Real Life

He walked in the door like he’s done the past four years, “home from work, sweetheart.”
She walked from the kitchen and greeted him with a kiss, “I was just tending the garden.”
“You do have a helluva green thumb.”
“I couldn’t kill a plant, if I tried,” she laughed.
“So I was thinking… we do something nice for our anniversary.”
“I forgot about that! I haven’t gotten you anything! I’ve just been so forgetful lately.”
“Don’t worry about it, I love you anyway, and I can think of a few ways you can make it up to me,” he pulled her back for a deep kiss, giving her butt a nice squeeze.
“Mm-hmm, then you get to pick the outfit, mister nasty.”
He can’t help himself, he kisses her again, hands on her butt, up her sides, one hand on her breast, she had to pull away.
“You’re always so frisky, like I’m going somewhere. I do love it, but I’m yours now and forever, we have a lifetime.”
“You’re not giving me any convincing arguments not to take advantage of our marriage,” he smiled slyly.
“Work hard and play hard, always passionate about everything… I’m so lucky. At least wait until after dinner, then both of us will have more energy.”
“Okay, deal.”
“Good. Now I’m going to go…. Go… damn it, what was it‽ Cook! Was it cook?”
“Yeah.”
“Right, cook dinner! On with it, then,” she walked in the kitchen.
He went to shower and watch television, she joined him on the couch until the food was done, they ate and watched their shows, he did the dishes, she changed in to her pajamas, they cuddled on the couch a while longer.
“I thought you wanted to- ugh… there was something we talked about.”
“This,” he kissed on her neck.
“That sounds about right,” she purred.
He turned off the television and followed her to the bedroom, where she took over, pulling his clothes off, he never got tired of it, tired of her, as much as she played it off, she was just as insatiable as he was. They kissed like crazy, crawling on the bed in the bluff, touching, rubbing, ready to move to the next step. After they’re both satiated, he checks his alarm, with an exchange of kisses, and “I love yous,” he turns to go to sleep, and she writes a bit in her journal, before going to sleep.

He woke up the next morning, got dressed, brushed his teeth, walked to the kitchen, found coffee, breakfast, and her writing in her journal, he never asked what she wrote, nor did he ever try to look.
“Morning, I was just about to,” she looked at the cup of coffee in front of her, “never mind, I already did it. I’d forget my head if it weren’t attached.”
“I love you anyway,” he kissed her cheek, poured a cup.
“I think I’m going to get out the house today.”
“It might do you some good, you should get out more,” he ate his breakfast.
“Yeah, I should, but it’s not like I get stir crazy, and Christina next door is fun to hang out with- we got a lil buzzed the other day,” she laughed.
“You and Christina,” he shook his head.
“Yeah, me and Christina.”
“I should get going, before I’m late.”
“Okay, have a good day at work, I love you.”
“Love you,” he kissed her.
A typical morning for the two, they didn’t have an amazing life to brag about, but they had no problems, and didn’t need for much with his job developing spaceships and surface crafts, she hadn’t had to work in a long time, not that she didn’t want to, she wouldn’t mind, she can’t remember why she stopped. She reads through her journal to see if she had anything planned today, she writes everything in that journal, checking it to find she has a doctors appointment today, that she forgot about.
Everybody watches him as he walks to his office, many just shake their head at him, others mumble pity.
“So sad watching him walk in here everyday like this.”
“How? The guy seems pretty happy.”
“Newbie you have no clue,” another said.
“That’s not true happiness, kid. Let me fill you in…”

She went to her doctors appointment and got a full physical done.
“I can’t find anything wrong with you,” he explained.
“But there has to be… for some time now, I feel my memory slipping away, sometimes I feel like I can’t get out of bed, or focus, there has to something, like, I have to write down lots of things because my memory is slipping away.”
“I can arrange further testing, but your current vitals and health show you’re, or should be perfectly fine, but your concerns, if that’s really happening, we’ll need to schedule another appointment, you’ve never been a hypochondriac, we will get to the bottom of this.”
“Thank you, thank you so much doctor.”
He lead her to the front where she stood a moment while they rescheduled another appointment.
She looked at him, “didn’t I come here with a friend?”
“No, ma'am, you came by yourself.”
“Okay, thanks.”
She got in her car and made note of her next appointment, and drove away, she started thinking about her life, and how she couldn’t remember this city having zero problems, how when they were first married, their first apartment was broken into twice in a week, how somebody was reprogramming old discarded androids to commit their crimes, and people having their computers hacked, police corruption, until one day it all seemed to go away. She didn’t see the light change, and drove straight thru the intersection as a large commercial truck was crossing at speed, she screamed and closed her eyes, waiting for the crash, but nothing happened, looking around the car was intact, and the truck kept on going. After pulling over and catching her breath, she realized nobody stopped to check on her.
