Have you ever thought about the times you felt alone? Or the times where you have not felt real? Have you ever had a vivid dream so recognizable? Have you had an idea that seemed so similar to someone else’s?

A dimly lit room, filled by violet-blue hues. The breeze on a cool summer evening. There was a chair next to the screen with a petit figure seated. Her face plastered to the desk and her sound of soft breathing pulsed throughout. A tiny blip echoes in the room.

“Incoming Call – Catherine (Mom)”

The screen transitioned out from the gradient before, replaced by a woman with blond white streaks of hair. Her face was clear and smooth, her browns eyes big and open, her lips lined with a mauve tint and with a small amount of blush on each cheek. She wore a white blouse, with crescent moons on both her ear lobes. “Riley?” –She gently asks. “Oh, she’s sleeping…” she shouts. “RILEY!”

Riley quickly gets up in shock as she gets up, an uncomfortable cracking erupts from her back and neck and lets out a big yawn. “Sorry.” - “I was reading up on my assignments last night.” Finished, she stretches her arms and twists her torso using her chair to stop her legs from moving sideways. Her mother’s brows separate with a look of concern. “What did I tell you about sleep!” Her mom says in a condescending tone. “One of these days you will-” she pauses as Riley gets up and rolls her chair to the tiny fridge beside her desk and grabs an energy drink. She opens the can with a loud hiss and takes a big chug. She exhales, “yeah mom, I know. I know sleep is very important and I’m gonna fuck up my nerves, but this was important. I had to finish it or else my professor is going to kill me for not doing the assignments. Like why can’t I just learn what I want to learn?”

Her mother ignoring her for the better part was talking away from the camera, “Well, I am glad that you are doing well in school.”

Riley, her face shifted in disbelief and rolled her eyes. “Catherine, did you, like, hear me?” She says with scorn. Her mother looks back and replies, “No, sorry, your dad was asking me a question in the middle of that. He wanted to see if you are coming to visit.” Riley immediately answers, “Mom, you are hilarious. Me, visit? You know I can’t I’m too busy if you haven’t heard. Plus, I get sick every time I dive.” Her mother smiles and grabs a bottle of champagne. “That was a cruel joke wasn’t it?” A huge pop echoes the room. She pours some orange juice into the champagne glass and tops it off with some champagne. “YEAH. It was. I know it the anniversary of yours and dad’s passing coming up, I don’t need reminders, Catherine.” Riley angrily says. Then, she takes another swig of her drink as her mother drinks from her glass. “Well, when you have time visit. It would be good as we are having a reunion with your grandpa and great-grandpa and nana. Visit your ancestors. They miss you. A lot. Your cousin as well.”

Riley, looking at her tablet and opens it to the calendar, looking at all the important days marked down. “MAY 07 - FINAL PAPER DUE, EXAM; MAY 08 –FAMILY’S SEPERATION ANIVERSARY, ANALA’S B-DAY”, With a “Yeah, okay mother, after when I’m done school or whatever-”. Her mother cuts her off and yells. “No whatever! Visit us! You’re lucky that you even can call us.” Riley looks up with a dull face. “mmhmm, okay mom, thanks for calling and waking me up. Buh-Bye.” She says sarcastically. “Wait a min- “. Before her mother could finish, at the click of a button she ended the call. The violet-blue hues animate back into the room. “Thanks, mom.” She says under her breath.

“Nola, please block calls from Catherine.”

“Okay. Done. Also, you have one missed call from James, from Anastasia, from Maeve, from Jessica, from Anala – “

“Call Anala.” The screen throws a pink hue and with a brief pause the machine replies,

“Calling Anala.”

Riley stretches for a second time and grabs her tablet, opening an article on the front cover reading, “JEAN DEMALLET QUIORITY.ANGEL OF A DIMENSIONLESS GENERATION.” She sighs with dismay and frustration. All she can do is a curse to try to feel relief. “Fuck.”

