The Afterlife

This is it. This is the afterlife. What i worked so hard for.. This is my new eternity.

Hirosa Kuruzo used to be a young woman, full of life and hopes. She had always been polite, kind and generous. Her life was not the greatest or even the most memorable, but she enjoyed it as it was. She had hopes for her older days, for when she would retire, after having children maybe, and had plenty of days behind her to keep her smile. Instead, she was greeted with an incurable disease and died from it, depressed and alone.

The woman had never thought such an end could strike her so soon, but luckily had prepared herself. Hirosa had invested in the operators .

"Eternity is now available through the latest technologies of this century."

She was told. It wasn't something new on its own. People had been saving their memories, their minds, their lives into devices for years. In case they died, their last memory would be saved inside the ApP, from where they could digitally live for ever with the memories of their past experiences. It was as if life never ended.

No, it wasn't new. It was different. Her life was not over, nor was she living her past for an eternity. This was the latest wave in technology, affordable to everyone for only cost... A life of work.

"To anyone willing to sign in, your greatest dreams, happiest memories, biggest hopes could still be reachable with a synthetic hand. Yes, your flesh would vanish, be burned and back to earth, but your soul would live on in your next body."

Those were the words, but from then to now, their impact had changed a lot. Diminished, tarnished. Yes Hirosa was able to move, look, hear after her death, but her joy, her heart and her humanity was lost. A carbon fiber hand before her synthetic blue eyes, the naked cold android was rushed with sadness.

What have she done? This wasn't her. These parts were not her body. She was not a machine... But there she was. Facing the tank of her older self, its last memories being downloaded, turning it into nothing more then an empty shell. A dead body. Was she more alive as a machine then she was in the tank? What was she complaining about? She would no longer age, would no longer fear...

She would no longer dream. She would no longer live. She was promised a bright and happy future, but instead was given a grey, still afterlife. She could no longer smile, cry, laugh.. Her face was emotionless and would remain that way for eternity. Oh she could try suicide.. But her mind, her memories would simply be implanted in the next empty shell. This was her life now and she had to accept it.

The once happy, proud woman walked out of the Corporation, neutrality on her carbon fiber face. Emotionless eyes fixed before her as the ageless body moved forward. Was she alone? Oh no. Far from it. She could speak to them, interact with them. She could try to revive to revive sweet emotions, but she lost her will. She lost her faith. Were they all feeling the same as her? Did she even care to know?

Every male was the same. Every female was the same. All were black and white, living in a grey world, forgetting about the colors of their past lives as the days were passing.

"A bright and happy future..."

The was no future. They were moving, but were still dead. They were talking, but weren't more alive for that little. They were.. walking dead. Hirosa walked in, blending in with every other past-humans. She was only one more. One more to walk... to live... dead.