Chapter 6


    The highway was sparsely populated that late in the night, so he ducked out of sight every time a light shone in his way. According to the GPS, it would take him twenty minutes to drive from Santa Rosa to Forestville; it had been hours and counting since he started out on foot. He just needed to follow the river road, cross a silver bridge, then look for a red house on the hill. Liam took off again, exhausted, hurt, and dripping with sweat. The drive was peaceful—not a single cop car in sight. All he could see were trees and nature. Sarah must have seen something special here if she chose to live there.


    The underground highway ended at the exit of River Road, and he had to leave the car behind. As he ascended onto an old road, it seemed as if decades of cars drove around those parts once upon a time. Liam picked up his pace and began jogging—what would Sarah think when she saw him? He shoved the thought away and kept running until he approached the silver bridge that overlooked an emerald-green river. He ran faster, knowing that only four more miles stood between him and his destination.


    As he got closer to the bridge, Liam spotted a woman sitting on the railing of the bridge, looking at the water.


    Liam''s face smacked against the pavement. His vision was blurry and his head was throbbing. A hand appeared out of nowhere, and for a moment, Liam thought it belonged to Sarah. But it wasn''t her.


    “You. Wh-Why?” He glanced around, but there were no police or any signs of their company in sight.


    “You can still drive above ground, just not with those big cars. Plus, it''s always faster to fly,” Bliss replied.


    “Are you here to stop me?” Liam wiped the blood and dirt off his face.


    “No! I made sure this could happen. I contacted Sarah—she was a little confused at first, but she''s ready to see you now. Did you think an old lady would allow a strange young man into her house like that?” Bliss said as she grabbed hold of his forearms and pulled him up from the ground. “Now all we need to do is get you there, then we can concentrate on getting your memories back. You don''t have much time before they come looking for you.”


    Liam felt tears welling up in his eyes; whether it was because he was finally seeing Sarah or because he was so exhausted, he couldn''t tell.


    “Why are you going so far for me?” he asked her.


    Bliss wiped away his tears. “You said that if you knew what it was like to do anything for someone, then you''d give up immortality to be with them. I feel the same way—I miss him every day, and I may never see him again. But if helping you get your memories back will help me know what happened to him, then that''s my goal now too.”


    “Thank you, Bliss,” Liam said.


    “Go on now. I''ll be here when you get back. There''s a red house just up the hill from here; take the first left after the bridge and follow the path. Hurry!”


    Liam walked on, stopping at a puddle to catch his reflection and tidy himself up; brushing his hair with his hands, washing his face in the water, and dusting off dirt. He approached a gravel driveway leading to a single-story red house overlooking a green river below; as darkness fell, stars began to appear in the night sky above, with the small dipper constellation pointing right towards the house. He rang the doorbell, only to hear a voice call out from somewhere else: “Around back!”


    He followed the sound of the voice around to the side of the house, where an elderly woman was sitting on a porch rocking chair looking out over the river. Liam wordlessly made his way up to her, and she turned her head to look at him.


    “Can this be true? I thought it was a joke. Is that really you, Sarah?” asked Liam, looking at her incredulously.


    “I should be asking you that! You look like they copied you from my memory! Although, from the looks of it, you seem to have had a difficult time,” replied Sarah.


    Liam started to cry as he realized he was actually there.


    “This is so unexpected. I''ve been sitting here wondering what to say, but all I can think of is, why are you here? It''s been ages since we last saw each other,” said Sarah bewilderedly.


    “Wait! Not for me! You don''t know what I''ve gone through to get here!” exclaimed Liam in exasperation.


    "Why now for me?" asked Sarah hesitantly.


    “I was with you two days ago. We were engaged and planning to spend the rest of our lives together… Then, I woke up in this world. Everything is wrong, it''s not how it''s supposed to be. Sarah, I—” Liam couldn''t find the words for his feelings about the situation.


    "With me? I don''t understand," said Sarah in bewilderment.


    “They tell me that I lost all my memories after a certain point; my last one being with you. Apparently, I''m a clone or something new with my consciousness transferred into this body," said Liam sorrowfully.


    "Wait, did you say you proposed to me? Ah, yes," said Sarah with a nostalgic smile. "That was a good memory, but Liam, I barely remember that day myself. We never got married—both of us moving on with different people."


    “What? Why? Is it because of something I did? Sarah, if they can make me younger, maybe they can do the same for you,” Liam grabbed her hand gently.


    “Liam, no. You didn''t do anything wrong. When I think back to that moment, you were such a great boyfriend—I said yes because I was truly in love with you. But that Sarah isn''t here anymore. We both moved away for our jobs and kept postponing the wedding; we eventually realized our relationship had changed, and that''s okay. The day you proposed to me was perfect. The view from the mountain was one of my favorites, but I''ve hiked even higher since then and found somewhere else that I like just as much. It''s alright to be sad, but don''t let your emotions stop you from living life,” said Sarah.


