Simon saw the fighter plane next to his go up in flames. He only saw it for an instant before racing past it. His best friend Steve had been in that plane and was almost outside the enemy ground missile range before he got hit.
Steve was the captain of a group of twelve highly skilled and experienced pilots, they had all started the mission together but now only one remained- Simon.
Now outside the missile range, Simon tried to take in all that had happened. His team of twelve had perished, the captain too, and contact with headquarters had been lost.
He felt a pounding headache. He thought he saw Steve and the others, standing before their planes with bug smiles. Then the smiles were gone, their faces darkened and he saw them squeeze in pain. Again he had their screams, he felt their pain and died their deaths, all in one fleeting moment.
Twenty four hours earlier, the world as he knew it was so much better and happier. The plans they had put together was perfect so why? How? Simon could barely think, his eyes grew heavy, he tried to keep the tears from falling.
Although he was well off the range of the same missiles that had claimed the lives of all his teammates, he knew he wasn't safe. Taking one sweeping look from the left to the right, he counted half a dozen enemy planes though he didn't need to, his radar already indicated the presence of at least twice that number all around.
Escape was impossible, he knew it. Being the proud soldier he was, Simon refused to go down easy. Again he heard the screams of his dead teammate and the fear vanished. He felt a sudden surge of adrenaline as wave after wave of energy swept through him.
Simon was afire. The hand on the controls clutched tighter and he grounded his teeth in indignation.
"No one kills my team without consequences!!" Simon cursed under his breath.
His eyes flared with life, a chilling light flashed through it and he looked like a beast, an angry demon from the depths of hell. The enemy planes drew closer, taking their time.
Perhaps they sought to capture and torture him while slowly extracting every piece of information he knew but Simon would not let them. He suppressed the urge to throw his fists in the air and scream in protest, his eyes did the talking, they screamed a clear message - vengeance.
Abruptly, he moved his hands and the nose of the plane dipped. With great speed, he began to descend. He knew exactly where he needed to go and the plan was simple - crash into the main building of the enemy base below.
It was a suicide mission and Simon had no plans of living through this battle, not after his team had fallen, he had no life without them. They were his family and they were gone. Death would be quick, he told himself as he descended. He would die but take one-fourth the entire camp with him in one heroic showdown.
Too bad the television channels wouldn't be recording this. The only problem was the ground missile but Simon doubted there were any near the main building. Even if there was, he had no time to think or even pray for his success, he wasn't in the mood to.
The plane fell rapidly and the target building came into view. He gritted his teeth and braced himself for the impact. Suddenly, everything went black.
Blackness.
'How long has it been?' Simon wondered 'Is this what happens after death? No, there's nothing here' He tried to blink but couldn't.
He saw nothing, felt nothing, smelled nothing. The space was silent, completely. Only blackness. He couldn't feel his own weight, was he hovering?
'Am I even dead?' the thought hit him. He didn't know so he waited.
He couldn't tell how long he waited but he heard the booms of explosions and forces his eyes open. Although his eye lids were painfully heavy, he managed to force them halfway up then looked.
'A plane?' He felt nostalgic. There he was in a plane, an odd plane. Before him, controls he could vaguely recognize.
Other aircrafts exploded around his, he saw and heard the explosion and immediately sprang to life. Right in the middle of a war he knew nothing about, his instincts kicked in and he tried to grab the controls even tighter but there was nothing there.
Alarmed, Simon looked around but couldn't understand the plane nor could he comprehend what was going on.
'Who on earth is the pilot? Where is he?' he asked himself but saw not a single soul in his plane.
Just then he heard an explosion happen up ahead, it was rushing towards his, about to swallow him up in flames. It dawned on him then that he was about to die. He screamed, terrified. Pushed himself forward, shut his eyes tight and waited for the inevitable to happen but nothing did.
Rather a female voice spoke to him, the voice was oddly familiar and he opened his eyes to see who it was. Eyes open, Simon gasped. There was no war, no planes, no explosion, just a room. The most beautiful room he had ever seen in his entire life.
'Heaven?' he wondered, amazed. 'But where's the woman?'
"Good Morning, Mr Simon. Your meeting is only forty five minutes away. You screamed, is something wrong?" the voice said.
Simon looked around, he was the only one in the room so where was the voice coming from? He saw no lady and knew he had had enough.