Two vibrant girls appear, one of them with wet hair, and the other had brown curly locks, her face speckled with freckles. She had on a long pair of lashes and was applying a golden iridescent eye shadow. “You have reached, feisty bitch one and two.” – They say energetically. Riley smiles. “Hey Sluts, what are you doing?” Both girls laugh. “We going out tonight! We getting turnt, lit, fazed, and not to forget, turnt.” Offended she replies, “Ewwww, you sound like my mother, who the hell uses turnt, lit or fazed.” They all laugh. “Ha, jess and I were watching Keeping up with the Kardashians.” Riley doesn’t know what’s worse the fact that her friend says weird noises or the fact that she watches a woman whose only claim to fame is her beauty. “You mean those linear whores that have nothing to do except getting fake faces, sex, and drama? Isn’t that like a really old series?” Anala snorts. “But, it’s a classic.” Riley shakes her head in disapproval. “Pass, all I care about now is Quiority Theorem-” She sarcastically says. “Wait, wait - Babe, you still not done?” Jess asks, her face gets bigger as she moves closer to the camera. “No, Jess, I’m not done. No, it’s a fucking nightmare, especially with this shitty professor.” Jess replies, “Or probably cause you are too busy smoking the green king and coding all day.”-

“Please, it’s not like I live in the Realm.” -

“Well if you not going out, you might as well as be. Rather, even the Realm is more interesting then what you be doing.”

“Well, when was the last time you have been?”

“Five Days ago, but I was hella high. I had to do a case study on Richard Jewell, the one that saved people from a bomb threat at the centennial park. He was a hero, but the FBI and the media were accusing him of being the bomber. Thank God, we live in modern times, don’t want any of that drama, nor those ignorant, prideful fuckers, they used to call FBI. But, Holy hell, I can never get used to diving, the thing is too real. No wonder historians and realmists be having therapy sessions once or twice a day.” She pauses and pulls out an eyeliner from her makeup pouch and twists open the wand open. “Like I mean I’m glad that we have them, that way we can live on. -” She pauses and begins to apply it to her eye.

Jess intervenes. “Yeah, I hate that thing sometimes. I mean it’s good that we can see and expand our reality, but like diving and getting sick after. I can already feel like puking. I wonder why we have to connect even though, weren’t textbooks invented for this purpose?

Anala grabs a blunt and lights it. “Didn’t you remember about what Mr. McKay said? You gonna flop this test might as well drop.” She puffs and begins to cough. “Water. Water.” And gulps her water and lets out a big cough. Jessica laughs and asks, “When the hell did Mr. McKay say anything about the perspectorium? All he’s been talking about is quantum physics, anti-physics, and dimensionless forces.”

“Ha, that’s because you weren’t there at the beginning of the semester. -”

Jessica interjects. “But I know all his shit. Also, didn’t I ask you what was going on in class? And all you said was that shit was too easy and enjoy your vacation bitch.”

“Indeed, I did say that you were on the islands having a fiesta of gran proportions, eating lemon caviar and sipping prosecco, smoking K’s for days. While, I was living off poutine, canned soup and 10-dollar liquor bottles, and baby spliffs.”

“That’s a you problem. -”

Riley cut’s in, “You’re both sounding like my mother…”

“We are getting old. Soon we’ll be joining the realm.” Anala remarks.

“You are such a whore. Well, I’m curious too, about this perspectorium thing. I don’t want to do research anymore,” Riley sighs.

“I thought this is what you choose for your elective?”

“Past tense. I decided to do this because of money.” Anala takes another puff. “Thirsty ass rich bitch,” and blows out a thick cloud of smoke.

“Well for both of you, you know that when you dive you lose time, and get headaches and get dizzy when you come out. Yeah? And when you dive you can’t control the construct; the construct only flows. It’s living in another person’s shoes. You are being sent back in time. Mr. McKay said that history was only passed on by word of mouth. It changed from time to time and was severely incorrect. We use the PSect. to travel back in time and is essential that everyone goes at least once. Since then, humans began to be more peaceful and what caused the Great Union. I mean you’ve seen textbooks on it; you’ve seen the damage that was done. The Perspectorium changes our minds and instills stability and peace.”

Anala pauses and takes another sip of her water. Jessica puzzled asked, “But why the fuck do we have to go in it? I mean we are already united and it’s not like crimes are going on. I mean we solved mental illness, and we have better morals, so why do we have to go through it?”

