The same figure in the portrait he had encountered on his way to the bedroom stood in the mirror, staring back at Simon in surprise. Time seemed to halt and the meeting was temporarily forgotten.
The corners of his lips curled upwards in a smile and he chuckled. No wonder Alice had snapped when he asked who the figure was, she must have found it hard to believe that he didn't recognize his own self.
"It's me!"
He said loudly though he didn't need too, there was no other person there. He stretched his right hand and touched the mirror, the man within it did the same with his right hand. Their hands met, Simon could feel the cold glass against his fist, he loved the feeling and flashed some teeth.
Looking around, he saw only beauty. The floor beneath his feet had a peculiar softness to it, it attracted his gaze and after studying it for a while, he rushed to the bath tub.
Alice was waiting by the door when he emerged from the bathroom ten minutes after he entered, anger was written all over her face. Her being there wasn't unexpected, Simon had expected it but the sight of his assistant having a physical, tangible body surprised him.
"Aren't you supposed to be my 'virtual' assistant? But here you are in a human body" Simon hissed.
"Again with the questions, I stopped being a mere virtual assistant twelve years ago. You made this body remember?"
"I did?" he questioned.
"Yes you did! Enough about that, why were you playing with the mirror and talking to yourself? Still fooling around when you're already running late, I just hope you haven't gone mad yet"
Her words knocked the air out of his lungs, he took a step back, totally shocked. Not sure he had heard correctly, he asked.
"You know about that?"
"Of course"
"How on earth do you know what I did in there?! Were you peaking?" He finally voiced his anger.
"Peaking?" Alice looked shocked too "Nonsense! There are no blind spots, I have access to every device in the building which includes, the cameras."
"Great" Simon threw his hands "No privacy at all. You probably monitor my dreams too"
"When did you start bothering about privacy, weirdo?"
"Since you started watching me take a bath. Geez, you are the weird one here"
"Not quite" Alice said, arms folded, eyeing him as though he had gotten himself some sort of medical report in the past stating he was definitely 'weird'.
"What do you mean 'not quite'? You're supposed to be virtual but have a body. Supposed to be my assistant but you literally run my life" Simon protested.
"True, I do run your life" She confirmed.
"Crazy. No way in hell are you just my assistant acting like you're my wife and own the place"
"Again with the wife thing?" The woman was chuckling now.
"I don't know what you're talking about" Simon was suddenly on the defensive.
"You've been asking me to marry you since you turned fifteen"
"You expect me to believe that? Who in his right senses would ask a VIA to be his wife?"
"Exactly. Only dumb people do that"
"So you're saying I'm dumb?!"
"You've finally admitted it" she laughed "weirdo"
"Well I was only fifteen. Fifteen! Still young and naive"
"You became adult at fifteen and since then you've made that same request over three hundred times"
"No way. Adult at 15?" Simon asked, his voice low.
"Yes that's how it is. You're an adult once you turn fifteen, are you that dumb?"
'What's she going on about. Adult at 15?' he couldn't believe and decided to drop it "Well when was the last time I asked that dumb thing, ten years ago?"
Simon watched as she pressed her folded arms against her body just below her cleavage. She smirked.
"Let me tell you an interesting story Simon. It happens to be a true story" she paused, she expected him to jump in but he didn't so she spoke on. "Some time last week, a handsome young man returned home early, it was his birthday. Poor guy, he was a loner and he celebrated his big day in the privacy of his home without inviting a single guest. It was just him and his trusted VIA. After the first round of drinks, he held his chin up and stride over to his assistant. Knelt before her and confessed his undying love for her. He was a good fella but his VIA turned him down for the umpteenth time. She wanted nothing to do with him, his desperate promises didn't convince her either"
Simon swallowed hard, Alice watched him. 'Good, let him sweat' she thought.
"Devastated that the love of his life had turned him down again, he threatened suicide but was still unable to win her heart. She told him she didn't care what happened to him. Of course he was too chicken to kill himself so he resorted to drinking till he passed out on the couch. And then..."
"Enough!" Simon interrupted "Christ, you're crazy"
"Yes I am and I just confirmed you're not in the right state of mind to meet the Generals today"
"I'm meeting with Generals?"
"Not anymore, I'm going to have to cancel it. Sure they will be mad and all, but it's for the best." She winked "Trust me to make the perfect excuse"
"So VIAs lie too, remind me to not believe everything you tell me"
"It's your fault. You've been re-engineering me since you got me years ago, I'm no longer what I was intended to be and might as well be the only virtual assistant in existence who tells a lie without its owner instructing it to, Thank you very much"
"Virtual my ass" he fired back.
"Forget it, let's get back to the problem at hand. Your head is messed up pretty bad and we need to do something about it. Things would be so much easier if you didn't hate doctors and hospitals so much, I'm going to try explaining a few things, okay?
" Yes Ma'am"
"Don't call me that" The lights started to dim "Brace yourself"
The room became dark and six men appeared out of no where, standing side by side in a straight line. Holograms. They looked familiar, incredibly fit. He examined them one after another and when he reached the end of the line, he recognized the sixth man. The sixth man was dressed in the same attire as the others.
"These are the six Generals, rulers of our world" Alice spoke from the shadows.
Simon watched, agape-mouthed, the words failed him. He suddenly knew why he had been scheduled to meet Generals that morning. His lips parted, though he tried to speak, he couldn't find his voice. Without making a sound, he mouthed the words.
"I'm a General."