    “How do I go on? How can I ever take your place? How can I fill that gap?” Liam couldn''t even begin to consider the possibility.


    “You don''t, love. It won''t happen. At least not for me. Once you love, it alters you chemically; it''s part of you now. When you break your heart, there are no easy solutions, but it is a wonderful thing to know that you have the capacity for such great love. You will move on and find new loves, each one teaching you more about love and what it means to be true to yourself. You learn what pleases you and what doesn''t. Until, finally, someone sticks around. But still, nothing lasts forever, so make sure to cherish every moment with every love that comes your way," Sarah said. She paused before continuing, "Did you know I used to play rugby?"


    "What? Watch it or actually play?" Liam asked.


    "Yes, watch it too," Sarah smiled, "but I enjoyed playing more. It was in England when I moved there for a year; I hadn’t made any friends yet when my housemate had me come along to practice with their recreational league team. It looked like football, but not very exciting, so I was hesitant at first. Then, they told me that my size was perfect for a scrum-half and their team needed one desperately, so the pressure was on! There was this girl named Lauren Murphy who came at me like nobody else ever had; I left the field bleeding from a bitten lip and drenched in sweat! I was covered in blood from biting my lip and splattered with dirt, but then she reached out to me. It didn''t make sense that people would be applauding me for taking a blow. I hadn''t done anything impressive, yet I was being praised. And surprisingly, I liked it. All of a sudden, I felt strong, tougher than I ever thought I could be—even if I had always been considered small and delicate. From that moment on, I showed up to every practice ready to play and joined several different teams across America after returning home, making new friends, and expanding my network. The reason you don''t want to become the man you were is because you haven''t found yourself yet," she said.


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Can''t we make memories together again? We can start another life together if you change bodies," Liam pleaded. "Maybe this time, I''ll like rugby."


    “No, I''m content with my life ending now. I''ve kept those who love me waiting too long already. I''m ready to see what the next world brings, but you have the chance to continue on and grow. What a gift time is! People write letters to their past selves, and it''s almost like the world is sending you one—so read it! Cherish your family and loved ones, especially that woman. You got lucky with her; she cares about you deeply and understands you more than I ever could,” Sarah pointed down the bridge as she spoke.


    "Who?" Liam inquired.


    "Oh," Sarah began, "the woman you ended up with, Emily? She works for the company that made this procedure possible."


    Liam''s mind stood still. Bliss? No... What?


    "I used to keep an eye on you two through social media," Sarah continued, "posting videos and pictures together all the time. Let me show you!"


    "But I don''t have a chip implanted in my brain," Liam responded.


    The room filled with soft mechanical noises as Sarah rose from her chair. Liam was astonished that a body of 106 years could move around as it belonged to someone who was sixty.


    Sarah caught Liam looking at her, "Yes, it''s true. They can replace almost any bone or joint these days. As long as I have my wits about me, I''m not going to end up in some old folks'' home." Sarah glanced over at Liam, then gestured for him to follow her.


    They walked through an automatic screen door from the porch to Sarah’s living room, which was decorated more elaborately than any other place he had ever been.


    "I never got into that virtual decorating crap. They say 99% of people can’t tell the difference if it''s real or not, but I always could. It just lacks… naturalness to me. It''s like life is supposed to be affected by time; everything grows old with us, from rust on metal to plants we water." Sarah gazed out the window for a moment, then added, "Besides, I am absolutely terrified of that computer chip. So I still use my old school projector." She clicked a button and a large screen lit up on one wall of the living room.


    A couch sat in front of the screen with a chair beside it.


    “Take a seat here,” Sarah said as she pulled up a chair and settled on the couch. Facing him was a blank white wall; he assumed that was where a projector would show pictures. And he was proved right when one sprung from the ground like smoke and mirrors, creating a giant screen in front of him.


    “Let’s see if we can find pictures of you two when you were younger,” Sarah proposed while scanning through apps. “Not ‘MyLife,’ not ‘SoulProtrait’… ah, here it is: Instagram! I thought it would have died out by now, but look at it still going—even I sometimes come back to reminisce. Alright, let''s find some photos.”


    Sarah pulled up the first photo of him and her just before they had gone on their hike. As she walked closer to him, holding a remote, Liam heard the machines whirring away. She got close to his face and looked over every inch of it that was illuminated by the room lights. “Wow,” Sarah said in awe. “You look exactly the same.”


