Freebie Mondays: A Cozy Fantasy (Prompt Novel Chapter 10)

For 2024, I have decided to devote my prompt writing time to a novel. The twist is that the novel plot will be generated entirely by the writing prompts I chose to use for the project – which were rolled randomly using my trusty dice and a few online prompt lists. You can find the Table of Contents here.

For Chapter 10, the prompt was: “the lives of two people are changed forever when they meet and engage in a weekend-long love affair.”

Since the last chapter was composed entirely of dialogue, it was a welcome relief to have the rest of my narrative tools back again. This was actually the prompt around which I planned the rest of the plot so far (insofar as it has had any form of plan). I’ve basically been working toward this point from the start.

This was one of those scenes that, while I had a clear idea of how I wanted it to impact the plot, I had no idea how I actually wanted to present it ‘on screen’ until I got into the flow – and I’m pleased with how it turned out, which is ever the most important thing.

If you’d like to see this chapter come together, you can watch the VoD on Youtube!
. . .

At first, it was like a sleepover. Something she hadn’t done since she was fourteen. Alyial even provided her with an over-sized t-shirt and a massive fuzzy blanket for lounging. They sat on his couch, bolstered by a pile of pillows, and laughed about things that would have made most people roll their eyes.

It was refreshing. Most women looked to facial masks and foot massages for the same kind of release from daily stress, but Ira never felt she had time for such frivolous activities. There was something enchanting about the patterns displayed by the universe, and she appreciated another soul that could recognize them. Sometimes it was little things, like people’s tendency to look in a certain direction when they told a lie or the trend of certain stocks during certain times of the year. But if one took a step back and looked at the grander picture, they could become keenly observant.

Those observations had served Ira well, and she saw no reason to conceal it. Alyial had turned his keen perception in a different direction, one that garnered all together less profit, and Ira found that as interesting as everything else.

As the night wore on, they pulled ice cream from the freezer, popped popcorn and covered the coffee table in candy wrappers. Ira didn’t wonder where any of it came from; a simple thought was enough to alter the shape of this world – for her if not for Alyial, and she was somewhat disappointed when she caught the first thin rays of sunlight creeping over the horizon beyond the window.

Throughout their conversation, a nagging sensation lurked in the back of Ira’s head. It reminded her that she should leave. She had a home in this simulation, just as Alyial did. It was on the outskirts of the city, beyond the hustle and bustle the computer seemed to focus on. But she had no doubt if she hailed a cab and gave her address, she would find her way easily to her door. And everything behind that door would be just as she had left it in the real world.

But it would also be empty. Delmar wouldn’t be here. No computer simulation could accurately represent his complexities anyway, no matter how hard it tried. There would be no phone calls from FBI agents with updates about the situation that kept her in stitches in the real world, and no frantic phone calls from her sister.

Time might be compressed inside this facsimile world, but it didn’t feel shorter from this side. The time she spent chatting with Alyial had passed quickly, without the drag she had experienced while waiting for news about Wendell, but it felt like eight hours, not two or three.

Less than a real day might pass while she waited for Monday to roll around in this simulation. But if she abandoned her current company to sit alone on the couch and wait for time to tick past, it would prove to be no small amount of torment. With nothing to occupy her mind, it would wander. She would worry. She could attempt to reassure herself that far less time was actually passing, but the constant focus on time and its measurements would make the lull drag even more.

It was better here in the warmth of Alyial’s nerdy distractions. Much of the awkward anxiety that made him stiff and halting during dinner had long since vanished. Now he felt like a long-time friend, one Ira wouldn’t hesitate to pick up the phone and call during a situation like the one that waited for her in the real world.

It almost makes up for the fact that he nearly ran me off the road.

And if he hadn’t done that, she wouldn’t be here. Neither would he, as a matter of fact. And suddenly, that made Ira desperately sad.

“I thought you could use a fresh drink.” Alyial’s voice startled her out of her reverie. Ira turned away from the large window that looked out on his meager backyard and accepted the chilled glass he extended in her direction.

Condensation had already formed along the length of the glass, and it felt damp against her fingers as they brushed through it. Funny how the computer could focus on the tiniest of details, making each and every moment feel not just real but also vivid.

She expected another alcoholic concoction; they had partaken of several throughout the long hours of the night. But instead, the empty taste of water greeted her lips, and she sipped eagerly.

Odd that she felt so thirsty. Odder still that the water seemed to quench it even though she knew it wasn’t real. Her actual body was lying on a cot, not even connected to the same IV drip that sustained Alyial through his delusion.