“Well that wasn’t always the case, even the researcher and her entire extended family got killed before the great unification. Politicians were after her, hell the whole crime sector, and criminals. To add insult, even religious cults were after her. Luckily her research carried on when she created the research center, filled with gadgets to connect the dimensionless to the dimensional.

Her work continued in private, by what we now call the Ministry. They were the ones that unified the world. Banned all religion, all discrimination, and placed the morality laws. But even after all that, private sectors were and still are targeting attacks on the research center and the Ministry. It’s getting better though, I mean here we are smoking, and drinking, but also are safer than anyone will ever be. People still make terrible choices, or accidents happen, but we will never lose anything-.”

Riley interjects, “It’s because we have killed a God, Death. We are becoming gods and we can become senile. We can go back to old habits, to destroy fucking everything, rinse and repeat. That is why we can go into the realm and no one from the Realm can visit our plane of reality. The realm doesn’t allow any type of influence unless we access it. We didn’t even know where we go after we die. The answer is the Idea Dimension. Thanks to Jean, not only do we have an understanding of what the soul is and how it works, but also how we can observe our reality.”

Anala claps. “It looks like someone’s been reading.”

“Don’t you feel lossless though, I mean we get our thoughts and feelings, and soul from the Idea Dimension?” Jess asks melancholically.

“Nah, it doesn’t matter, I will still be me even if I die.” She titillates as she pops out her setting spray and begins to sprits it all over her face. “Any other questions, my children?”

Riley asks, “did you go see James?”

“Yep, James is doing James. I mean he got a job as a realm researcher. Benefit, he can’t get sick anymore. He also got himself a man, but LMAO. The man is like 127 years older than him. Got himself a sugar daddy for sure, LOL.”

“Ha-ha, he doesn’t even need anything, I mean he already is getting what he wants. I miss him though, but I can visit him later, and his man. Hope he’s happy.”

“I’ll send you a picture. Wait here ill message him.”

The room fills with green and the screen chimes in with a vibrant tune.

“Incoming Call – James”

“Wait, James is calling me, let me ask him for a pic.”

“K, me and Jess will be going to get ready? We’ll see you at Barcode-.”

“Nope.” At the press of a button, she disconnected her friends and answered James.

---

“Hey.” He said in a growly voice.

“Did you just wake up?”

“Yeah.” He stretches and lets out a big yawn. Riley leans in forward to the screen with a puzzling face.

“Wait that’s not your place, is it?”

“Nope” – A gentile second voice chimes in.

“You must be…?” – She asks. He laughs and says “Misha. I’m Misha.”

Riley, smiles, her eyes focus to the screen. “Well good afternoon to you both”. They all laugh but as soon they finish laughing, all that is left is silence. “Well, I got to bounce and get the center, are you coming now or later?” – He asks James.

“Later, lover.” – They kiss and Misha waves goodbye to Riley as he disappears out of view.

“Oh, so someone’s been busy, working hard” She smirks. “When Jess and Ana told me about your new relationship, I didn’t think it would go this fast, you S. L. U. T. was it not just last week I talked with you?”

“Yeah, it was, you are still doing that research paper?”

“Don’t remind me, I need help…” She pleads, not knowing whether to cry or laugh.

“Hmm, I would think you would know this subject by now. Didn’t you have family connected to Jean? I mean I would ask her, but It’ll probably be a month more before I even get a chance to meet the ministers. I can help you with what I know, luckily, I don’t have to go in today, nor be forced.”

“Omg, thank you, you are helping the next generation of researchers with your knowledge, surely you be rewarded in the next life.”

“Ha. Ha. Ha.” – He sneered. “You are hiiilarious as always, hope I see you here tomorrow.”

“Ha, I’ll see you when I’m 100 and still kicking. Let me get my notes open.”

“So, what do you want to know?”

“I want to know how we can predict the future using the Realm.”

“Ah, you mean dimensional reprojection?”

Riley nods.

