Future Glimpse

Ripley sat at her desk scanning the newspaper help wanted ads desperately trying to find a handsomely paying job hell even a decently paying one at this point. Her bank account was sitting at $10.35, and her bill due dates were slowly closing in on her in a suffocating manner. In frustration of not being able to find anything she threw the paper to the floor, booted up her computer and headed straight for Craigslist in hopes of finding something that would help her generate some money before she was completely broke and homeless. After searching through around twenty pages she found an ad that caught her attention. 'Get Paid $20,000 For A Glimpse Of Your Future!' Ripley was truly curious but also completely skeptical nothing that good was ever true least not in an honest manner anyways. Quickly she looked up the address on her phone's GPS saving it to her future places, she got up from her desk quickly dressed in a t-shirt, jeans, hoodie and sneakers before grabbing her wallet, keys and phone to head to the location of the over promising job. It was a stormy day which of course made her wish that she had a car, but when your as low on money as she is your car is your own two feet.

Thirty five minutes later Ripley was standing outside a run down looking warehouse debating if she should knock on the door or not. Her imagination started running wild with images of horror movie films of herself being dragged inside and brutally slaughtered. Taking a deep breath she prayed silently as she knocked on the door hoping she wouldn't be murdered and that this was really a legitimate paying gig because she truly and desperately needed the money. Bouncing from one foot to the other she waited for almost five minutes before someone finally answered the door. A decently tall friendly looking man answered the door with a warm smile on his face.

“Hi can I help you?” The man asked with a genuine sincere look on his face which gave Ripley a sense of calm as well as unease at the same time.

“Um I actually saw your ad on Craigslist and was interested in applying for it.” She hadn't realized that she had even been holding her breath until she felt the air flow out of her. She watched the man observing his every move as he opened the door more and invited her to follow him inside with hand gestures. Ripley cautiously followed him inside in silence into a room with where a weird looking virtual reality chamber sat in the middle of the room, along the left side of the wall sat a multitude of computers and monitors. She watched as the man walked over to one of the computers and sat down turning on a screen at the same time. Pulling up a program he started typing before he spoke to her again. When he did speak to her again she felt like she was going to jump out of her skin.

“What is your name? I don't need your full name just your first.” He said quickly she guessed he sensed her uneasiness at the question.

“My name is Ripley, R I P L E Y.” She spelled it out to save them both time since most people always had the tendency to misspell her name as Ridley.

“How old are you Ripley?”

“I'm twenty six. Can I just ask what exactly is all of this? And what's your name?” The man let out an audible sigh at her questions.

“My name is Spencer, and this is my project called Glimpse of the Future. I created it in order to let people who have lost hope in their lives glance that things can always get better than their current situation.”

“That seems like a very generous project as well as a humanitarian compassion goal.”

“The world needs more compassion at times.”

“I agree with you on that Spencer. The world indeed lacks compassion.”

“Which category do you fall into?”

“What do you mean which category do I fall into?”

“Are you a hopeless person, homeless, suicidal?”

“Oh well I'm not hopeless or suicidal. I'm currently jobless and soon to be homeless.” Ripley watched Spencer as he entered the information she provided him with into his program, but her attention was soon turned toward the chamber where it was glowing almost like a beacon. It reminded her of the side mission quests in video games that glow to attract the player.

“Alright your information is all set all you need to do is enter the chamber, have a seat and place the helmet on your head and your glimpse to your future will start.”

“What's the catch to this? I use your machine see a possible future and you pay me to do it?”

“Exactly. The only catch is afterward I want your complete honesty of whether or not it was worth it.”

“That's it? Just a review of my opinion on the future your program shows me?”

“Yes. The only risk is taking this chance and seeing what awaits you from this point forward.” Ripley nodded in understanding taking a deep breath she headed for the chamber to follow Spencer's directions. This was going to be a breeze have a fake virtual trip already programmed by a computer to show her a happy future and then give her opinion on it just to earn twenty grand this was truly going to be a piece of cake.

“Spencer how long does this usually take?” Ripley was truly curious not that she really had anywhere important to be.

