The stone Tyler hadn’t known he was carrying in his chest dropped suddenly. Why? How could this have happened? Lisa was fifteen; she hadn’t even reached adulthood yet. It just wasn’t fair. He looked to the doctor with solemn eyes, “What… what are out options?”
The doctor had seen this pain many times before. Even though hospitals are created to preserve life, they also serve as harbingers to death. This was the natural way of things, for what is the value of life without death? It is only in a thing’s end that the world can understand how said thing affected their lives. The death of T.V. shows, the death of ideas, and the death of companies were all a part of this, but nothing could compare with the kind of death that the hospital dealt with: the death of loved ones. Understanding what the young man before him must be going through, the doctor decided to give him a small piece of hope, “It isn’t as if you have zero options, you just don't have any options left in this world.”
Tyler looked at the doctor in a daze. What had he said? This world? Tyler wasn’t particularly religious, so he figured that it was something the doctor said to all patients in order to prepare themselves spiritually for the passing of a loved one. While there wasn’t any proof that something like that couldn’t exist, but he found it hard to believe that after the brain died that any part of the soul or body remained intact. What the doctor said next surprised him though.
“Have you ever heard of END?” The doctor asked Tyler in a careful tone. “It won’t save her body, but there might be another way to keep her in a place where she can continue to live a life, even if it isn’t this one.”
Tyler had indeed heard of END. What male in his twenties hadn’t? It was the latest, greatest game. Something said to transcend virtual reality, the game was world changing when it had been announced a decade prior. Even now, the game was still in a testing phase, but the game was set for release to the public in only a year or so.
END’s creation had sparked a revolution, not just figuratively either. In its early developmental stages, END had been declared to be the next generation of gaming, and promised to be able transfer the user’s consciousness into the computer in digital form. It was said to work as if your entire brain had been turned into digital information that could interact with a computer. It wasn’t just the machine that turned heads, but also the game that was proposed along with it. With the massive rise in popularity of role-playing games, the game END had been announced along with the system END as a single package for consumers when it came out.
The first instance of any user in END was exactly three year prior. A man who had been terminally ill his entire life on the end of his rope had been given the experimental “treatment” of transferring his consciousness into END. To the surprise of all involved, it had been successful. Andrew Stevenson, A.K.A “Patience” inside the world of END, was END’s first player. Soon after having been transferred to END, his body died and researchers were shocked that Patience continued to play their game after his body’s death.
Religious leaders around the world were appalled by this new machine. While heralded as “life-saving” by those who would be everyday consumers, the religious leaders of the world branded END heresy by claiming that humans had no right to take away the beauty of death. They warned that END would give birth to demons unparalleled in human history, and this idea was only reinforced as more information steadily came out from users in similar circumstances to that of Patience. The game was condemned by modern religion when the updated playable race list for END came out two years prior with the words “Demon Race” printed in the outline.
END had been created to be the last fantasy game that ever needed to come out, promising to be “life-like yet unrealistic.” The goal of the developer team was to create a game that encompassed all fantasy ever. From Tolkien to the creators of virtual fantasy in more recent times, they wanted to include everything.
Tyler, who had spent the last minute inside a private world of his mind's making, was brought back to reality as the doctor who was mumbling something in front of him began to wildly wave his arms. “Hey, hellll-oooo! Anybody home?” I’m going to take you to your sister’s room now and you two can talk this out, but I think it is an excellent opportunity for her.”
“Of Course!” Tyler replied as he followed the doctor, only just now realizing his name. “Dr. Hartman? Who specializes in hearts? Does the irony every hurt?”
Sensing that Tyler’s comment didn’t hold any malice towards him, “It used to. In fact, it still leaves a dull ache when I lose a patient. The pain of having to tell someone that they are going to die, or telling their loved ones is the worst part of the job, but I was told some advice that would eventually alleviate some of that pain. A wise man told me that we are not creatures of destinations. Who we are is not determined by where we are born, where we end up, where we die, or even why we are there in the first place. He said that the how is much more telling, that it is the journey that makes us who we are, and that it is the journey of any given individual that is their single greatest story. This man told me to think of death as the end of someone’s story. Sure, we are worse off without that person’s presence, but every story has to end sometime.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Tyler mulled the words over in his mind, not really getting it. He wasn’t great when it came to philosophy, but he understood the part about death being the end of someone’s story. How that was supposed to make anyone feel better, he didn’t know, but the main question he had now was “Then you believe that END will help prolong my sister’s story?”
Dr. Hartman looked at Tyler with a light smile and replied, “That’s the hope.”
They finally arrived at Lisa’s room. Plain, sterile, almost overly clean. The room wasn’t much to look at, but the hospital had pumped more money into their care as opposed to their décor which is why Tyler’s parents had chosen this one. His mother was at home watching their baby sister, and their father away on business. They both took time to come whenever they could, but their busy lives had left them unable to come today when Tyler had insisted on going.
“Hey Ty! How’s it going!?” Tyler imagined his palm smacking his face, she was the sick one in the hospital bed, and she was asking how he was. He was the older brother, he was supposed to look out for his sister, not the other way around. He guessed at what she might be feeling: fear, confusion, maybe even regret. He put on a face for her guessing that she just wanted her normal relationship with her brother right now and replied, “Good! College has been going well, and I started working out again. This time next year and you won’t recognize me!”
He joked about his weight to take the edge off the meeting this time. He wasn’t overweight, but neither was he skinny. It wasn’t like he needed it, but his sister had always told him that he’d be popular with the girls if he lost some of his ‘baby fat.’ It was hard to shake the tension with Dr. Hartman in the room though, so he let it drop as he looked at him to start up the next conversation.
“Eh hem. We’ve already told you about your condition, and that there isn’t anything we can do here, but we don’t want you to give up hope. I entered your name into a program that might not only prolong your life, but also enrich it in ways you never imagined. It wasn’t easy, but by pulling some strings with a childhood friend who works there, you have been accepted to be a patient of END if you so desire.”
Lisa, who wasn’t very tech savvy or into video games looked to Tyler inquisitively. “That game I was telling you about before. The one I had been saving up for.” Her eyes opened wide when she connected the dots.
“You mean I can live in the game?”
Dr. Hartman gave a comforting nod, but his expression changed as he began to speak again. “There is one issue that you need to be informed of before you make any decisions though. The only individuals that have ever been put into END were individuals whose brains had completely finished developing. Given that Patience and the others have continued to show positive growth intellectually, we aren’t sure what will happen when we transfer the conscious of someone who hasn’t finished developing. While we are confident that we can put you into END, we don’t know what the end results will be.”
Not hesitating at all, Lisa replied, “Do it! I’ve always wanted to be an elf!” Her innocent smile lit up the whole room. What was plain and surgically sterile before was given a new light in her happiness. Dr. Hartman and Tyler could only laugh in the face of this innocence.
“Well, barring a refusal from your parents, I congratulate you on your acceptance to END. When you enter the game I’ll be keeping an eye on you as well. Just know that even though END isn’t very well populated right now, you’ve got all kinds of people who are going to be right alongside you, wishing for the best. I’ve got other patients to see in the meantime, so I’ll take my leave here.”
As Dr. Hartman left the room, Lisa squealed at Tyler, “I get to be an ellllfffffff!” Looking at his sister’s smile, Tyler inwardly thanked whatever divine being was looking down on them in this moment. Even though he wasn’t religious, he couldn’t deny that her acceptance to END had been a miracle. It looked as if Lisa’s story was going to get to continue.