“Excuse me… but were you standing there the whole time?”
“Yes I was, can I help you with something?”
“Didn’t you see that truck hit me?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“I was right in front of it.”
The guy looked around, “well… I would buy a lottery ticket, because today must be your lucky day, that truck probably had a heavy load, and your car is fine.”
“It is? I just might take your advice on that, I thought I was a goner.”
“You take care, and have a good day,” he smiled.
“You too, sir!”
It just didn’t sit right with her, how could that truck not smash her to pieces, deciding to drive around some more, she started noticing other odd things, such as no petty crime, no homeless or even police walking around- their cars and craft were parked here and there, but no sign of them, something was off, and she couldn’t figure it out. She decided to speed a little back home, her car ran up on a curve as she hit her turn she was going to miss, the car took out a newspaper stand, a food cart, and she then noticed the raised rail beam, thinking this was it, but came out unscathed. This left her confused and she was sure something was up. She ran in the house trying to think, what else could she try, while preparing something to eat, washing her soiled dishes, she looked at the water, she knew it could get dangerously hot, cranked the handle until it rolled steam, stuck her hand under, prepared for a scalding touch, but it was as warm as it was moments ago, sitting a pot of water to boil on the stove, thinking clearly this would burn, the water rolled steam, bubbled and foamed, she stuck her hand in- nothing, warm. Frustrated, she grabbed it with her bare hands, tossing it in the sink and slapped her hand on the neon red burner still sizzling from spilt water- it wasn’t even hot, though the water boiled away as she touched it. She grabbed a knife, but struggled to stab herself, passing out from the stress. She didn’t know how long she was out, she knew she had to have hit her head, but she was fine, perfectly fine. She checked the time, and the calendar, and their anniversary was a few days away.

He came home from work to find her watching the news, she was watching the news all day, not a single bad thing happened, or had happened. He sat next to her and kissed her cheek.
“Baby…?”
“Oh I didn’t know you came in,” she changed the channel.
“You have a busy day?”
“No, but I did get out, it was nice.”
“We were busy today, almost done with that new hyperlight drive engine. I should probably shower right away.”
“Yeah… you grease monkey.”
He kissed her lips, “maybe you should join me?”
“I might… when all the grime is gone,” she laughed.
She waited for him to get in the shower, snuck in the bedroom, and checked his phone, scrolled through it for any strange apps, finding something odd, she opened it, and brought up a menu about her, opening it finding several things off, she glanced at the shower, and then back at the list of options and settings applied around her, quickly she closed it out, making the phone seem untouched, went to write in her journal so she didn’t forget, her hand shaking as she tried to regain her motor skills. He came out the shower a bit disappointed.
“I was hoping you’d join.”
“I wanted to so bad, but I about lost all my strength when I went to stand.”
“Then rest there, I’ll cook and take care of you, okay?”
“You don’t have to do that.”
He leaned down, picked up and closed her journal without looking at it, sat it on the coffee table, “we take care of each other.”
He made sure she was okay, cooked dinner, they watched their shows, just like every other day, except no sex tonight. The next day was the same, she went out again and pushed her luck, coming out fine every time, she started questioning everything, and a few memories started coming back from around when they first got the house. She talked to Christina for hours, asking her a lot of things, it was all coming together, it dawned on her, that she hadn’t talked to her parents in four years, when she called them there was no connection, she tried again and again, in tears trying to figure out why she couldn’t call them. Rushing to her car, she drove to their house, to find it wasn’t there, where their house should be, was the garage to the house that shouldn’t even be next door. Not knowing what else to do, she went back home, growing depressed by the hour. Although she had to stuff it down for when he got off work, that evening; shower, dinner, sex, television. She checked the calendar and their anniversary was tomorrow, he took the day off, that night she dreamed, dreamed of her life, things she had forgotten, pieces falling together, making it all make sense, that all of this was a lie.

No alarm set, no need to get up too early, it’s a special occasion, but they’ve been married a while now, so there’s little reason to be reserved and save sex for last- fine for her, because she loves it with him, and is one of many things she’ll miss. She went down on him, to wake him up, once fully aware, he pulled her on top, to return the favor.
“This is going to be the best one yet, yeah,” she asked.
“Mm-hmm… sure will be.”
“Good. Now I’m going to make us breakfast,” she went to get up.
He grabbed her, wrapped his arms around her, “I’m not spent just yet, honey pot.”
