THE MOMENT
"Are people that stupid now?" Destin woke up grumpy even before he fully opened his eyes. He found a missed message that came in overnight and it easily soured the rest of his day. Scams had evolved making him miss the old days of Nigerian princes and unpaid tolls. People were smarter then, and there needed to be at least some semblance of reality. But this one?
"You have been selected to leave the simulation. Tap to exit." He would've loved to leave everyone else behind. And, he would've been curious to tap the button if he wasn't sure the message wasn't waiting to steal his information. He deleted the message without opening it, sighed, then laid in bed for an extra 10 minutes preparing himself to face the day ahead. People were exhausting, but the sooner he got started with his day the sooner it would be over.
"Again?" He missed another message while he was in the shower, and was surprised to find it was the same phishing attempt. "Well, I suppose they're making up for the ridiculousness with eagerness. That's worse...," he grumbled as he deleted the second message and continued getting ready. Half an hour after the shower he was dressed and about to leave the house. Then, the strangest thing happened. And, it was confusing enough that he wasn't sure it'd happened at all.
He opened his front door to step outside, and the entry was clear. He took a single step, blinked, and then nearly bumped into a woman that he was sure wasn't there before.
"Whoaaa..," he pulled back before his face ran into hers lips first. He caught a delicate, sweet orange scent from her mouth as he retreated. "Sorry, didn't see you there." Now that he had a better view, he almost wished that he had bumped her. She was a gorgeous young woman with a healthy tan and orange-red ponytail under her black hat, and she wore a black western shirt with orange buttons. "Can I help you?" he asked. She'd kept a pleasant smile on her face as he recovered from the close call.
"Yeah," she nodded. "You can leave the simulation," she said. As attractive as she was, Destin wasn't the type to be swayed by good looks. He pulled his phone out of his pocket as he kept an eye on her.
"This scam is getting a little too intrusive. I'll be calling the police here in a moment if you don't leave my property," he said.
"Scam?" she tilted her head at him. Then, she her smile grew broader.
"I like that you're skeptical. In that case, I'll dress it up a bit, just for you," she said. She met his gaze with her sparkling orange eyes. "My name's Amber, I represent a corporation named Io Limited, and we've selected you to leave the simulation. All you need to do is tap the button, and everything's good."
"You've just told me what I already gathered from the message; it's still not very convincing," Destin shook his head. "Why was I chosen?" He should've called the police already; but, she seemed talkative and decently polite. And, she was a lovely sight.
"Because you're you," Amber shrugged. "We already have a ton of people with your particular... outlook," she giggled as she found the word she wanted to use.
"So that's it...? I can leave simulation just like that?" Destin wasn't convinced at all, and his frustration was mounting. He was more rattled than he thought by having her show up at his home. And, he was about to be late for work, and she still hadn't explained anything. He was also starting to get angry at himself for indulging her conversation. "I don't want to," he decided to end the conversation there. He stepped out of the house and turned to close the door.
Then, he blinked, and Amber stood in front of him again; and they were in his living room.
"The tricky thing there is, it's not a choice," Amber shook her head. "We're not giving you the chance to leave; you've been selected to leave. End of story," she said. Destin was suddenly worried at how convincing that sounded.
"You're going to kill me?" he realized there was something supernatural about her. Things changed whenever he blinked, and it was her changing them. He moved slowly toward the kitchen, pretending he was in shocked awe the whole time.
"If that were the plan, you wouldn't have woken up," Amber shook her head. "Killing you would still leave your soul in the system; that's what we're trying to avoid."
"Then how -," Amber sighed as he started his new question, and he blinked halfway through it. He opened his eyes under a deep purple sky dotted with countless bright stars. Clear jade waters lapped at the sandy shore, and Amber stood next to him with her arm hooked in his.
"I thought it'd be easier to show you that other universes exist," Amber said. "This is an alternate universe from the one you were born in, and there are an infinite number more."
"Alternate universes are real?" Destin's mind could only process the reality of it in the form of a question. He was standing on a different planet. It wasn't what he expected that morning, but he wasn't going to complain. He was finally truly and properly convinced that it was more than a scam at least. He pulled his phone out of his pocket.
"Oh yeah.. I deleted the messages...," he said.
"No sweat," Amber winked at him and at the same moment, he got a third message.
"So I press this and I can go anywhere in the multiverse?" he asked even as his finger landed on the green button.
"No," Amber shook her head with a smile. Destin felt a sinking feeling in his gut, and the rest of his body felt wrong. He brought his hands up in time to see them disintegrating into white dust. "I told you, you were selected to leave, completely."