Memories?

Nathan O’Donnell lay on his deathbed. His head tilted slightly to the left and he looked out towards the bay, the mountains rose high in the distance. Tilting his head back to the right he saw his family. All six kids, his many grandchildren and finally his wife through forty years. He had led a good life, he assured himself, giving his children the best possibilities for the future. All except one had gone to college, and hell, there was even a doctor and a lawyer among them! But, as it is said, the only thing in life we can ever be sure of is that, someday, we are going to die. Nathan had come to terms with it a long time ago. Still, he would have liked to have a few more years, time to sit by the creek and watch the water flow by and drink lemonade on the front porch on a warm summer day, but fate had other intentions. The disease had struck suddenly, but at least he didn’t have to endure the pain for too much longer.
Lying on your deathbed also comes with some benefits. The nurses were nice and friendly, and fed him everything he wanted, but the very best was that he could reflect on his memories. He would sit in his wheelchair and look out across the bay and thinking about all the events that had led him to the man he was today. Some of his memories were dreary, and some were cheerful. Perhaps only a person who has experienced both can become whole? His philosophical ponderings were another thing he spent a good amount of time on. Is there an afterlife? What is the meaning of life? And other great questions that have troubled human minds for millennia. One of the downsides to philosophy is that you never get an answer to your questions.
Nathan had worked as a bricklayer his entire life, and the long workdays had often been stressful, and in his younger days, he often didn’t come home till late in the evening, when both his wife and his children had gone to bed. But he had overcome this problem, just as he had overcome all the other problems in their life, and he could die with peace in his soul. He looked at his children’s faces and saw their smiles. This was what made his efforts worth it. He had often wondered how the last minutes before you die feel, but as the inevitable grew ever closer, he felt a strange tingling feeling go through his body, and he knew it was time. He raised his hand with great effort and signaled to his family to come closer. Each of them gave him a final kiss on the forehead and sat close by him. Seeing their smiles and them hiding their tears made this one of the happiest moment he had experienced, for now he truly knew that he was loved. He reached out his hand and his wife held it. He turned his eyes towards the ceiling and felt his eyelids grow weary. He hoped his death would be graceful, and wouldn’t scare his grandchildren too much. It was probably healthy enough for them to be confronted with death at an early age, for they would see a lot of it. For a brief while he tried to resist, but found that couldn’t, his eyelids finally slid down and closed. All went black and all went quiet.

Gath Tomblins slowly opened his eyes. The lid to the container he was in opened with a loud swoosh and the sunlight blinded him. His memories swiftly returned to him and he sat up. He rubbed his eyes and looked quite confused and unsure of where he was. It took him a few seconds to find out just what had happened.
“That was awesome!” he said, turning to the operator. The operator grinned and thanked Gath for his compliments. Gath lifted himself up from the container and out onto the floor. Even though he had been sleeping for almost twenty-four hours, he didn’t feel particularly well-rested. Already, Nathan O’Donnell seemed like a haze, but that was probably good. It would be terribly inconvenient to have the memories of two lifetimes in your head. Gath picked up his backpack and looked at his watch. He would be just in time for class. He reached out his hand and shook the operator’s hand. “Thanks for the experience, man. You won’t be seeing me here again, but I’ll tell everyone I know about this thing!” Gath ran off and jumped aboard a skybus. He was overjoyed at being “home” again, but had a strange sense of longing in him. Even though they had never been his real family, he somehow missed his “children” and his “wife”. Perhaps he wasn’t going to tell that many people about the wonders of “Simulatron” after all.