“You’ve got the job,” Jordan overhears his girlfriend's boss say.

He’s by the doorway, keeping out of sight as she speaks to her boss on her holophone. She’s holding her holophone outward as she stands by their bed, trying not to scream as a wide grin spreads on her face like nanos in a pajama cube spread across one’s body to create the latest pajama trend. Her tone remains serious as she thanks her boss for the exciting news. As she continues talking, Jordan zones out his mind in a galaxy far away. There is no tether around his thoughts as he lets himself drift into an unknown future.

Weeks ago, when he suggested his girlfriend apply for the promotion it was because he was trying to be supportive. She was unhappy with her current job and the thought of starting fresh made her sing to herself as she reheated the breakfast he cooked her for dinner. It was a sight that made him smile but now all he felt was dread.

He hears the sound of her cheering and blinks back to reality. She’s looking at him with those big brown eyes he saw infinite future’s with but right now every future he dreamt of was flickering away. The smile on her face is infectious but the vaccine of reality was preventing its spread.

There’s no longer a holophone in her hand. He sees it discarded on the bed as she stares at him with expectant eyes.

“I’m glad you got the job,” he croaks out, walking further into the room with a low tone full of sincerity.

She hugs him, wrapping her arms around his body like a sticky candy wrapper to an unsuspecting hand. He wants to hug back but he feels like a coat rack, obsolete and unneeded. She doesn’t notice as she pulls away, instead, she skips to their closet door where she pulls out an unused luggage bag.

“That’s new and unnecessarily large.”

She unzips the bag with a smile. “I bought it on a whim after my interview, something just told me that I nailed it.”

“We could fit our whole apartment in there.”

“It’s a vintage luggage bag so no vortex pockets,” she says with disappointment. “We’re going to have to leave a lot of stuff behind.”

“We’re?” Jordan repeats, his posture tensing.

He sees so many futures tumble before his eyes as the terror of the unknown punches him in the gut. An unsteady breath comes out of him as the dread of a conversation he wasn’t ready to have begins.

“I didn’t realize I’d have to be at our new location so quick,” his girlfriend says as she moves away from her luggage bag. “I thought maybe a couple of weeks or a month or…”

Suddenly, she stops moving as she studies him. “You’re coming with me, right?”

He feels his mind explode, a bang so loud he could feel his body shaking. Unlike the big bang that created our universe, there is no sign of life in him, he is drifting away from his body as his thoughts become just as lifeless as the infertile soil of the planet he lived on.

He didn’t want to have this conversation.

He didn’t want to make a decision so permanent and damaging that there would not be a speck of dust of him left.

“Jordan?”

His mouth feels dry and he’s in desperate need of a water tablet but still he utters out, “What?”

“You’re coming with me right? To the new location?”

“The one that’s seven galaxies away.”

His voice comes out cracked and his breathing is getting unsteadier. Why did her boss have to call tonight? He thinks to himself then grips his hand into a fist.

He didn’t want to have this conversation.

“You said we’d talk about it,” She reminds him with a frown, coming closer.

He wants to shout at her to stay away as the dread in his stomach rises. His breaths are quickening.

“Jordan?” She looks at him with concern and is now close enough to touch him.

He hopes she doesn’t because if she does then he’d sway in whatever direction she’d want him to. Just like a flower desperate for light.

He recoils from her voice, and gives her a wary look.

Somehow, he manages to speak.”I—I did say that but you just applied weeks ago an—and I didn’t think it’d be so quick.”

His words are garbled, quick, and smushed together. She looks at him with concern in those big brown eyes now filled with infinite endings. Her eyes move downward to his bare wrist then they move around the room. He watches as she walks away from him and he pulls one hand to his chest as he tries to catch his breath. His fingers tingle like a soothing spider crawling on his skin during his chat sessions with his AI therapist, Emote. There was once a time where humans studied their own minds, thinking with enough research they could understand one another. After the introduction of AI therapists, however, humanity had flocked to them preferring to give up all sole information of themselves from their late night purchases to the music they listen to in the morning in favor of custom tailored therapy sessions. Jordan could just imagine the robotic spider biting him to administer his medication to dull his senses to the never ending unease inside of him.

His girlfriend comes back with a bliss bracelet which once put on penetrates your skin to release endorphins that are guaranteed to instantly boost your mood. It was an item which required moderate use as it was considered addictive. He feels her fingers touch his skin as she slides the bliss bracelet on his wrist. Jordan feels a sting in his wrist as a needle comes out of the interior of the bracelet and gives him a heavy dose of bliss.

The false state of calm slips into him and he stares at her with blank eyes.

“Are you okay, Jordan?”

He lets out a heavy breath. “I’m fine.”

Even with the heavy dose of bliss in him, Jordan didn’t feel fine.

“Good,” his girlfriend says with relief. “You should take a quick walk on the VR Treadmill. You love jogging through the ancient laundromats and placing those strange flat rocks into the machines.”

“I’m not in the mood for a Laundrojog.”

“Are you going to start packing then?” She prods, clearly wanting a definite answer from Jordan.

He didn’t want to have this conversation.

“Isn’t it too soon?”

“I leave tonight.”

His eyes widen and a frown is sketching on his face but the dosage of the bliss bracelet won’t let it form.

“Can’t you ask for a later teleport time or something?”

“Jordan, it’s seven galaxies away, even with teleportation’s quickness it’ll be at least two weeks before I physically get there.”

“This…I…no…I can’t decide this so quick.”

“You have to. Do you know how hard it is to get a teleport ticket?”

“And you already have mine?”

“Well no, but my boss will be messaging me about my travel arrangements any minute now and I need an answer.”

He didn’t want to have this conversation.

“Tonight?”

“Yes, tonight, and you know once I’m out there it’s going to be difficult to get any service.”

“I know,” he replies with a frown as he thinks about how his AI therapist emote will be inaccessible in that galaxy. “This is too soon. I thought we had time…”

“You told me to take a chance, to reach for my dreams so now that I’ve grabbed it why the hesitation?”

“It’s too soon…I didn’t think if you got it that it’d happen this fast.”

He feels his heart ready to race but the dosage of bliss keeps it calm and steady.

“Are you staying here or are you going with me to start anew?”

Her eyes are full of infinite unknown futures while his is filled with uncertainties.

With a look of regret he utters out an answer, “No.”