Gage shot upright in bed. Brilliant colored fireworks lit up his small bedroom. Bang. Zip. Whistle. Bang. BOOM! He automatically reached for his left knee and traced his finger along the scar cutting across his kneecap and around the outside of his leg. This was always his first impulse upon waking from the recurring nightmare of an instance long passed.
The digital clock at this bedside read 12:00. It was the birth of 2050. As most people hugged their friends, kissed their loved ones, passed drinks, danced, hollered, and generally welcomed the new decade with jubilation, Gage wiped the sweat from his wrinkled brow with the back of his wrinkled hand and began the process of falling back to sleep.
He didn't want to admit it to himself but there was tightness in his chest that wasn't caused by post-traumatic stress. The melancholy grip of loneliness squeezed his heart. It was 80 years since the events transpired that permanently damaged not only his knee but also his mind. From that instance forward, he could no longer relate to anyone but his brothers in arms and most of them were dead or lost touch decades ago. He watched them all recover and move on to start families and careers while Gage was trapped in a moment his 19-year-old self could not escape.
Gage rubbed his chest and pulled the comforter over his head. All he needed was sleep. In the morning he would go about his routine and life would return to normal.
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The Man with the Robot Wife
Science FictionGage Barman, a hermit and neighborhood curiosity, owns a junk shop in a crumbling building. In an era where electronics are inexpensive enough to use and repurchase months later and Modified Biological Organisms are commonplace, customers are a ra...
