The next thing I knew I was waking up to a chiming tone in pitch darkness, while immersed in liquid. Dim lights began to come into focus as the interior of the capsule lit up. Trying to gather my scattered thoughts, I remembered that I had just fallen asleep in the virtual world and that now it was time for me to get ready for my work at the nursing home. If my belief that the alarm had woken me up correctly at the set time, then my shift was scheduled to begin in an hour from now at 2 pm. Stretching my limbs in expectation for them to be stiff, I was pleasantly surprised to feel very loose and limber, much like I'd feel after a good stretching routine. In addition to my body, my mind also felt refreshed. The only notable difference was that my thoughts didn't seem to be racing with my hormones at the helm anymore. *sigh* Now that was a relief. Thinking now more objectively, Victoria truly was beautiful. If such a woman like her existed in the real world without the taboos in place, then I would definitely give it a shot if she showed even the remotest sign of interest in me. Otherwise, I'd probably just keep to myself and recall her beauty with passing regret, at not having the courage to take a chance. This has been the case for me many times in my past. I keep justifying that it is because I do not feel ready, as I still owe it to my sister to cure her disease, before I can truly pursue a life for myself. That doesn't mean that I can't and won't enjoy life along the way. But for deeper commitments, I feel like I am lacking the proper drive and strength of conviction, as well as having the proper amount of focused perspective remaining to take care of a family. For now, I will continue to take care of myself and work on the foundation of my future, as I seek to cure my sister's disease. I had to admit that although my initial passion was architecture, the medical field that I transitioned to has its perks. It has unique opportunities of fulfillment and at times, odd forms of entertainment for those with a certain appreciation for darker and dry humor. "Haha." I chuckled to myself as I recalled past events at my workplace. I truly did enjoy working in the wandering dementia unit most of the time. The antics of some of the residents were absolutely hilarious to observe and too often save them from. One lady in particular, Margaret who was wheelchair bound, would very frequently ask me where her mom was and where her room was. I was always happy to show her to her room, as it kept her busy and distracted for a while. However, from previous experience, I learned that you Never want to tell the resident that their parents are dead when they ask where they are. I did try a roundabout way of asking her to see if I could help her make the connection in a less explosive way. The conversation went as follows. "Margaret, how old are right now." "72" she responded. "Okay, how old is your mother." She thought for a moment before responding again. "72." A small sigh escaped me as I gave into the inevitable. "Okay." I just smiled and nodded while I refocused on carrying on with my daily tasks. Another very notable occurrence was when one elderly lady called Gabby had somehow come to the conclusion that we were married. I made the mistake of letting her know in a very polite manner that unfortunately we were not married. She started bawling out hysterically, screaming about how I could say such a thing when we had been married for 30 years. Apparently, she didn't take into account that I wasn't even that old. The entire rest of the day she was inconsolable. It was cases like these, that I was grateful that this was a dementia unit. It frequently meant that there was a reset button of sorts, that would happen at the turn of the night, allowing them to blissfully forget what happened the day prior. The very next day I took preemptive action. "Gabby." I called out to her. "How is your husband over there doing?" I pointed to Johnathan, one of the other CNA's on the unit. She turned to look at who I was pointing to. *Uuuugh* The intake of air that I could hear from her, was one of abhorrence that she could be married to such a person. Without batting an eye, she responded to me. "Oh, we are breaking it off." I showed a concerned expression to her statement. "Oh. . . I'm sorry to hear that. I'm still with my wife." A forlorn look crossed her face as she depressingly said "Well . . . I'll keep waiting for you." By this time, Jonathan who had been listening in on the conversation was quietly laughing with a tear rolling down his cheeks, from barely concealed mirth. I shot him a bemused glance and moved onto the next resident that I needed to take vitals on. What I did not enjoy from working there was the 'code browns.' The unofficial term of incontinence of the bowel, quite frequently triggered by a recent dose of milk of magnesia from the Nurse. This too frequently, could result in a big clean-up of loose diarrhea. Such result would present itself in many ways, from leaking it along the floor as they waddled along, oblivious to their plight, to lying in bed tossing and turning in sleep, resulting in being stained from the top of their shirt down to the bottom of their pants, among other ways. Thankfully that last one has only happened to my residents twice during my shifts there. I felt my lips twist in mixed humor and dread at those memories. Thankfully, my workday today was about average, with no real mishaps. As such, I was able to spend most of it mentally recalling my experiences in the virtual reality. I