Chapter 4

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in a sterile hospital ward. Grandma was slumped over the edge of my bed, fast asleep.

I didn't dare move, terrified of waking her. She was my only family left in this world. She was so frail; a grandmother should never have to bury her grandson.

Outside the window, a massive digital billboard displayed Mia's wedding announcement. The constant flashing lights hammered against my optic nerves.

I could feel the sharp, shooting pains in my skull, the malignant cells beneath my skin pulsing with agonizing heat.

My hand clutched that gold invitation so tightly my knuckles turned white.

I wanted to slide out of bed quietly to use the bathroom, but my legs had zero strength.

Not wanting to wake Grandma, I didn't press the call button. I simply reached down and took her wrinkled hand.

Her skin was ice-cold. Guilt washed over me. What a terrible grandson I was. She was so old, and I had promised her a comfortable life in a beautiful home.

Instead, she had spent her final years crammed into that rotting rooftop shack with me.

I rubbed her hand between my palms, desperately trying to warm her up. But no matter how long I held her, she stayed cold. Freezing cold.

Dread crashed down on me. I hauled my upper body up with shaking arms and held two trembling fingers under her nose.

No breath. Nothing.

No. No, this can't be real!

She's just sleeping deep!

Summoning every ounce of adrenaline left in my broken body, I shook Grandma's stiff shoulder.

"Grandma... stop sleeping. Please, wake up!"

"It's Julian, Grandma! Wake up, please... look at me!"

No raspy, loving voice answered me. Instead, Grandma's rigid body toppled forward, slipping off the edge of the mattress.

She crashed onto the linoleum floor, frozen in the exact curled position she had died in.

I threw myself out of the bed, ignoring the agony tearing through my muscles, and draped my body over her cold form.

"Grandma!"

My shattered wails echoed down the hospital corridor all night long.

I didn't have the money for a proper funeral. I had to swallow my pride and borrow cash from estranged relatives just to buy a cheap urn.

After her cremation, I used the remaining pocket change to buy a second urn—for myself.

I didn't have any tears left. My eyes were completely dry.

I checked the time on my cracked phone screen. Today was Mia and Scott's wedding.

Good. Once I wrapped up this final piece of business, I could go join Grandma.

She had looked after me my entire life. I couldn't let her wander the afterlife all alone.

I put on that custom suit and the old watch from my duffle bag. With the last five dollars in my pocket, I went to a barbershop down the block to wash my messy hair.

Neat, clean, and respectable, I made my way to the five-star hotel hosting the wedding.

I didn't go in to toast them. I just stood in the shadowed corner of the grand ballroom, quietly watching the two of them standing under the blinding spotlights.

Tears blurred my vision again. For a delusional second, Scott's face shifted into mine.

I watched them for a long time. Then, I set down a plain bank envelope on the gift table. Inside was a debit card with thirty thousand dollars—my remaining savings, everything I had saved to leave behind for her.

I turned around and walked to the riverbank we used to visit all the time. I lit a cigarette for the first time in years. Just then, my phone vibrated with a message from Mia:

Julian, standing here today, I finally realized something. I don't love you anymore!

I didn't even have the right to reply. When I hit send, a red exclamation mark appeared. She had blocked me.

I wanted to leave a farewell message for my friends, but when I scrolled through my contacts, there was nobody left. Only Mia. And Grandma, my last anchor, had passed away yesterday.

With shaking fingers, I opened Ins, standing at the edge of the pier, and hit record on a final voice note.

"Today is Mia's wedding. I'm happy... but my heart aches so badly."

"I'm happy she found someone to spend the rest of her life with. But I'm broken because that person isn't me."

"The truth is, I never stopped loving her. I never despised her. I just got sick. A fatal, incurable sickness."

My throat burned with raw pain. My forehead was boiling with fever, and sharp spasms racked my spine.

"Mia and I broke up five years ago... After that, I thought our paths would never cross again. I never imagined I'd see her again five years later. Maybe heaven took pity on me, letting me see her happy with my own eyes before the end."

"I'm sorry, Mia. I promised I would build you a home. I broke my promise. I failed you. I failed all the love you gave me."

"I promised Grandma a good life, too. But she never got to enjoy a single peaceful day. She just... slipped away while sleeping beside my hospital bed."

"This world is so strange. My studio stole my life's work. The moment they pushed me out, it had nothing to do with me anymore."

My thoughts were a rambling mess. I didn't even know what I was saying. I just wanted to pour out every drop of poison bottled up in my chest.

When I stopped talking, I realized what a miserable failure my life had been.

"This world really is beautiful... but I don't think I'll come back in the next life."

"I have to go take care of Grandma now."

After hitting upload, I gently set my phone down on the wooden bench.

I closed my eyes and stepped off the pier into the freezing, dark river below.

What I didn't realize was that in my delirium, I had posted that audio file to the wrong account. I had uploaded it directly to the official developer account of Second Life, which was still logged in on my phone!

The entire world heard my final words.

Splash!

A few moments after the dark water swallowed me, the phone on the bench began vibrating hysterically!