Yet the gentle chill of the liquid suffused her throat as she sipped it. And when she lifted the glass to survey the amount she had drained from the vessel, a single drop of moisture dislodged from the surface to slide toward the cup’s base.

Fascinating. She could get as lost in studying the details the computer projected in her brain as Alyial had become in the world it created.

She wondered what that said about her.

“Thank you,” she murmured when she realized Alyial was still looking at her. She couldn’t tell if his gaze was expectant or merely eager, but he smiled when she spoke, seeming satisfied. “The sun is going to rise soon,” she added, and cast a forlorn glance out the window. “I suppose that means I should get out of your hair.”

“You don’t have to,” Alyial blurted without hesitation. Then his cheeks colored and he bowed his head in an attempt to hide his momentary embarrassment. “Sorry, that suggests that you’re in my hair in the first place. And you’re not. You’re welcome to stay as long as you like.”

“I appreciate that,” Ira replied – and she did. “But we’re both going to have to sleep at some point.”

Some small part of her wished she could convince him it was Monday the next time he opened his eyes. That would speed the process of freeing them both from this simulation. She didn’t think she dared leave; she wasn’t sure Nala would let her come back. So she had to wait until she could reasonably convince Alyial to visit his office, and he’d made it clear there’d be no way to get inside until regular business hours resumed.

Unfortunately, the simulation’s time compression didn’t work that way. Which meant she had to keep her toes in Alyial’s life for at least two more days before this situation could be resolved.

There was a tiny part of her, buried deeper than she would ever admit, that was glad about that. She told herself it was because she wasn’t yet ready to go back to the real world and deal with all the problems that awaited her there. And most of her almost believed it.

But in truth, she was enjoying the time she spent with Alyial, and she wasn’t quite ready to let go of it.

If you can be friends in the simulation, you can be friends in the real world, she told herself. But she doubted it even as she whispered the words into the vaults of her mind.

“I suppose that is true,” Alyial murmured, drawing each of the words out in a way that suggested he regretted having to speak them. “I wish I could say I have a fancy guest room I could set you up in. But the truth is I only have one bed. You’re welcome to it though,” he added quickly and raked his fingers through his hair, once again failing to hide the way his words made him nervous. “I absolutely wouldn’t mind sleeping on the couch. And I don’t think either of us is fit to drive at the moment.”

Cabs were a thing. The words were on the tip of her tongue. It would be so easy to call a driving service and summon a car to Alyial’s apartment complex. Even in the wee hours of morning, there was always someone happy to drive people somewhere for a quick buck.

But the thought of her empty house was like a yawning void, a monster risen from the dark depths waiting to swallow her whole.

She couldn’t endure that. She had come here to set a mistake right, and she was dedicated to making that happen. But she was only willing to pay so much of her soul.

She smiled. It was easy. She was still surrounded in the warm glow of what felt like a small vacation from her life, caught up in the cozy sensation of friendship shared over video clips and timeless snacks.

She set the sweating glass on the counter beside her and grasped Alyial’s wrist, pressing her simulated flesh gently against his. Their skin was smooth but not without the texture she would expect to experience in the real world.

She meant to say that she would take the couch. It would be easy to turn the pile of pillows and blankets they had been utilizing into a comfortable cocoon that would allow her a few minutes of sweet oblivion.

But instead she leaned close. She inhaled, and Alyial’s scent filled her nostrils. It was strangely intoxicating. He smelled like the butter they poured on the popcorn mixed with a faint hint of exertion.

It was the opposite of Delmar’s scent in every way. He always smelled faintly of the ocean – a result of his favorite aftershave. Beneath the cologne and shaving cream, he carried a hint of earthen musk, something that had always drawn her to him.

It wasn’t that Alyial was less manly. That certainly wasn’t the signal Ira’s brain transmitted in that brief period of motion. He was just different – cozy, welcoming and utterly brilliant beneath the surface.

Maybe that was why Ira suddenly found her lips pressed to his. They were soft and yielded easily beneath the pressure she exerted. She didn’t get the impression Alyial was inexperienced – just surprised.

Normally she wouldn’t have taken advantage of such a thing. Even as a teenager, she tried not to be coy. Yet she was hardly in control of her body at the moment. It seemed to move of its own accord, as if the computer had taken over.

She leaned into the kiss and allowed her tongue to slip past both sets of parted lips.