“Just depends on how quickly you make decisions once it all starts.” She mouthed the word oh to herself at the vague answer she was given as Spencer closed the pod chambers door. Quickly she put the helmet on and sat back into the chair. Within seconds it felt as if she was on a roller coaster with flashing lights going off around her.

Ripley found herself walking down the street from her apartment when suddenly she was bumped into by a random person. They both made their apologies and laughed about the incident, before fully walking away from each other phone numbers were exchanged. A few days later dinner date plans were made through text. The date came and went between them, the chemistry was undeniable everyone who looked at the pair could see that. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and months turned into years. There was nothing but sheer happiness and bliss between the couple. On their third year anniversary a proposal was made, Ripley of course said yes to the love of her life without hesitation. The wedding took place a year later during the fall, everything was beautiful just how Ripley had always dreamed since she was a little girl. The couple moved into a new house in the rural country side where they planned to raise their freshly growing family. Eight months later a set of twins a precious little boy and a beautiful little girl. The years passed quickly for Ripley watching her children grow and succeeded in everything they put their minds too.

She watched her children graduate high school then college. She watched them marry the love of their own lives, have their own children and raise their own families. She grew old and gray with the love of her life until the very end, where she watched her children and grand children bury them both. Ripley's life was complete she had found happiness, adventure and in a weird way her own little piece of heaven on Earth. Suddenly she felt like she was being pulled backwards on a roller coaster with all the same flashing lights going off around her like fireworks. Darkness and stillness crept in on Ripley she wasn't sure what was going on, but she felt a contentedness that she had never felt before it was strange in a nice way though. She heard a whirring sound as the pod chamber door was opened from the outside, she felt a set of hands slowly removing the helmet from her head.

“Welcome back Ripley. Did you enjoy your glimpse of your future?” Spencer asked with a curious look on his face with a clipboard in hand.

“I did actually, it showed me everything I've been hoping for since I was little girl.”

“How does that make you feel?” He asked writing notes down on the paper.

“I feel content, happy and ready to face tomorrow honestly. How long was I in here?” Ripley was truly curious since she a just lived a whole lifetime.

“Only an hour. Your the first person to complete this project in that amount of time I'm surprised actually. All the others have taken at the minimum four hours to complete their glimpse.”

“I'm on optimistic go with the flow type of person.” Ripley slowly stood up and exited the chamber stretching her body out as she walked. She watched as Spencer walked over to a door she hadn't noticed when she first entered the room. He walked through the door he was barely in the other room for five minutes before coming back out and walking back over to her.

Spencer held out a stack of money but also a little black book to Ripley. She gently took both in her hands. She must have had a confused look on her face about what was going on because she heard Spencer lightly chuckle.

“Inside that book is the names, dates, times and places that occurred in your future. So that way if you truly want to pursue that path you can free of charge.”

“Your serious?”

“Absolutely, there wouldn't be much of a point in showing people a future that they truly want and than not giving them the information to make it happen.”

“Why is that?”

“Easy, what is the name of the person you married in your future? Where is the location of your home?” Ripley paused for a moment, but drew blanks on both questions she honestly couldn't remember any of the information from the glimpse she had seen. It all felt like one of those dreams that you want to remember, but never can.

“Exactly you don't remember, thus the reason for the book. I'm glad to have been able to have helped you Ripley. It was truly a pleasure to meet you.”

“Thank you Spencer for this amazing gift. You're going to change the world.”

Ripley smiled at Spencer before she walked out of the room and then completely out of the old warehouse and back to her home. Once home Ripley sat down on her bed starring at the book debating if she should read it or not. Taking a moment to weigh her options she opened the book and learned that soon her life was going to change for the better. She couldn't wait for the dream that she experienced to become her reality. She lived a lifetime in the glimpse of an hour and now she would truly get to enjoy every single moment for longer than just a second. After looking through the book Ripley placed it on her bedside table than lay down for a nap knowing full well her dreams were about to come true.

A week later Ripley was walking down the street from her apartment when she accidentally bumped into someone. Looking up at the person she couldn't help but smile she would recognize him anywhere it was the love of her life.

“I'm so sorry, my name is Ripley”

“It was my fault, I'm Andrew.” She smiled as she shook his hand and exchanged numbers before walking in different directions. This was the start of a beautiful future for the both of them.