NOVEL WEB Chapter 45 – Turn Around
When I came to, I was gently falling into what I can only describe as a sea of darkness. There was no smell, light, sound, or any sensation for me to feel. All there was this vague sensation of slowly drowning in this vast ocean of sensory deprivation, diving deeper and deeper, never finding the bottom.
I couldn't keep track of time in this state since there was nothing to reference the flow of the seconds, minutes, hours, and maybe even days or weeks. I was falling, falling, falling, my personal limbo just continuing indefinitely. I guess it was... strangely calming?
That's not quite the right word. I wasn't calm, I was just... nothing. There was nothing for me to get emotional about in this state. No external stimuli for me to react to. Why was I even here?
What was I doing before this? Oh, that's right, I was helping the Aldecaldos with a raid. As I had that thought, the world around me started to stir. What had started as a small ripple became larger and larger until the waves started pushing me around this way and that. Eventually, the forces dragged me downwards and through a barrier, almost like surfacing, but in reverse and at the bottom of the pool instead of at the top. Once I breached the border, I fell a few feet before plopping onto something soft.
Regaining my senses, the first thing I did was open my eyes and look around me. Boy, was I wrong when I thought my new environment would be less strange than the old one. I seemed to have landed on my bed and traveled into an imitation of my store near Urmland Street. I say an imitation because everything was visually comprised of small microscopic lines of blue code. Everything meshed together to faintly resemble recognizable shapes and details.
Somehow I traveled into a digital construction of the world, incredibly similar to what the player saw when netrunning in the game. Looking down, I noticed that my body was also formed from data strips. I poked at myself, fascinated with how, despite being an amalgamation of digital information, I could still feel everything and see my body respond to touch.
After a few minutes of messing around with my body and random items in the room, I decided I'd experimented enough and opened my door to the outside world. What greeted me outside was the same as inside the room, but something was amiss. It didn't take me long to realize I had this disconcerting feeling because there was no one else in this world.
Vic's clinic, Misty's shop, strip clubs, restaurants, markets, so on and so forth were all completely empty. It was like the ghost towns you could find in the badlands. Running out of the usually busy street, I looked at the roads and saw that there were also no cars or pedestrians as far as the eye could see.
I roamed around the city for an eternity, trying and failing to find another soul or any clue on how to get out. Despite the seemingly hopeless low chance of leaving, I didn't get stressed out or freak out. Instead, I calmly walked around Night City, enjoying the experience of visiting recognizable and new places. I didn't feel tired, hungry, or thirsty, and seemed to no longer have any bodily needs, so what other way to spend my time?
I walked through Reconciliation Park in Heywood and admired some of NC's last bits of nature. I got to the top of Arasaka Tower and enjoyed witnessing the city from its tallest point. I trespassed into the large mega mansions in North Oak to see how the uber-rich lived. I just took my time and slowly meandered through all the attractions of night city until I found myself at Silver Pixel Cloud, the drive-in theater where I had my first date with Panam.
Walking past the gates, I was surprised to see the sight of the first vehicle. There, in the center of the parking lot, was my trusty old van. Sadly, there wasn't anyone or anything inside or around it, but it was still good to see something out of the norm. I wandered around randomly, trying to find anything interesting, until I found myself on the roof of the projector room. Discovering that I was fond of the view, I sat down on the ledge, marveling at the collection of skyscrapers and man-made architectural marvels.
After a while, I finally felt fatigued for the first time in this cyber world. Coinciding with my drowsiness was the sight of buildings in the distance dissolving into nothingness. The buildings fell apart as if having been demolished. They were then immediately replaced by the familiar pitch-black from before I came here.
The curtain of darkness slowly crept in my direction, swallowing more and more of the landscape until everything before me had disappeared. When the only thing left in front of me was void, I started to lose my senses again. My body went numb, and pins and needles began poking at my skin while the sound of static dominated my hearing. I was just so... tired.
I stared into the abyss, and something in the back of my mind told me that I knew what I had to do. This was the end of the line, and it was time to get off the train. I didn't know what awaited me in the darkness. Maybe I will be doomed to eternally float through the destitution of nothingness. Perhaps I break through another layer and find myself in another strange world, like how I did now or when I first found myself wandering Night City's streets.
As I was about to push myself off the ledge, I heard a muffled voice break through the static.
"-n't g-. -se, co- -k."
The voice was weak, constantly being interrupted by the white noise. But it got louder and louder. Until finally, I could tell what it was trying to say and that it was coming from behind me.
"Don't go. Please, come back."
Turning around, I saw a female body lacking any details made out of red bars of code. Despite not having a face or anything to identify her with, I could recognize that voice from anywhere and realized it was Panam's. The building I was on was now a lone island in the vacuum of existence, leaving just me and this representation of Panam as its sole inhabitants.
The red figure walked closer to me before stopping a couple of feet from where I sat. She then reached her hand out to me and waited. I stared at her empty palm, and somewhere deep down, I had a feeling that this was my only and last way out. I knew that if I didn't take her hand, I would be left in the void for the rest of my existence.
"It's time to come back."
That last sentence was spoken and traveled directly into my mind, drowning out the static and clearing my head of distractions. What did I have to lose? Not wasting any more time, I reached out and grabbed onto the outstretched hand.
The second I grasped on, the figure pulled me up, and once again, I felt the sensation of breaking through the water. There was a layer of resistance, but the force tugging me didn't stop, and I soon broke through and surfaced into yet another world.
"GHAHHHHHH!"
I gasped in a huge breath of air before sitting up and opening my eyes, to only be greeted by a blinding light.
"*Cough* *Cough*"
I then started immediately coughing, feeling as if my lungs were set aflame from the sudden unexpected exertion. It took me a few moments, but eventually, I could breathe again without much difficulty. My eyes got used to the light, and I could take in the sight around me.
I was in a small room made of mostly tile and concrete. Around me where a collection of medical equipment. A periodic beeping noise concurrent with my heartbeat was in the background. That was when I noticed someone holding onto my left arm.
Turning my head, I traced my eyes up along the arm until I was staring at the lovely face of Panam. She was an absolute mess. Her hair was completely frazzled, her eyes red from constant crying, and trails of tears created little tracks across her cheeks. She was also frozen solid, her mouth wide open as if shocked by the world's greatest surprise.
If you are reading this, it means that you are reading a novel stolen from the original author. If you want to support me, the original author, and read ahead for free, you can find me on scribblehub under SPS4.
"Hey, babe. I'm back."
A split second later, I was tackled into the hospital bed I was resting in. I decided to just lay back and enjoy the pleasant sound of Panam laughing with joy and her warmth against my body.
