One Day to Remember

Lunet watched the old man smile as electrodes flashed. His breath slowed, his eyes closed, and his face softened like he’d just remembered something sweet.

"Subject S78. Full sedation. Neural sync stable,” she murmured, logging the data with one hand, sipping cold coffee with the other.

Fifty simulated years in one day: a beautiful goodbye gift, wrapped in memory. She glanced back at the stack of soft yellow pills, stored in transparent, sealed pods. A gentle, lovely colour for a gentle, lovely end. She thought, proud of her work.

**

The line moved slowly. Trays clacked against metal rails as guards watched from the corners.

Milos kept his head down, eyes on the steamed carrots and grayish meatloaf being slopped onto his tray. Seventeen years later, he still couldn’t figure out what was in that sauce.

He sat at his usual table—fourth from the back. Far enough from the lifers who still had something to prove. Close enough to the guards to avoid chaos.

Across the table, Tino was already halfway through his meal. "You hear about that dream pill thing?" he asked, chewing like it offended him.

Milos grunted. “TV’s broken.”

Tino continued, ignoring Milos’s negativity. “They played a segment during med line yesterday. Said it’s for the terminal folks. You take it, dream a whole life in a day, then you’re out.”

Milos stabbed a carrot. “One way to skip parole.”

**

Lunet watched as a grimace appeared on the young patient’s face. Deemed terminal months ago, she made the perfect tester for this version of the pill. Concerned by her apparent discomfort, Lunet opened the window of live data. Eyes narrowed, she watched as code generated on the screen, the sequence looking familiar.

She tapped her chin, thinking. She pulled up the elderly man’s file from last week and flipped through it, feeling a twinge of panic.

“It’s way too late to find a glitch now,” she mumbled as she shoved a pile of reports aside and rang her superior.

“Lester, something’s off. The same sequence appeared in subject A45, 27 female, as subject S78, 79 male. Dream lives should be unique, no? Their perfect idea of peace and happiness?”

Lunet’s heart pounded as the silence stretched. “Not your concern, Lunet. Just observe.”

She glanced across her desk at the photo of her son in his first semester at his dream college. Her senses screamed at her to protest, but funding approvals were already precarious.

**

“Quiet in the lineup! No funny business!” The guard shouted as two inmates laughed loudly.

“Doing your job for once. Thanks, boys.” Milos mumbled, constantly irritated by noise these days.

“What’s all this?” Tino asked ahead of him at the commissary window.

“Vitamin D, new supplement protocol for winter.” The guard said robotically, barely looking up from his sheet.

Tino shrugged, satisfied. Milos approached and took the pill, a small smile creeping across his face. The calming pastel yellow was the closest thing he’d seen to beauty in a long time.