did however, have an odd feeling that itched at the back of my mind. I felt like there was something or someone missing on our unit that day. I counted all the residents, and came up with 24, as each of the nursing aids was given 8 to be responsible for. There had also been no recent admits. I shook my head to clear it of my unexpected confusion as I went about my responsibilities. Also, for some reason, I had an overpowering urge to closely examine the eyes of all the residents. This was easy enough to accomplish as they usually enjoyed the extra attention. With nothing unusual being found, everything else returned to normal routine. In between vital sets and dinner, I made small inquiries to my co-workers as to if anyone else had acquired their own capsule or invitation to the VR. Jonathan had received the black cube which had read his DNA and he had heard of a few friends who had also received the black cube, but no one had gotten a follow up regarding the DNA entry. I was thinking that maybe my early pick was because I had taken the initiative to inquire about scholarship opportunities with the company. I couldn't think of any other reason for why they had expedited my process. As my work shift came to a close, I was worn out, but still yearning for my upcoming swim at the pool. A sad truth to note, was a very important responsibility to those working closely with dementia residents. Some of the residents were not safe to be left alone in the bathroom. For those that were not safe to be left alone, we had to have someone stay in the small enclosed bathroom, to observe and assist them as they had their bowel movement. By the end of each shift, I had uncountable fecal particles that had adhered to the inside of my nose, giving me a distinct memento of that day's work. The only tried and true method of cleansing my nose out properly, was swimming several laps in chlorinated water. Even spraying soap water up my nose and scrubbing inside it wasn't as effective. Some days, I would just be too tired to care and would go to bed after a quick shower, being too worn out to deal with the thought that someone else's feces was in my nose. I really envied the nurses sometimes, who usually were able to avoid dealing with that part of the job. Following my day at work, I rushed home to get changed and go for a quick swim in the pool. The water was a little frigid after dark, but worth the shock as it cleared my sinuses after a few laps. My bone conduction headphones playing music enabled me to keep swimming despite my lagging energy and desire for sleep. As I swam, when a particular part of a song came up, I could mentally reach out and exercise my unique ability, causing cool chills to rush around and through me. It took more effort to feel such when exercising, than when I lay or stood still. It was like a strong mental imagery or drive was required to stimulate that sense, when in extreme motion. Soon enough though, despite my distracting actions during the swim, I achieved my lap goal for the night, and then I returned home. Showering off the chlorine water, I grabbed a light snack and then paused. Sleep called to me, but I also wanted to go back to The City of the Falls. It was a brief struggle, and I wanted the best of both worlds. Sadly, that was not likely an option, but since I was off work tomorrow, I had some flexibility with dealing with the consequences of unwise choices, such as likely sleep deprivation. With my mind made up, I settled myself into the capsule and logged into the VR. ******************************I woke up in near darkness, laying on a woolly blanket with a faint moonlight coming in through the window, and the weird instrument by the bed that Victoria had placed the light stone in. I had no idea what time it was, but it was apparently night time as there appeared to be no activity that could be heard from my room. Getting up off the bed, I tiptoed down the stairs to peek out the store windows and to see if the doors were unlocked. There didn't appear to be anyone passing by at that time. The light of the moon and street lamps likely fueled by light stones, illuminated the outside streets quite well. Simply out of idle hope and a desire to explore, I tried the doors and as expected, they were securely locked. After waiting several more minutes and observing, I didn't see any signs of life outside of the store windows. With regret, I quietly made my way back to bed and lay down, trying to go to sleep. My mind was tired from work, but my body felt antsy as if it couldn't get settled in enough to sleep. Finally, I decided to return to reality and try to fall asleep there. After logging out, I once again woke in the wet darkness of the capsule interior. Dim lights lit up and I stared at the small display in front of me that showed it was 10:45 pm. Recalling the numbers 2314 previously listed, I had to figure that was the current time in City of the Falls. Doing some mental calculations, I discovered that if time was consistent, that I could sleep for about 3 hours in the capsule and be automatically logged in at 2 am and arrive there at 9 am. I was hoping that 3 hours would be enough to give my mind rest but if it didn't work out, at least I didn't work tomorrow. After setting the time for auto log in, I closed my eyes and was lulled to sleep with the gentle lapping of the fluid around me. Dreams of my work and the virtual reality merged with a scary lizard man that chased me through the dementia unit. Soon that dissipated into blissful oblivion as deeper sleep took over.