“Well, you know that every thought, experience, your soul comes from the dimension. Anything bound to this plane is bound to this time. You and I are still bound to this time. But, when we use the PSect. we can travel back in time, how is that? Well, we die and go into the Realm and project the past into the present and copy and bind the memories of a person in the past into a memory snapshot, during this time you experience everything that the past person felt, with the only true thing are your thoughts and your observations of the snapshot.”

He pauses and gets up from the bed and puts on a shirt. – “If the past can be observed then why not do the same to the future? Well A. you can but the only thing you will do is observe the future and it will never change. Unless the dimension is manipulated by both external & internal pressure can it change but there will be consequences.”

He moves to his desk and turns on the light. With papers shuffled on his desk and diagrams, and research papers. A chalkboard filled with physics and math equations. Messily and quickly drawn sketches of prototypes. He clears the board at a wave of his hand and proceeds to draw a triangular hourglass. He divides each triangle into a pyramid scheme. At the bottom, he writes the ABSOLUTE, the PHYSICAL, the CONSCIOUS, then the CONCEPTUAL, the INSTRUCTIONAL, the INFINITE, with infinite being at the top.

“This and the Realms reality are defined as such. They are what you know to be true, then the physical is the world around you and your reality. The conscious is the observable organs of the universe, which is you. Everything living thing connects between the conscious and the conceptual. Everything physical in the real is made from instructions from the Realm, and everything absolute comes, from, well, we don’t know. We just call it the infinite because it connects all realities and universes. All Ideas and memories that will ever be. Everything.”

He picks up a notebook and a keycard, He reads it and takes in some of the knowledge written on the pages, and just as with the face of wonder, turns to a face of curiosity, then of surprise. “Oh shit. Riley, I think I might have to go.”

She stops taking her notes and pleads. “Wait why, what happened, I thought you were going to help out?”

James desperately trying to find his pants ultimately gives up when he finds he pants stained with wine and other things… and moves to the drawer to find a pair. He puts on his white lab coat and quickly gets his things. “I’m gonna talk to you tomorrow.”

Before she can say anything, James grabs all his stuff packs It and head out of the door and the call disconnects.

Frustrated she lays on her bed looking at her social media feed. Where she finds her group of friends together eating dinner, ordering huge colorful cocktails and eating little birthday cakes. She sighs and turns off her phone and just lays on her bed for a while.

---

Then a tiny blink of light flickers in the room. Her eyes widen and she gets up to turn on the screen.

“1 Message from Jean – (cousin).”

She opens the message to find.

“Come meet me, by the docks, you know where.”

She moves to her desk, lifting candy wrappers, papers and moving around books until she finds a reflective black case. She opens the case and lined with a sponge and felt lining. She grabbed a bean-sized device made out of aluminum and adhesive material and placed it on her temple. She picked up a pair of goggles and placed them gently on her face. She lays down on her bed again, this time as comfortably as possible. She places both her hands to her side, closes her eyes, and lets out a big sigh. With a commanding voice, she says, “Nola, begin realm dive.”

“Initializing connection with servers... Downloading updates… Confirming installation… Sending user key and data request… Success… Initialize dive.”

The only thing she sees is black. And a strong breeze shifts past her, and she starts to shiver. The room that she was once in, was non-existent. It’s always surreal, and she can never get used to it. Then a menu appeared, and with a sequence of buttons, she inputted coordinates of where she wanted to dive. As soon as she confirmed the place she wanted to go to. The whole world was generating in front of her. She could hear multiple voices and see the memories of so many people unfamiliar to her. She felt every emotion, every touch, and sometimes her thoughts would be bizarre as well. She felt pain, and she began to feel dizzy. It got more intense as time progressed, and she closed her eyes, clenched her teeth. Finally, when it was at its worse. Relief. She opened her eyes, and she found herself in front of a lake. The gentle breeze moves past her, rustling the leaves on the trees. She took her first step and could hear and feel the rustling of grass. The warm sun hitting her body. However, she was still nauseous and sick from the dive. So, she could not enjoy the moment. She headed towards the dock where a woman was sitting at the edge with her feet in the water. When Riley gets there, she takes off her shoes and socks, and rolls up her pants, and sits beside the woman.

