maury

  After what felt like ay, Chara started tain sciousness, but her body felt… numb? For some reason, she couldn’t feel her arms s. In fact, she couldn’t feel anything at all.

  Urgg… Where am I?

  Her mi like it was surrounded by a thick fog. It was as though she were dreaming.

  Wh-What’s going on…?

  She tried to open her eyes, but nothing happehere was only darkness.

  Huh?

  There was no physical sensation of opening her eyelids, no vision, no apparent feedback whatsoever.

  fused, she tried to move her arm, but there was nothing this time either.

  Eh?

  Nothing happened. She didn’t feel a thing. It was as if she had only imagined curling up her arm but decided not to do it.

  Finally awake from her stupor, Chara was starting to get a bad premonition.

  She tried to focus on her surroundings, but this only jured up a mysterious dream-like fog, as if she’d been stu clouds.

  Where am I?

  She called out, or at least tried to, but no sound escaped from her mouth. Her unsaid words echoed quietly inside her sciousness, as if trapped within the fines of her mind.

  What’s wrong with my body? Eh? Uwaaaaaaaaaa!

  Chara inteo scream, but there was silence. She tried to move her arms, but nothing happened. She tried to kick her legs, but nothing happened.

  This isn’t right! Why ’t I feel anything? This isn’t possible! What is happening to me…? Why ’t I do anything?

  It was like she was a sciousness floating in space.

  Could— Could it be that I don’t have a body!? Did I turn into a ghost!? Chara desperately hoped she was wrong, but with the crete ck of anything, she couldn’t help but assume the worst.

  She tried to feel around with her body, but nothing happened. She tried reag out with her mind, but all that entered her senses was more fog. She tried moving around imaginary objects, but aside from a bit of swirling, nothing happened.

  Panic set in as her persistent attempts were met with repeated failures. Deprived of all her options, Chara decided to retrace her steps to see if she could find any clues. As she trated on her memories, little by little, a se started to take shape inside her head.

  I remember… I was in a hospital, talking with someone…

  It was my friend, Melody…

  Melody had e to visit because I was very unlucky and pitiful…

  She was cheeky and disrespectful, but also kind…

  Then, she brought out some fruit. It was very delicious…

  And then……

  As she remembered the se of her eating the apple, her mind started to boil. All of a sudden, her mind was flooded with a torrent of feelings. Anger, sadness, and unwillingness.

  The world was really unfair. One week, she was a healthy girl with a future filled with promise. By the one, she was a destitute cripple, destined for a life full of hardship and misery. Her head hurt so badly that she immediately tried to bury what she just remembered.

  However, she tried her best to analyze the situatioe her sadness.

  I didn't realize it until ter but… I remember feeling very itchy and my mouth going numb. Once I swallowed, my throat closed up and I couldn’t breathe anymore…

  Wait, isn’t that… Did I get an allergic rea?

  Chara was in disbelief. She was not allergic to apples!

  Was I poisoned?!

  No, I don’t think so… I don’t remember the apple having any strange or unusual fvors. In fact, it was very delicious. Furthermore, Melody wouldn’t do such a thing…

  And well, even if she did, how would she have any way of knowing which fruit I would pick? Wouldn’t she have to poisoire basket?

  Plus, I remember her also eating some of the fruit. If she had truly dohis, then wouldn’t the sario turn from a murder to a double suicide?

  Chara was momentarily stunned by the ridiculousness of her own thoughts. Realizing that this line of thinking had too many insistencies, she started to sider other factors.

  Was there a problem with my stomaow that I think about it, I had been on a liquid food diet for days. They even made me drink so much of that disgusting medie…

  Supposedly, this treatment was inteo make the surgery less plicated, increasing the ce of success, but it still failed in the end…

  Could it be that my problem inates from here…?

  Chara ruminated on this idea before soon abandoning it. After all, she didn’t know the first thing about medie. Overall, her sudden act left her feeling rather perplexed. However, when all is said and dohe most crucial and undeniable fact, was that she had likely died.

  Upon aowledging this realization, Chara was overwhelmed by a profound sense of sadness.

  As the weight of her situation sank in, she began to think about all the things she would miss from Earth. She thought of the simple pleasures first. The taste of her favorite foods, like a perfectly ripe strawberry, a slice of hot, cheesy pizza, or a bowl of vanil ice cream.

  Then, she thought about the digital world, the i, with its vast repository of knowledge and endless eai. She reminisced about the hours spent immersed in video games, losing herself in fantastical worlds where she could be anyone and do anything.

  But above all, she missed the people, her friends, and her family.

  Dad…

  ***

  An unknown period of time ter, Chara finally pulled herself out of her reminisce. Although she was still m her loss, what was done couldn’t be undone, and it ainfully clear to her that she was likely dead. But if that were the case, then it also raised several questions: if she had died, where was she now?

  She attempted to observe her surroundings, but like before, this yielded s. There was nothing to see. The enviro was shrouded in darkness so dehat it seemed nearly tangible.

  It’s so dark… I ’t see, and I ’t touch… I ’t feel my own body, nor hear my own voice…

  It feels like I don’t even have a body…

  It was as though her sciousness was detached from a physical form. The more she thought about it, the more horrified she became. She couldn't help but wonder if she would remain in her current state forever.

  It was at this point that her thoughts took a turn for the worse.

