Before I share this story, let me share an update. This will be my last story at least for some time. I’ve decided to focus my writing time and effort on finishing enough short stories to put together a book. With that said, I wanted to put this one more story out here and get some feedback. It’s a very different type of short story for me. This is the 3rd draft, so it may still need some editing and proofing. Let me know what you think.
Paradise Beach
10.12.16
By Dave Weeks
THE BEACH
Rachel Grace sipped the last of her margarita, stopping just short of slurping the bottom of the glass. She set the glass on the small table in the sand next to her chase lounge, taking in a deep breath of the salt air, then letting out a long, satisfied sigh as she turned and smiled at her husband, Jerod. He smiled back, and as she looked out over the ocean, he was content to simply watch her.
Rachel was in her mid-forties with the body of a woman well versed in yoga and palates. She wore a modest, one-piece bathing suit that looked simple and innocent at first glance, yet still managing to draw Jerod’s eye along the curves of her hips. But it was her smile that always captured his eye. Her smile spread from her mouth to her eyes, showing a depth of happiness, satisfaction, and peace that was nothing short of stunning. Even in the shade of the oversized sun hat she insisted on wearing in spite of the quickly setting sun, the twinkle in her eyes when she smiled was clear and captivating, and Jerod was helpless under her spell.
They had met while he was in pre-med, and had fallen deeply in love by the time he graduated. Friends and family all tried to convince them to wait for marriage, but there was no slowing them down. Two days after finishing his first year of med-school Jerod woke her up early and they eloped. He could still remember looking into her eyes on that day, promising her that no matter what happened, one day they would live together in paradise.
By the time he turned 30, he’d established himself as one of the true geniuses in the neuroscience field. When he was 38 he accepted a grant to pursue his dream of research, promising Rachel that he would change the world. Here they were now, 10 years later, on Paradise Beach.
“It’s just amazing, isn’t it?” she said, as she looked around. “You promised me that one day we’d live in paradise, and here we are. We live here, Jerod. I have to be honest, honey, when you said that to me years ago I thought it was just romantic babble meant to make me feel good… and it did, it made me feel so good, but I didn’t believe it would ever happen, not like this.”
Her eyes scanned her surroundings more slowly, taking stock of it all.
Up the small hill to her left was their house. It was her dream home. Years ago she had seen a picture of this house in a magazine. She’d fallen in love with it immediately and carried that image in her head ever since. She must of mentioned it to him, shown it to him, although she didn’t remember doing so. When he bought this beach property he had arranged for this house to be built for her.
To her left and 20 feet closer to the ocean was the fire pit, but to call it a fire pit seemed almost insulting. It was a ring of stone no less than 15’ in diameter. The base of the ring was made from large, sturdy stones, held together with some type of mortar. Sitting on top of the larger rocks was another several inches of sea glass of every different color. Tonight, like every night, there was a fire burning, and her mind relaxed as she looked first at the flames, and then at the reflection of the flames dancing in the sea glass.
She had a sudden memory of her childhood, and found herself almost squinting into the fire in an effort to bring the memory into full focus.
As a young girl, she would often have trouble sleeping at night. Her father would help her relax by having her close her eyes and imagine a fire on a secluded beach. He would talk to her about the fire, telling her to imagine it in as much detail as she could. He would talk about the red and orange flames dancing in the ocean breeze, the snapping and popping of the wood, and the smell of the smoke rising off the logs and mixing with the ocean breeze.
The more she thought about it, the more she began to feel like the fire pit in front of her wasn’t just similar to the one she imagined as a child, but that it was the same fire pit. She quickly let go of that thought as she realized it was just her brain overlaying her current reality into a fading and incomplete childhood memory.
She turned her focus further to her left, and further from the beach where the gazebo stood. In the gazebo was a bar, and at that bar was Samuel, ever watchful for any sign of need. As her gaze stopped on him, he immediately raised his eyebrows, wordlessly asking if she needed anything. She smiled at him and shook her head.
Turning back to Jerod she said, “Thank you for all of this dear. It’s all perfect.”
He took her hand and said, “I promised you paradise, and all I live for is to keep that promise.” He leaned over from his chair and kissed her hand. He lingered for a bit, as if he never wanted to remove his lips from her hand. When he finally sat back up she saw a tear in the corner of his eye. He had always been the more emotional of the two of them, tearing up from movies, music, or sometimes from just watching her. She smiled, appreciating the love and respect, but still oddly embarrassed by it after all these years.
Still holding hands, they turned and watched the setting sun for several minutes. It was this time together, quiet but comfortable, that she loved the most. After several minutes she gently shook his hand and said, “you stay here, I’m going to go get one more drink.”
He tightened his grip on her hand and said, “No, I’ll have Samuel bring it over.” Before she could object, he was up, signaling to Samuel, and more quickly than she would have thought possible, the unassuming Samuel was at her side, removing the empty glass from her table and replacing it with a fresh margarita.
She quickly picked it up and sipped, thanking him before he could fully turn to leave. He nodded his thanks and quickly returned to his post in the gazebo. She felt a brief flush of embarrassment. While she deeply appreciated all he did for her, she’d never felt comfortable being tended to by someone like that. She often tried to think of ways to strike up conversation with him, but it never quite worked out. She almost seemed unable to speak around him, and he seemed completely content to quietly attend to her needs.
She turned back to watch the sun as it now dipped closer to the waves. Jerod watched the sun for a bit as well, but soon felt his eyes pulled back to her.
After several minutes, he noticed the smallest change in her expression, a shadow of confusion in her eyes, and he immediately asked, “what is it?”
She didn’t speak right away, but his words seemed to open a door in her, as her entire face was now bathed in the confusion. Finally, she turned to him and said, “I’m forgetting things, Jarod.”
