Exhausted, John got out of bed with the same lack of will to live as he has been for the last ten years. Though a ghost of the man he used to be, he was still the head of the Investigation Department of the Multiverse. And for the first time, in the last ten years, he had the chance to get his life back.
He went into the office not saying a word. The secretary saw him and instantly jumped out of her seat to meet him, speaking continuously and agitated:
'Sir, you are not allowed to enter here! We have strict orders not to let you come inside...! I will have to call Security in case you...'
John silenced her with the back of his hand and kept going silently, eyes wide open and set to a door in front of him. He took a small gun from his jacket, which created a panic in the room and everybody started to run terrified, but John payed no attention to any of them and carried on to the door.
He enter the big office, which had few furniture in it, which, together with the light colors of the walls and decorations, created the illusion of being even wider. In that vast space, right in the middle, there was a big white desk where a woman sat and wrote something, quite unimpressed by the frenzy outside her office.
'Ah, John!', she said kindly. 'I’ve been expecting you for quite a while, now. You sure did take your time!'
He didn’t say anything, just kept staring at her and loading his gun. At the sight of this, the woman gently stood up and hid behind a wall, without being scared or even impressed of his standing.
'Why did you do it?' he asked her and went by a shelf full with metal pieces. The metal flew out of the shelf and pierced his leg skin and he felt a burn with every piece of it. After a few more piercings, his legs and whole chest was covered with metal.
'Well, I guess it’s time you knew the truth why our son died, John!', his wife said, coming out from behind the wall. 'THAT is why, John! I wouldn’t want him to end up like us!'
'Like what?', he shouted. 'Alive?'
'Oh, John, how many things you don’t remember! But I guess it’s time you find out all of them... It’s been years since I’ve started hating the Multiverse. I’ve discovered it and it brought me fame and this big white office that makes me feel the loneliest person in the world. But that’s not the only thing that brought me... us... isn’t it? The technology, the machines, the medicines, all those things we love to have that made us all-powerful and immortals. I hate them all...!'
'How can you say that...?'
'Of course, they’ve also brought me you, she said, when you’ve been appointed as the new head of the Investigation Department of the Multiverse. Crimes were being committed and this new division of yours asked that all the people should be given that damned technology of mine to save us all from death...'
'But our son...? Why did you...?'
'Our son died because I didn’t want to put those things in him, I wanted him to enjoy life as we used to, before the Multiverse and immortality, when life was worth living because it was the only one we had. It’s what we both wanted for our child...'
John was shocked, he couldn’t say anything. So she kept going:
'You couldn’t endure the pain, so I’ve altered your memory to think that he was murdered and you would have something to pursue. But something went wrong, because we do this every ten years, John! You busting in my office, scaring the employees, waving guns at people and wanting to shoot me...'
John stood there, eyes wide open, without blinking, staring at something in front of him.
'It’s the seventh time, John!', his wife continued to tell him. 'Every time you leave this office, it’s like the moment after his death to you, John! I don’t know how long I can take it any more...!'
John didn’t say a word. Eyes wide open, he turn around and went for the door, while his wife was shouting at him to never come back. Careless to her yelling, he got out of the office. The secretary came to meet him and he told her smiling, still eyes wide open:
'Hello, Mr. Berstein! Great game last night, right? I bet you didn’t see that one coming! Those beers are still on for tonight, right?'
