Bus station – A brief encounter

I’m waiting at the bus station, when his image flows into my retina, and burns my flesh, while I grasp for the cold air and close my eyes to reduce the ashes. The gravity of his voice pulling down the mass of each word strikes like a a thunder in my brain: “Arianna, Is that you?” Julio says. I violently grasp the control of my full-size and noise control headphones, and turn volume to max.  Then I lost it all.

Hospital – Getting back together

“Arianna, you are in the hospital. You had a panic attack, and lost your consciousnesses while waiting for the bus,” says Julio. “You will be fine.”
“What happened to you? I was terrified when you left me. I looked for you to come back. Six long months passed with no sign of you.”
“I know, I know,” she says. “I could not get used with the thought of a marriage, a normal family life, it is suffocating.”
“How do you know? You never had one,” says Julio.
“I’m always running around from place to place, from people to people like a butterfly. New places, new faces. This is who I am and I have my reasoning behind all this,” says Arianna.
“I will get used to it,” says Julio. “I will adapt. I want to be with you.”
“I thought out of two of us you are the smart one. I know I will be safe with you. I don’t know if you will be safe with me,” says Arianna.
Julio smiles and touches her hair. “I’ll take my chances. Always with you. I believe in you completely. Whatever issues you have, we will find a way out.”

Wedding night – The Crash

This night is special. I am so eager to wait for the first dance with my new husband.
I remember the day I left Julio only to meet him few months later while waiting for the bus. Who doesn’t believe in destiny? At hospital, I decided to give it ago and marry him.

Julio touches my cheeks, brings his lips to my right ear and softly says, “I’m here, I’m here. Hanging in the tree.”
A crack in my moral fiber let the fear break the societal iceberg of immutable law: Do not harm.
The crack metamorphosed into a wide hole, and I welcomed my rage volcano to erupt. It was too late to run again. The hell broke loose. His red blood cells are staining my deep white wedding dress.

Sanatorium – The Cure

“Hi Arianna, glad you’re back to our reality. I have with me Dr. Ray from Artificial Intelligence department,” says the doc.

Doc, I killed him. I killed Julio. He sang the beast song, and I couldn’t stop.
“Arianna, you didn’t kill anybody. You were just living in a virtual reality. It is part of our new diagnostic and treatment process.
We hooked up you to our virtual brain. It has access and learns from your memory. Its neural networks are flexible to detect people important to the patient, and create high intensity scenarios to attract mental psychosis. As you said, the beast feeds out from any emotional vibration.
Julio’s memory became a bait for the beast to take form. The goal was for you to directly confront the beast and take action. And you did that, yes in a violent way, but nevertheless successfully. Congratulations. You’re cured,” says the doc.

Doc goes to Arianna and gives her a hug good-bye before he leaves the room. “I have to go now Arianna, I have another patient waiting.” Doc leaves the room smiling and humming along: “Waiting for you, to bring my feast.”