A sea breeze ran through my tightly curled hair and the smell of the salty ocean filled my lungs and tickled my nose with each soft crunch beneath my feet. This therapeutic session of feeling the sand locked between my toes, the warm ocean licking my stubby legs, fresh air and grandpa running alongside me playing catch, was the vivid memory that splashed in and out of my mind before departing from Benjamin. This was the first and last time I remembered my grandfather.

Before we left, we swiped our wrists over each other’s arms so our microchips could synch and acknowledge each other. As his muscular arm brushed over mine it lingered just above my fingertips long enough for me to feel the warmth of his hand. Gazing into those deep blue eyes, I was floating… suddenly anchored back to earth by “accept or decline” linkage. A hologram voice message popped up, casting a bluish tinge on our exposed skin.

“Accept.”

Was the harmonising sound of our voices allowing there to be an unofficial “us”, to communicate whenever and wherever.

The aroma of cinnamon filled my lungs before the delicious flood of a chai latte met my taste buds. Benjamin and I had decided to meet after work at a cute vintage coffee shop called Starbucks. We had had a little hologram chat before we finalised meeting again. I don’t remember most of the conversation partly because I kept being enchanted by his eyes, smile and the way he unconsciously ran his hand through his static hair. If the hologram had not been so real I guess I wouldn’t have been so captivated by the imprint of his fresh-pine cologne.

The chai latte and place of meeting was Benj’s idea. He seemed to like these outdated tea shops filled with elderly people rather than the usual hum drum of the youth who order on their microchip hologram, grabbing it at the nearest pick up station with another swipe of their arm.

Now that we were face to face, glancing and smiling at each other occasionally between odd moments of sipping chai, a nervous shiver ran down my spine and my heart rose to my throat…

I began to think of what to say to put the fire out of this awkward silence but Benjamin looked quite happy, calm and content. With a twinkle in his eye he turned to me and gave me a dashing smile, putting my insides back into place.

“I hope you like it here. I’m not one for all this fancy-shmancy virtual stuff, I’m a bit old school. I enjoy real conversation or just hanging out. I hope that’s OK?” said Benjamin. This restarted our conversation from the previous meeting. Again, he opened me up like a book, however, this time I got an uncomfortable sense that someone else was reading too. Out of the corner of my eye I sighted a dark figure sipping from a triangular mug and caught a whiff of tobacco and musky cologne as he shuffled past us. I hoped he wasn’t listening but he appeared to be on a mission so I brushed it off.

*****

“Beep, beep, beep,” was the repetitive sound that shook me awake, before the sunlight met my eyes. I pressed my arm to stop the beeping and a hologram chat popped up.

“Good morning miss sleepy head,” said an elegant voice belonging to Benjamin.

I mumbled something that sounded like ‘good morning’ as I was still attempting to become more conscious from the grogginess that engulfed me.

“Sorry to wake you, but I wanted to let you know I will be over in about half an hour to pick you up,” said Benj.

“Why?” was all I was able to muster, eyes still closed.

“Surprise date! So come on, get ready,” said an eager Benjamin. “Unless you don’t want to see me…” he said in a disappointed tone. “I understand if you have plans or …” continued Benjamin in his morbid tone.

“Of course I want to see you!” I said sitting bolt upright, hair tangled and face still groggy.

“Great! See you in half an hour!” and with a cheerful laugh and dashing smile that faded into the sunlight, he ended our conversation.

***

Tell us what you think: What do you imagine living in a virtual world would be like?