  Assuming Chara died in that hospital, who am I…? Where am I…?

  Do I eve?

  As she tried and failed to look around, she ended up putting way more thought and sideration into these questions than she was willing to admit. Currently, she was surrounded by darkness so deep, that even if she inning in circles, she wouldn’t have noticed. The only thing that was stant was an indistinct fog that felt like it was clouding her senses.

  Is… Is this reality… Could this be a dream…?

  Am I really scious …Or is everything part of my imagination?

  In a state of great fusion, Chara was starting to lose her grip oy and doubt her owence. Although she wouldn’t find out until ter, right now, she was in aremely delicate situation and at risk of disappeariirely.

  ***

  Meanwhile, the cil of Chara was having their own all-hands-on-deck meeting. Hundreds of imaginary Chibi versions of herself were sitting in a cil room holding a very important discussion. The ag chairwoman mini-Chara who was in charge of direg the meeting was already starting to get dizzy from all the twists and turns in the discussion.

  “Aren’t you all panig a bit too much? We could just be in a a.”

  The surrounding mini-Charas audibly gasped.

  “I’d rather be DEAD than spend another millised on a hospital bed!” shouted the mini-Chara representative in charge of the outdoors fa that had been steadily gaining popurity.

  Many of the mini-Charas o show their support.

  “What if when we were in the hospital; an evil stist turned us into AI!” shouted the mini-Chara in charge of using R*ddit.

  “““AI!??!!?!?”””

  Dozens of mini-Charas cried out in e and horror with a couple of them fainting frht.

  Suddenly, one of the mini-Charas gracefully leaped onto a desk, immediately gathering everyone’s attention. Once she on her pedestal, she washed over the entire cil room with her gaze while letting out a ugh full of derision as if to make sure all the other cil members knew she was looking down on them.

  “Tsk. Tsk. Are all of you stupid? How we be an AI if we aren’t even artificial?! Do these mommies look artificial to you?” said the mini-Chara in charge of using Tw*tter “X” in a mog tone while pushing up her breasts with one arm and wiggling her right index finger.

  The ag chairwoman: …

  The rest of the mini-Charas: …

  After a long moment of dead silehe doors burst open, and two mini-Charas dressed up as security guards burst into the cil room. After the two security guards chased Tw*tter-in-charge around a desk like a child, they dragged her outside the cil room while kig and screaming.

  Peace had returo the cil room and justice had been served.

  Meanwhile, the mini-Chara ag as chairwoman lowered her head with anger and helplessness. She ched her tiny fists as if she was the one who had to bear with all the world’s many injustices. Just when it looked like all hope was lost, and the ag chairwoman was ready to decre the verdict that they might ; a pair of murmurs traveled across the silent cil room.

  “Hold on a sed. How we be a figment of our own imagination?”

  “That would presume we exist! But if we are not real, then what are we?”

  “Who was that?” said the mini-Chara ag as chairwoman with slight hope in her eyes.

  It was then that the pair of mini-Charas in charge of watg YouT*be videos at 3 am raised their hands nervously. All the other cil members including the chairwoman swiveled their heads in their dire.

  “Uwaa! Ah-hum… I… I think it was in a YouT*be video about philosophy. ‘I think, therefore I am,’ if I remember correctly…” said one of the two girls with spirals spinning in her eyes from all the sudden attention.

  Although the pair of mini-Charas didn’t remember the specifics like who came up with the proposal, they khat there hilosophical argument that argued that the ability to think roof of existence. After all, it’s impossible to doubt one’s ability to think because the act of doing so requires oo think. And so, the existence of oneself is not depe on the existence of a physical body or anything else.

  The mini-Chara ag as chairwoman happily annouhe verdict of the discussion.

  “We Exist! We exist one hundred pert!”

  ““““CHEERS!””””

  The cil room burst into cheers and everyone in attendance popped open bottles of dopamihat they pulled out from somewhere for a celebration. It was in such a festive atmosphere that one of the younger cil members decided to pour cold water on everyone’s enthusiasm.

  “Ah umm… if we exist, then why ’t we see anything?”

  ““““““………………””””””

  All the mini-Charas in the cil room gred at her.

  The chairwoman snapped her fingers. Without warning, the doors to the cil room burst open once again and two security guards came st in, except for some reason; this time they were holding kit pans.

  “Uwaaaaaaaaaaa!”

  She was never seen again.

  ***

  Having cluded her group therapy session for a party of one, Chara finally calmed down a out an internal sigh of relief.

  Normally existing was something that people took franted, but she was starting to get delirious from the ck of stimution. At this point, she was cherishing every form of validation she could get.

  Assuming I’m real, what am I?

  Chara tio ponder over this question for quite some time.

  As she explored her ence, she realized that her identity was not tied solely to her physical form. It art of her personal history and experiences, shaping her essence. In this intangible realm where she had nothing to lose except herself, Chara’s memories became her anchor. It was as though her thoughts, emotions, and memories became her identity.

  Even without a physical body or any other identifying characteristics, Chara found pride in simply being herself. Although she wasn’t aware, as she focused more on her memories to reaffirm her self-identity aence, something inside of her started to ge, for better and for worse.

  Eventually, her mind started to wander again, and she couldn’t help but wonder whether she was slowly going insane.

  maury