She suddenly became aware of her heartbeat pounding loudly in her ears. Her chest pressed to his, and his hands slid along her sides before settling on her shoulders to draw her close.

His heartbeat mirrored hers, forming a rapid percussive cadence that drowned the rest of their surroundings. An electric spark passed between his finger tips and her shoulders, and Ira’s breath caught in her throat.

It had been a long time since a kiss felt like this – new and exciting.

And forbidden.

She should not be doing this. It was in the forefront of her mind as their bodies attempted to press close enough to occupy the same physical space. She had a husband waiting for her at home in the real world. And she could imagine the look on his face if she ever told him she kissed another man.

But this wasn’t real. The body pressed against Alyial’s was made of binary ones and zeros, just as the body pressed against hers was equally formed of code.

This was a fantasy world. Everything in it was imaginary – aside from the minds that experienced its shapes and contours. So why not treat it like a fantasy? Otherwise, how would she ever maintain the perspective Alyial had so clearly lost?

It was an excuse. There was a part of her that refused to relinquish that knowledge. If she was going to do this, she was going to have to do it knowing full well the consequences she was courting.

Yet after all the hardship of the last several weeks, after the dreams and the phone calls, the stress and the dread, she needed something that would banish it all – however briefly.

So she kissed the man standing in front of her. The man who wasn’t her husband. She kissed him until her digital lungs burned and she was forced to draw backward enough to inhale.

And by then it was too late. Dazzling stars occupied her companion’s eyes as the two of them panted to catch their breath, but his grip didn’t loosen.

To him this was an innocent moment, a first date with someone he just met. He had no idea what kind of secrets swam in the depths of her brain. And it would be cruel to shatter the illusion now – especially after she had initiated all of it. She sat down at his table in the cafe. She encouraged him to open up to her at dinner. And she refused to leave even when she knew all along it was the best course of action.

The kiss was just the culmination of all the other choices. And now the momentum was too strong for her to resist.

“Wow,” Alyial managed to breathe into the growing silence. She expected the next words out of his mouth to be, I certainly didn’t expect that.

But she didn’t want to talk anymore. Because talking would make her realize what she was doing. She simply wanted to act, allowing the moment to resolve into its natural conclusion.

So she closed her fingers around his wrist again and pulled him down the hallway to the apartment’s singular bedroom, knowing full well what would happen when they closed the door.

*   *   *

Despite their best efforts to seal the room against the sun’s intrusion, a thin, bright beam managed to spear its way through the crack beneath the thick, heavy curtains. Ira squeezed her eyes closed, trying not to see the growing pink splash against the back of her eyelids.

But it was all in vein. She had known all along that this moment would come – the moment when she could no longer ignore where she was or what was happening.

Her eyes flicked open, and she instantly checked the clock that rested on the bedside table – not her bed, not her table and not her clock. But the time read eight thirty-five.

Inhaling deeply, Ira closed her eyes and basked one last time in the soft, warm glow that surrounded her. One of Alyial’s arms rested almost absently across her shoulders, and she found herself clutching his hand so tightly it stirred him from sleep.

His was not the body she usually expected to press against hers when she roused from the depths of oblivion, but she had to admit she didn’t find the proximity unpleasant.

Quite the opposite or she never would have lingered this long.

With a soft groan, Alyial pried his fingers free of her grip and used his newly rescued hand to wipe his hair away from his face where it had fallen during the night. He spent several seconds rubbing at his eyes before his arm draped loosely back across Ira’s shoulders.

She imagined he was smiling, though she didn’t think it would last long.

“What time is it?” he murmured dreamily. Evidently he hadn’t awakened enough to focus on the clock himself.

“It’s getting on towards nine,” Ira murmured, her voice barely more than a whisper. “Monday morning,” she added. “Time to check on your office.”

It would serve as the fulfillment of her goal. The moment they walked through the door, Alyial would realize what had happened. Maybe he would even believe she was a figment of his imagination, an image conjured from the ether to assist him with his plight.

At least until they awoke side by side in his actual lab.

She had come to dread this moment as much as she anticipated it. But she couldn’t ignore it, and she couldn’t stay here.

That would mean death on the other side of the barrier, and she doubted her mind would carry on living in a fantasy if she allowed that eventuality.

Besides, Alyial deserves better.

So she sighed and rolled out from under the arm and the covers that comforted her. She reached for her discarded clothing and the cold, hard reality they represented.

The rest she would have to deal with when she woke up.