'Enough! Show yourself' he wanted to shout but held it in.
"Who's there?" he said as calmly as possible. Keeping his cool was taking a great deal of effort.
"It's me, Alice." A woman materialized to his far left. She was very light, Simon concluded she was intangible.
'An angel maybe?'
"Is something wrong Sir? You don't look so good" her face filled with concern.
"Who exactly are you?"
The woman frowned then spoke. "I'm your Virtual Intelligent Assistant. We've been together for more than two decades. Are you alright?"
"My God!" Simon was at a loss. 'Two decades?' He stared long and hard at the lady. Wasn't she an angel?
Her face was the most beautiful he had ever seen, he could have sworn she was a celestial. Her skin clear as jade and her curves were mesmerizing. He looked her over and admired her figure. Something moved in his pants so he reluctantly tore his gaze off the lady and looked between his legs.
He saw a bulge and suddenly remembered his gender. Hell! He had even forgotten his name was Simon. He laughed at himself, inwardly hoping this was not a dream and the war was just a bad dream. He loathed nightmares.
"Say Alice, assuming someone suffered temporary memory loss and that person somehow happened to be me. Uhm . . . " he stammered "hypothetical speaking, how would you explain things to him" his eyes dropped, he wasn't making much sense.
"You're joking right? If you have your head messed up then it's best we go see a doctor" When he didn't respond, she breathed, "Well I'm Alice. We've been together for twenty one years. This is your bedroom. Since we're making assumptions, you haven't forgotten your name too, have you?"
"Ehm let's assume that person wasn't sure what his name was and saw visions of a war he knew nothing about" Simon said.
Alice laughed long and hard. Simon immediately regretted saying what he said. "I didn't know you could make jokes Sir" she said, still laughing uncontrollably. Finally she caught her breath and answered him.
"Okay I'll play along. You're Simon and you're not a prophet, you don't see visions tough guy. What you just saw was part of your alarm. You set it yourself and said whenever you watched it, it made you feel like you've forgotten something really important but we've been together for almost all of your life so I doubt it has any real connection to your past."
"Something I've forgotten?" Simon muttered.
"What did you say?" Alice inquired, she hadn't heard him.
"Oh it's nothing" he said immediately.
"Okay good because you're gonna be in a load of trouble if you don't get ready for the meeting in twenty minutes"
"Meeting?"
He remembered she had mentioned it earlier. He had no idea what was going on so he had to ask questions. Without doubt, he needed answers, and fast. No way was he walking out the door without getting the information he needed.
"I can't believe you this morning! What's come over you?" She scolded "You better get up before things get ugly" She placed her hands on her waist, she meant what she said.
The pretty smiling angel was scary now, Simon couldn't believe a few words and an angry face could scare him so much but he knew he had to do as she said. She was terrifying.
"Uh what now?" he asked feebly, steeling himself for another scolding.
"Get in there and have a bath! Don't tell me you've forgotten how to bathe too and enough of your jokes, this is not the time!" She barked, pointing to the opposite side of the room. Simon's eyes followed her finger and turned to his right.
He saw a door and dashed towards it but something caught his eye along the way so he stopped and retraced a few steps. A real sized portrait of a devilishly handsome person.
'Another angel?' he wondered and spoke without thinking.
"Hey Alice, who is that?" He turned to face Alice but immediately realized he had made the wrong call. When he saw her angry face, fear gripped him. She was moving closer now, he thought she would tear him apart. The door of the bathroom was thrown open. Simon jumped in and slammed it shut.
He struggled with the lock but gave up when he realized he couldn't use it because he didn't understand how it worked. Alice too was taking her time, she should already be at the door banging it and threatening to tear him up but there was no sound so he concluded that she wasn't coming. At least he had the bathroom to himself and was doubtful that she would invade his privacy. He lifted his eyes to yet another surprise.
He doubted he was in a bathroom. It was massive, beautiful, heavenly. It glittered. Simon was suddenly convinced it was just a dream. He wanted to pinch himself but didn't, he didn't want to wake up just yet. A full length mirror stood to the side so he turned to it in order to examine himself.
"Ugh?" Simon looked back and around. After confirming he was the only one standing there, he looked back into the classy mirror and almost died.
"My God!"