    Time seemed to stand still for Liam as his life passed before him. He remembered going on hikes with her and then later being alone. But he didn''t appear sad in any of the photos; he actually looked quite healthy. One picture was from their supposed dream honeymoon spot in Venice, Italy. But it was just him alone. It then showed his graduation from UCSF. Then, there he was traveling around the world with no sign of Sarah in any of the photos. His internship at some medical field also made an appearance: Liam wearing a white lab coat and smiling genuinely. Next, were several Thanksgiving photos with his family, plus a new woman next to his dad; possibly his girlfriend. That didn’t sit too well with Liam. The final photo showed him holding an accolade for work surrounded by three other people—and there she was: Bliss, looking the same as she did when standing next to him, now wearing a white coat. He gazed into the camera, but she was actually looking directly at him, her expression unchanged from what it is now. His heart started to race, and he blurted out, “Keep going, please” without much thought. He continued to look at photos of himself during his internship—pointing at devices that are complex and unknown; sometimes working with robots, while other times reluctantly looking at a dead body as another scientist gestures towards its brain. But Bliss is also in these images more and more—not just in the work-related shots. Softball game photos from 2031 appeared, and she was right next to him. The subsequent slide started playing a video of her pitching while he was holding a bat. “Don’t think I’m going to go easy on you,” she warned playfully to an older version of Liam. Suddenly, there was a loud noise, and an unknown voice screeched, “Oh my God, Emily! You hit him!” The following photo revealed her carefully tending to his wounded left eye with an ice pack, both of them joyful and smiling. It dawned on him then that the smiles in those pictures weren''t forced or posed for the camera—they genuinely seemed happy. Like the image was capturing a moment, and they didn''t care about being photographed.


    He remembered the first dates—nights out at bars and restaurants, museum trips, and dancing. “Sarah, can you show me another video from back then?” Sarah nodded and played the next video posted. In it, Bliss—or Emily—was playing with a black lab puppy. She kneeled down and spoke gibberish to it before taking it by the paws and starting to dance around. When she looked up and saw Liam filming her antics, she charged the camera while he laughed in the background. The pup then decided it must have been a game as well, and joyfully leaped towards Emily''s face. She shouted that she wasn''t playing, but that only encouraged it more. Eventually, the puppy had her on the ground being given affectionate kisses. Liam barely managed to keep the camera steady due to his laughter.


    Liam stared out the window in the direction he saw her last. When he looked back, his eyes rested on a photo titled “HE said yes”—she had proposed to him. It wasn''t even close to how he envisioned it happening. He had tried so hard to plan the perfect day with Sarah, but instead, it was at a San Francisco Giants game, and she embarrassed him in front of others. He took a step away, then realized what he had been avoiding all along—the heartache wasn''t from Sarah, but from within himself. Liam didn''t love himself and he was unhappy. He thought if he got certain things, like Sarah''s love, everything would be fixed. But at no point did he consider getting to know the real Liam for himself. Not until he ventured out into the world on his own. Sarah continued sifting through the pictures, growing more curious about his past.


    “Oh, is this your son?” she asked.


    A video showed middle-aged Liam with a mustache, smiling and speaking directly to them: “Say hi, people of the future! This is my son, Liam—say hello, world!”


    Liam froze up, and when he looked back at himself, he didn''t recognize the image staring back. He was holding a tiny pink infant in his arms. Emily''s voice could be heard from off-screen as she asked, "Are you sure you don''t want to let him choose his own name? It''s just how parents are doing it nowadays."


    "He''ll get to choose," Liam replied. "I''m not naming him after me. I want him to know that he is capable of doing amazing things. When people look up ''Liam Long'', only my son will appear; I want to fade away into the background of his life. I love you, Liam," he said directly to the camera before the video cut out.


    Sarah paused the video and said tenderly, "You have a beautiful family. You must have been a great dad."


    A single tear rolled down Liam''s face as he stared at the frozen image of himself cradling his child.


    "I don''t think I was. Thank you, Sarah," Liam said gratefully as he began heading towards the door. "I wish I could stay longer or come visit again, but..."


    "It''s alright," Sarah interrupted gently. "I had a wonderful time here today. Now, go and enjoy your own life; it looks like it''s going to get even more exciting."


    Liam wiped away his tears and thanked her one last time before sprinting out of the room.


    “And, Liam, don''t linger in the past too much. Spent time can never be recovered. Make sure to cherish the present.”


    Liam ran with a newfound vigor, as if his life depended on it. He was running for a reason—please still be here, he thought to himself. In the foggy distance, he could see a bridge with a dimly lit lamp post and a shadowy figure sitting there waiting. “Emily!” he bellowed, only to find that she didn''t move. Again, he shouted her name even louder, this time catching her attention as she stood up. She turned around as Liam drew closer, and his smile faded when he discovered it wasn''t Emily at all. Red and blue lights shone in the distance, illuminating the figure''s face, and the stranger uttered: “Emily? How interesting.”