“hmm, what a beautiful day, isn’t it Ry?” Riley responds, “it would be nice if I could enjoy it.” The woman reaches inside her coat and hands Riley a piece of hard candy. She says, “Eat it. It will help you feel better.” With some resistance, Riley unwraps the candy and places it in her mouth. She feels as she could remember trying this flavor in the past but, can’t quite remember when she had it. It tasted like roses and honey. However, she stopped feeling dizzy, and for the first time, she feels good. “Does it work?”- the lady asks. “Yeah, I think it does.” She reply’s “Great. I knew you would like it. It’s a new recipe to stop people from diving from getting sick. It only works once, unfortunately. So, Ry, what on your mind?” Riley looks down into the water and all she can think about is crying. “I’m doing fine, I am just working on school work and was about to finish.”

“Hey cous., you know I can tell you’re lying. What’s going on?” Riley looks deeply into the water and cries, she says. “I miss you, my mom, my dad, my brother. The whole family. Some of my friends are here and I can’t visit them for long or at all. I never have felt so lonely in my life.” She pauses and wipes her tears with her sleeve. Jean hugs her and pats her on the head, and tries to comfort her as much as possible. “You know, we miss you a lot that’s why we have to keep you safe. Most of the calls are encrypted, but even though we were safe, some of the people that hated everything I believed in killed everyone I know. That’s why we had to change your name, and move you to the other side of the world. But hey, didn’t your mom call you and

you hang up?” They both laugh. “I know you don’t talk with her much because she did blame you for her passing. I mean I would hate her too, but she’s gotten over it.” Riley stops crying wipes her face with her shirt and lies down in Jean’s lap.

“Hey, can I ask you what happened that day?” – Riley asks. “About what, what I felt?” Riley nods in agreement, and Jean begins to caress her hair and looks aimlessly at the lake. As Jean caressed her, she began to see, feel and hear the memories that jean faced that time. “Well, I was in the labs doing my research, and I had to stay there because of the threats I’ve received. I was with my whole team at the time. Everything was going great. We had security working round the clock and we were being protected by the ministry. I can’t remember what happened when I got here. But I know it was at first painful, cold, then dark.” She could hear the yells, feel the pain, and see the blood coming out from Jean’s chest. She saw the attacker and with a loud bang a light. “Then, you see your entire past in a matter of microseconds. I would like to think of it as a side effect of someone transitioning to the realm. After I got here it was clear. I saw the intentions of others, it happened, and I forgave the other individual, the reason being the realm controlling him into doing so. We are all pawns following the instructions of this dimension. Also, I felt sorry for him, he believed in something and was punishing himself, for something he did in the past.” When she was saying these words, Riley could see the attacker not from Jean’s eyes, but from Jean’s soul. The world was starved of color. The man was in tears. His brown eyes, and brown hair, dressed in all black, but was covered in blood, and gunshot wounds. You could hear the battle happening outside, this man cries out a name, and ultimately points the gun to his head and with a loud bang, he shot himself. “He thought he was going to go to hell. But alas, this realm doesn’t care what you did, because it was already determined. Unfortunately, even the ministry couldn’t predict what would happen. I mean there are so many possibilities, but none at the same time. The only thing I know that is true is me, you, and everyone around us.”

Riley had her eyes closed, as if the looked down at her and moved her hand on her nose, and pinched it. “Ouch!”- Riley said.“You shouldn’t feel lonely, we are here, your friends are here, you are here, and your future is eh, almost here. Don’t dwell on the past, you innocent little girl.” Riley lightened up. “Here lemme give you something.” – Jean opened up a menu, typed out a series of words, and hit send. Moments later Riley received a notification and opens it. In it, she finds an attachment that reads,

“Research_Essay_Future.docx”

Reading the abstract, it reads perfectly and is amazed at how similar it sounded like her writing.

“I already knew you were struggling with your essay. Determining the future isn’t as awful when you’re dead. However, because I did this favor for you, it means that you have to go to the family reunion with me right now.” Jean stood up and gave Ry another piece of candy, she ate it and as she stood up the world spinning in an array of colors, where loud cheers sang, and all she could see were familiar faces.