“What do you mean?” His voice had changed. No one else would have probably heard it but she did. It was no longer the voice of her adoring husband, it was now the voice of a preeminent researcher gathering data.
“I’m forgetting things.” She said again. “Things from our past, things that I should remember. Things that are on the tip of my tongue, but never quite make it out.” She paused for a moment and then added, “I’m forgetting big things… most things.”
“Oh, honey, we all forget things.” He was trying to sound calming, but he could clearly see it wasn’t calming her at all.
“It’s not like that. Let me ask you – where did we live before we moved here?”
“1119 Morris Ro…’”
“Yes,” she said, cutting him off. “Yes, that’s right, 1119 Morris Road. But I swear, if you had offered me a million dollars to write it down before you said it, I wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
He looked at her, his mind frantically trying to find something to say, but failing.
“There’s more,” she said quietly.
“More… like what?” he finally asked, as his eyes dropped down to stare at the sand between their chairs.
“Well… everything.” She finally said, the last word barely more than a whisper. “I know we fell in love in school, I know we got married, and I know for a while we were barely getting buy. I know those things, but I don’t remember those things. I remember the stories, I see snapshots here and there, but I don’t remember those things.”
Tears were now gathering in the corners of her eyes. “I remember a couple of things about my childhood, my dad, and… that’s about it.”
He didn’t know what to say. There was nothing to say.
He slowly raised his head, meeting her gaze just as a tear escaped from the corner of her eye and ran down her cheek. She needed answers, and somehow she knew he had them, but he said nothing.
When the silence between them became too much, she smiled, this time a forced smile that didn’t reach her eyes, and had none of the satisfaction or peace he had seen earlier.
“Never mind,” she said the strained whisper of someone fighting back tears. “Never mind. Who am I to worry about forgetting a few things when I’m here, in paradise with the love of my life?”
She took a deep breath, and then said, “This is all so perfect, except for one thing.” He couldn’t hide the concern on his face, then she smiled again, a real smile this time, and said, “No matter how big the fire is, I always get chilly when the sun starts to go down.”
His face broke to his own smile, until she said. “You stay here, I’ll run up and grab myself a blanket.”
He tried to hold her back, holding her hand, willing her to remain in the chair, and opening his mouth to call for Samuel, but it was all too slow, too late.
She turned her upper body to get out of the chair, but her legs remained motionless. Confused, tried again, but her legs remained stationary. She looked at him, back at her legs.
“Jarod?” Her voice was wrapped in confusion that was quickly giving way to fear.
“Jarod? My legs…” Her voice was overcome with panic now, “JEROD! I can’t move my legs.”
He bent over her, tears falling from his cheeks to her hat as he said, “Shhhhh.”
She opened her mouth to scream, but her minded faded to black before she could make a sound.
THE LAB
Rachel Grace lie in the hospital bed, motionless, other than the shallow but steady rise and fall of her chest. Needles and tubes violated her body from every angle. A plastic tube released oxygen into her nose, while a small clip on her finger measured how much of that oxygen made it to her blood stream. Her head was covered with a hat of sorts, but one connected to dozens and dozens of wires. Most of the wires ran up over the head of the bed, connecting her to a wall of machines behind her. Two of the wires were connected to earpieces in each of her ears, and two other wires were connected to small, black patches on each of her closed eyelids.
Off to the left of her bed sat Dr. Jerod Grace. He was carefully peeling identical black patches from his own eyelids, then carefully removing an identical helmet from his own head. He rubbed his eyes, trying to shake off the vision of Paradise Beach, as well as the residue of exhaustion that was his constant companion these days.
He looked at her, still as beautiful to him as ever in spite of the needles and tubes, and in spite of her pale skin and withered limbs. “Samuel,” he called without looking up. The man who moments ago was serving margaritas on the beach, now quietly came to the bed in his nursing clothes.
“She’s cold, Samuel, can you add another blanket.”
Samuel carefully added a blanket, taking care to tuck it around her without disturbing any of the equipment. As he did this, Jerod picked up his pocket recorder and began dictating his notes from the session.
“Project Paradise, October 13th, 11:08 PM.
Subject found the Virtual Reality world to be completely believable. She showed none of the previous fear or confusion with the illusion itself. Subject maintained a stable, relaxed belief for 17 minutes before showing the first signs of negative emotion. Time from first negative emotion to complete VR breakdown was still less than 1 minute as before.
The interaction between the Subject and… the Subject and her husband was fully lifelike and natural, involving all senses for both prior to the VR breakdown.
The induced amnesia successfully blocked all awareness of the accident, of her paralysis, and of the coma. She was completely unaware of her current physical reality. Unfortunately, the amnesia also wiped virtually all of her pre-accident memories.
The paralysis of her lower limbs continues to penetrate the VR world. This was the cause of the VR breakdown again in this session.
Next Steps. I will reach out to Dr. Corvalis for his thoughts on how we might refine the induced insomnia to allow blocking of the accident and resulting conditions while allowing memories prior to the accident to remain. In the meantime, I will focus my own efforts on trying to block the paralysis from appearing in the VR world. If the subject can successfully walk in the VR world perhaps any distress from memory loss can be managed, allowing for prolonged sessions.
This concludes my notes from trial 417, day 2,555 of Project Paradise.
He turned off the recorder, and set it down on the desk. After checking a few of the settings on the equipment, he walked to the bed and kissed her cheek. He lingered for a bit, as if he never wanted to remove his lips from her cheek. When he finally pulled away, he whispered into her ear, “I promised you that one day we would live in paradise, my love. Be patient. I will get us there.”
He stood, tears rolling down his cheeks. He turned to the door, and as he walked out he said, “I need to get some sleep, Samuel. Keep her comfortable.”
Burning Apathy 