Several orgasms later, her body was weak, but she was pleased this time, he cooked breakfast and brought it to bed, where he fed her, once they were done, they cuddled.
“I think sex is what makes me feel alive, doesn’t that sound weird?”
“Not really… I guess when it’s the right person, it feels that way.”
“I’d better find something to throw on,” she eased up.
He watched her find something to wear, reveling in her figure.
“Are you going to lay there and watch me all day?”
“If you’d let me.”
She just laughed, he jumped up to find clothes himself, taking the dishes to the kitchen, found her waiting in the living room. They went to a movie, shopping; where he picked out something sexy for her, certain nothing would happen; she decided to give him road head, and as she thought, nobody paid attention, she encouraged him to get handsy while at the amusement park.
“I can’t believe you flashed your boobs on that ride.”
“We didn’t get in trouble, and you have a cool picture to remember.”
“Yeah, but…”
“Hey, we’re not getting any younger, might as well make it a good one,” she grabbed his crotch, “let’s live a little.”
“We’re not old, either.”
“Every day we’re good people, keep our nose down… fuck that… and… fuck me in the hall of mirrors.”
He was reluctant, but he did it, and he liked it, they went to play some carnival games, he had commented how archaic some where, and how people still fall for the same scams as those from two hundred years ago. She just grabbed a prize she knew he’d like, grabbed his hand and ran, he grabbed a funnel cake from somebody, they made it to the parking lot, and started laughing all the way to the car. She handed him the prize, and took a bite of the funnel cake, after sharing it while sitting on the hood of the car, they made out with powdered sugar kisses. Afterwards they drove to a real nice restaurant.
“We’re eating here‽”
“Honey pot, money is no object today.”
A waiter brought out a bottle of wine, pouring two glasses.
“Here’s to another ten years, my beautiful wife.”
“My handsome husband.”
Neither noticed that her health problems hadn’t manifested all day, she was living her best life that very day, they ordered meals high up on the menu, the candle light flickered on their faces while they talked and laughed, she was reminded why she fell in love with him, how great her life has been, and it won’t be any better than it has.
“This was great,” she was nearly finished eating.
“Agreed.”
“You know what I’ve always wanted to do; dine and dash, was always too chicken.”
“We can’t do that,” he leaned forward with a whisper.
“It’ll be fun.”
“No, plus our waiter did a great job.”
“We can still leave a tip… just not actually pay for it.”
“How can we do that?”
“Just… well… hand me the tip, and pretend you left your wallet in the car, then I’ll just wait for the right moment to run out.”
He glared at her, “you’ve thought about this before, haven’t you?”
She just gave a demure smile. He rolled his eyes.
“Please? We’ve already been delinquents, might as well make a day of it.”
“Fine.”
They finished, he handed her the tip and waved the man over to pay, “looking” for his wallet.
“Baby… did you leave your wallet, again‽”
“It seems so. Give me a moment my good man.”
“I’ll wait here, hurry and get it, so you can get your dessert,” she winked.
He went to the car and started it, “the things I do for that woman.”
Back inside, she waited for the waiter to get distracted, sat the tip on the table, and ran as fast as she could to the car, he sped away.
“Oh my god, that was fun,” she yelled.
“I thought we were going to get caught. That was… quite the thrill.”
“I know, right‽ This is living! Now where to?”
“I was thinking… well it’s a surprise.”
He drove to the center park and arranged a carriage ride through it. She cuddled up next to him during the ride, looking at what stars they could see, space craft coming and going, he figured he would go for it, reached under her skirt, through her panties, to finger her, she started moaning.
“R-really,” she gasped.
“The whole ride,” he smiled.
“Nice.”
He couldn’t help but kiss her every so often, and enjoyed the results of his hand job, and everything she did to not catch the attention of the coachman, she climaxed several times half way through the large park.
“It’s like when we were in our twenties… so much fun back then, we’ve turned in to the boring old couple,” she said, once she was calm enough.
“Those were the days.”
Both had lost count of how many times she had climaxed, near an area of the park mostly empty, all that could be heard was summer night bugs, the movement of the mechanical horse, and of course her restrained breathing, moans, and gasp.
“I can’t take it anymore. Sir, please stop right here!”
“What is it, honey pot?”
“Please wait for us, okay,” she sat up and looked at him, “you’ll have to catch me to find out.”
He was stunned watching her climb down, and run off.
“Just… wait here… there’ll be a nice tip in it,” he climbed down.
“Sure thing,” the coachman smiled.
He ran after her through some trees, finally catching up, until she rounded a large bush, he called out her name, looking around and caught a glimpse of her cutting across a small clearing, searching the area, he saw her skirt on a low branch, then her underwear, further searching, something hit him, her top, turned to see her straddling a log, smiling.
