Infinite

 Infinite

Ramon Atila was an old man at the end of his life. He lay in bed surrounded by his family, a gentle hand caressing his arm. He slowly fell asleep, quiet tears were shed and the doctor pronounced him dead.

His family hugged each other tightly. ‘He’s in a better place.’

When Ramon died he had no memories. He had no worries. All went black.

He slipped away.

Peaceful calm for what seemed like centuries.

Until a cold, hard cement floor absorbed his body. He trampled over himself, banged his head. His jeans, his boots lay before him. A sight he hadn’t seen in a long time. Something else he hadn’t had in a long time. Thoughts?

‘Huh?’ 

His voice echoed into the darkness.

He felt his hands shake. He felt some fear, but it quickly dissipated.

Onto his hands and on his feet he propped himself upward. His reflection in a glass mirror looked back at him startled. 

‘What?!’

He moved into the mirror. ‘Shaved head.’

He stroked his beard. ‘Black hair.’

‘Am I 23? 35?’’ He smiled. Then he laughed. ‘Huh?! What the—‘

A bright spotlight beamed down onto him from overhead. Now he was somewhat scared. He shielded his face from the light.

‘RAMON ATILA.’

He didn’t reply.

‘RAMON ATILA.’

‘…………..YES?’

‘You made Lumo?’

He thought to himself for a second. ‘Luu—- and looked back up. ‘Uh-huh?’

‘You published ‘To Live and Die on Mars #1’ in 2021, then?’

He froze. ‘I dunno? I guess? In 202- I don’t rememb—‘

‘You published the graphic novel with Lumo in 2021?’

Ramon was getting nervous. ‘I did? Okay? And…’

‘You published 37 f-bombs. And drew Lumo smoking?’

‘What is this?’

No response. He dropped his hands and shrugged his shoulders. ‘I shouldn’t even ask.’

Suddenly, a deep croaking sound echoed through the dungeon-like room.

 A giant tarantula stepped out into the light. He didn’t have time to be scared. It was quite the surreal experience. He writhed, altogether realizing his fate as the spider loomed forward.

The croaking seemed to echo far away. He was seized by fear now. The spider hugged him with its feelers. Its jaws devoured him and it was overwhelmingly painful.

All went black again.

He woke up again, screaming. Heart-palpitating. His blurred vision came to. He had a headache. 

Surrounding him was cheap floral wallpaper , bright sunlight pouring in from the window. A 1980’stelevision set playing a corny infomercial.

A skinny black nerd with coke-bottle lenses was on the phone. ‘Yeah. Uh-huh. That’s what we’re trying to figure out. We’s all copied. Okay let you go.’

He hung up and turned to Ramon. ‘We’s copied!’

‘We are?’ He felt he understood but he couldn’t rationalize anything, until

‘Wait, you mean they figured out how to do that?’

‘Yeah, in the 2090’s.’

‘You mean 2045.’

‘Whatever.’

‘Where are we?!’

‘Don’t go outside. It’s 1985.’

‘This weird.’

AtilA