What is life?

As Kathryn walked to the bathroom sink to get a glass of water, she felt a weird sense of unease. This was the 5th time today that she did something she normally wouldn’t do, something out of her own control. She felt… odd, like something seriously was wrong, something bigger than herself, that she couldn’t control.

It had all started a week ago, on her 18th. She still remembered the first episode, as she called them. Instead of talking to the guests at her party, she had gone to bed. She didn’t want to, she had wanted to hang out with her friends, but seemingly out of her usual will, she walked almost mechanically to the bed, and fell instantly to sleep. Something that never occurred. It was almost like Kathryn was in a…. simulation. But that couldn’t be possible, she thought, that was all stupid conspiracy theories, wackos if you will.

It was getting out of hand, Kathryn could barely put up with it anymore. It was becoming the biggest burden of her life and was slowly weighing down on her. She felt like she could suffocate at any second, the thought of having to do another stupid action, not under her control, sounded like a nightmare. The endless boring routine she had been forced to endure was driving her up the wall, to the point where she wanted answers, real ones. She thought back to her thought of being in a simulation, thinking that the idea may not be as crazy as it first sounded. It seemed like the only logical explanation in this bizarre situation.

She thought back through her life, realizing that she didn’t have any occurrence of these episodes before she turned 18, which wouldn’t make sense if she was in a simulation, right? How would that work? She thought deeply about it for the rest of the day, at least she still had her own thoughts through these endless episodes, it gave her plenty of time to think. And after a while she came up with a new theory, one that seemed unlikely, but she figured could possibly be plausible. She figured that maybe life was like that one game she played, The Sims 4, and some people from birth would be part of that simulation, having someone, somewhere controlling them. And others, like herself, would be waiting until they were a teen, or adult, when someone would decide they wanted to control the life of an older person. It kind of made sense to her, and it fit in with her original theory of being in a simulation. Plus, you never knew what was possible until you experienced, saw it, or heard of it.

For example, she didn’t know it was possible for someone to hold their breath for 8 minutes until she was playing a game with her best friend, Alexis, and she stayed underwater for 8 whole minutes while holding her breath. That was a bizarre day, it was Alexis’ 18th birthday party, and she had been acting weird all day. As Kathryn thought about this it made her stop. Her 18th birthday. Wait what if she was put in the simulation at 18 too, she had been acting a little off since then Kathryn realized. It just gave her more proof to her theory, and she decided to start a list to keep track, that way she doesn’t forget anything important.

1: Some people always acted weird

2: On her 18th birthday she started doing acts she couldn’t stop

3: Alexis started acting weird on her 18th

4: If the government was behind it, it would make sense to put out a game like it (The Sims) because that would throw people off…????

Once she was done compiling her list, she put it down and got up to take a shower, another episode for she had just taken a shower this morning, this time of her own free will. It annoyed her, but at least she got to finish her list before they sent her off to do another mindless chore.

Everything was starting to make more sense, and it was disturbing her more and more every day. She could barely handle it anymore. What if this was all real? Who put it together then, the government, or some nameless entity in another dimension? She thought about it and her head started to spin as the hot steam from the shower filled the room and her full mind. She wished she could just end it all, she wasn’t suicidal, at least she didn’t think she was. She just wanted all this simulation nonsense to go away, so she could be back to her normal, fun life.

She couldn’t understand how no one else had noticed. Maybe the people she had once considered “wackos”, the ones with all the simulation conspiracy theories, had just realized like she had; that something was up. If the government was behind this all like she theorized it would make sense they hadn’t taken these people out yet; since most people just thought they had a few screws loose, Kathryn thought.

The next week she started to get sick, unusually sick. Sick to the point her parents had to take her to the Emergency Room to try and get a diagnosis, which they couldn’t find one. It was worrying her, she thought that maybe possibly it was this stupid simulation, and that they had gotten her sick to try and sidetrack her so that she wouldn’t gain awareness, for that could be dangerous if taken too far. I mean she did realize that those simulation believers usually were slightly sick, but they always seemed to not know very much and not have any proof.

Each day she became more and more aware of the fact that her imminent death was upcoming. She started to investigate further into the whole sim experience, and every time she looked more into it, the more sure she was that it was for sure true.

Deep down Kathryn knew that if she stopped looking and denied that it was true that she could probably live so much longer. But she didn’t care, she would rather die than live in this now robotic life of hers. She hated it more than anything, and she knew that now she was suicidal, but she didn’t care. It didn’t matter. She was going to die either way, and maybe she could reveal it to the world before she died. Kathryn didn’t care if that may mean that all the people that find out die, it’s not like she thought they deserved to live. She knew society as a whole was an awful place, and that it was going to just get worse. So might as well see the whole world die.

It was her last day, she knew it, she could sense it. She could also sense she was going to die exactly at 3:33 pm, so she planned out her whole day. She was going to reveal it to the world, but she had a very special way to do so. She was going to set a post to go off on every social media during her funeral. It was the perfect way to go, Kathryn thought, the perfect funeral.

Her parents had already prepared the whole funeral service for tomorrow at noon, and she couldn’t wait for the look on their face whenever they found out she would see from up in heaven. It would be her last guilt pleasure.

As it neared her death time, she called her best friend Alexis. They had a casual conversation, one filled with joy for Alexis didn’t know she was going to die yet, Kathryn hadn’t told her. She didn’t want to break her heart yet. But she knew she needed to; she couldn’t keep the secret until she died.

“Hey Alexis,” Kathryn randomly mentioned.

“Yeah?” Alexis replied curiously.

“I’m so sorry…”

“For what” Alexis asked, slight concern filling her voice.

“Thank you for being there for me through good and bad ” Kathryn replied with a few voice cracks. Alexis was her only reason to try and live, but she just couldn’t do it.

“Why are you saying this all of a sudden?”

“I’m not going to… make it” Kathryn said evenly, not wanting to cry useless tears.

“Wait… are you d-y-y-ing?” Alexis’ voice filled with pain croaked.

“I deserved this, and I’m so sorry. You’ve been the best friend ever. I love you.” Kathryn painfully replied with sorrow. Feeling so bad she was going to leave her only friend to cope by herself. Hopefully she would see her again in heaven one day Kathryn thought.

“I lo-o-o-ve you too” was the last thing Kathryn heard as she peacefully passed, her devious plan ready.

Eventually the next day the funeral came along, everyone a zombie with grief, not fully accepting the fact that their beloved Kathryn was gone, forever. All though no one would forget her when they all died because of her.

At one point everyone’s phones went off, and everyone looked down at their phone, Kathryn’s plan coming into action. Immediately everyone started to get sick as they read it, and she had provided so much information so fast that they all died before they knew it.

Up from heaven Kathryn was watching as the world turned to chaos, all her doing. Cars were crashing as they illegally read their phones as they drove, killing innocent kids and others who weren’t able to afford phones. Kathryn giggles as her plan comes to action, knowing that now they would have no one to control, and that everyone would be dead of her cause.

She felt so proud that she would forever be remembered whether that’s in the minds of everyone in heaven or hell, or if a few people survive and the tale of her great accomplishment lives on. Either way she was content. She always had thought she was such a perfect person, but she had realized that didn’t suit her. She was MADE to be the villain.