“Care to join?”
He walked over, shoes and pants off, straddled the log, and pulled her in for a kiss, kissed down her cleavage, and on her breast, her legs were over his, he was inside, they embraced while she let herself cry out in joy, with intent to drain him, going as quick as she can.
“That’s much better,” she laid on the log, “better be more of that, when we get home.”
“There will be…”
They both dressed and made their way back to where the carriage was, laughing and holding hands, they finished the ride, and he paid an extra forty credits for the mans time. Once they were home, they were all over each other briefly, but he had to use the bathroom, she took that chance to find that app in his phone again, using it to unlock her controls, quickly putting it away, and undressing as he came out.
“Oh… there’s a sexy naked lady in my house.”
“Isn’t there always?”
“Yeah, but not always a naked one,” he undressed.
He pulled her down on the bed, they kissed, and got handsy, hot and bothered, a moment both wanted to last forever, he wanted to give her a great night, she wanted to give him one better. Breathing heavy, sweating, she was going to rock his world and do anything she could think off, having made sure to set it so in both of their phones. Tine passed, she felt like the adrenaline would never end- but it would, but not after every room, the front and backyard, ending back in the bed. They lay there basking in each others glow.
“That was the best sex ever,” he gave her a squeeze.
“I hope so, I pulled out all the stops for this- my gift to you.”
“It’s a beautiful gift, the gift that kept on coming.”
She couldn’t help but laugh.
“I think I might have one more gift for you,” he went to get up.
She pulled him back down, “You’ve given me enough… I’m going to give you something.”
“Mmm… what did you get?”
“I’m giving you the rest of your life, baby, because this just isn’t going to last forever.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you’re still young, and still have the rest of your life.”
“Yeah… with you.”
“No. No you don’t. I’m not long for this world… or the real one.”
“The real one…?”
“I know this is all fake, baby.”
“N-no… no it’s not.”
“Yes… if it were, I’d probably be dead already. When I got out that day, I was hit by a large truck, or at least I should’ve been. It phased through me, just like the bus stop and the elevated train support I drove through. We had fun… we’ve been having fun, and this was the best, the highlight, let’s not ruin it.”
“We’re supposed to be together, I love you, and I just can’t see living without you, we can be just like this, and still have the life we had.”
“This isn’t living, it’s a simulation. Sure I really am here, but this is just as temporary as real life. You go to work, come home, hook up to this simulator until you have to go back to work- not living, baby. I remember everything… I’m sick, I’ve been sick and my mind is fading now.”
“I’m still trying to find a cure.”
“I know,” she kissed him deeply, “and you should, for the next person that catches it- I won’t be around to see it.”
“I was worried your mind might be breaking down. But you seemed fine all day.”
“It was the adrenaline keeping me going, but…”
“That’s not going to fix anything.”
She grabbed her journal and started writing, “I do appreciate everything, even the boring days, I got to spend more time with you, versus just existing catatonically, alone. I’ve had a chance to make my last words known. It’s time for you to live, I want you to be happy with or without me, move on when you’re ready, it’s somebody else’s turn.”
“Life isn’t going to be the same without you.”
“It’s not supposed to be, but don’t make it worse, without,” she chuckled.
“I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t even like leaving you here by yourself, knowing I can come back and you’re just laid out, or… or… a pile of pixels… I just-”
“Shhhh. I believe in you, I always have. You got the drive, hell, we lived the last four years in a sim, and I didn’t know it- can’t keep all that love and determination to yourself, be happy, thankful, we had what we had… I know I am.”
He just hugged her tightly, she finished writing in her journal, grabbed her phone, and started a file transfer, turned around and kissed him lovingly.
“Just stay with me until I fall asleep, okay?”
He nodded, and held her face gently, getting one last makeout session, she laid on his chest, they were quiet for a moment.
“I love you.”
“Mmm… I love you too,” she mumbled.
In a few moments she was asleep, her gentle snoring made him smile, he reached for his alerting phone, there were videos, pictures, and her journal transferred, he looked down at her with a smile, kissed her forehead, and logged out. Looking at his wife in that bed he was sitting next to, he removed the V.R. equipment, and saw a weak smile, kissed her forehead. The sun was shining in the window and seemed the brightest it ever was, this early in the morning. He transferred everything to a zip drive, and started to make arrangements, calling her parents first.
“Yes… it’s time to truly say goodbye. I’m sorry I’ve been selfish all these years,” he started crying, “she’s ready to go… I love you two as well… thank you… I can’t do this without you all…. That’s exactly what she told me.”