It was the year 2050 and Sophie Grey sat staring at a screen at her accounting firm. She followed the words and numbers on the page, her mind absent as she typed.
Big Ben outside tolled six. Her shift was over. Sophie performed the perfunctory ritual of clicking Save and Exit, grabbing her coat and keys, and making her way out. She exchanged no good-byes or see-you-tomorrows. She was brisk in her pace to get home.
‘She’s gotten quiet nowadays,’ sighed Melissa. ‘Ever since the incident…’
‘Oh yes, she used to be a talker,’ agreed Liz. ‘Now she only listens with her eyes on the ground.’ She cocked her head sideways, contemplating a mental image of Sophie in front of her desk, numbing herself with work. ‘I miss her smile sometimes.’
‘I think we all do, love. A tragedy, that one,’ remarked Melissa. ‘Come now, I think it’s time we left her alone…’


Sophie Grey did not slow until she was in her private room; she did not even bother shedding her coat. Situating herself in the middle of the room, she called clearly, ‘Power.’
The computer kicked into motion. With an initial groan of energy, the four walls around her flipped on, instantly becoming screens. Remembering the owner’s preferences, the screens displayed a 3-D virtual world. It was as if the walls had disappeared altogether, allowing the room to become infinite.
A faint smile grew on Sophie’s lips as happy faces joined her in the room. They crowded the place, waving, smiling. She pushed them aside with a little flick of her wrist, though she offered them a little wave; she was not here to see them. The way cleared and Charlie Grey was left in the empty space. He saw her in the distance and he approached her slowly.
It was as if a magnetic force was pulling them together. She moved with an ease that was not her own, as if she had no other choice.
It was then that she blinked and she saw his face: his face, blood splattered across his cheek and his nose broken. But she opened her eyes and Charlie was fine, walking towards her slowly, matching her pace. Yet she blinked again, and there he was: his body, limp and cold, looking so small by the metal wreckage.
Once the dam was broken, the dark images crowded her mind again: her mother dying, her friend killed in the alley, her brother jumping off the ledge.
But she opened her eyes and they were all there, smiling at her; Malcolm was even out of his wheelchair.
So she kept moving forward, towards Charlie, towards her love, until they were just nose-to-nose. Sophie raised her hand but she only felt a wall as cold as glass. Her smile faltered and her body convulsed, cracking under the weight as reality collapsed in.
The screens turned off and she was sobbing on her knees. She was alone.