I stood in the front row
of the large auditorium, Kurt by my side, and a dancing hologram on the stage
in front of me. I couldn’t believe my
eyes. It was one thing to see a video on
the Internet, but to see something like this in person was amazing.
Aria, looking exactly as
she had in my dream, was dancing across the stage. Her voice was clean and clear, devoid of the
usual chirpy digital sounds that most Vocaloid made.
“This is great!” Ashtyn
leaned past Kurt, doing her best to talk over the loud pop music.
Just past her was Rita,
who was so lost in the beat that a bomb blast couldn’t bring her back to
reality. On my other side Max and Clare
were watching the show, although a bit more reserved than the others.
I nudged Max, “Not your
style?”
He shook his head,
leaning closer so that I could hear him.
“No, the music is great. I just…
I gave Liz a ticket for tonight, kind of as a peace offering. She hasn’t shown, and when I tried to call
her, her phone just went straight to voicemail.”
“I doubt it’s
anything. Maybe she picked up a guy at
her hotel, or something?” I shrugged, doing my best to ignore the uncomfortable
feeling in my gut.
Max just returned my
shrug, and turned his attention back to the stage.
The music faded out, and
Aria walked forward. “Thank you all for
coming tonight! My name is Aria, and I would
like to welcome you to Digital Heaven!”
The hologram waved her
arm, and suddenly her outfit changed to a bright white toga, with two angel
wings perched on her back. There was a
shimmering sound, and the background of the stage burst into a white kingdom
made of clouds.
“This must have been a
bitch to program.” Kurt was looking at
the stage, eyes wide. “Just thinking
about it makes my head hurt.”
“Once a programmer,
always a programmer.” I laughed, kissing
him on the cheek.
The music kicked in, and
Aria broke into a slowed down version of Belinda Carlisle’s Heaven is a Place on Earth. I leaned back, letting the nostalgic music
take over my brain. How long had I been
waiting for this? A moment of peace and
quiet. I savored it, knowing that in my
life these moments would be few and far between. I looked from Kurt, then to my friends. We all shared something, something that no
one else could understand. We shared
experiences that would shatter most people’s sanity, and finally, together, we
shared a normal, fun, cheesy moment.
As I watched Aria, I
noted that her eyes seemed to narrow, and a pained look appeared on her
face. Then the background image
glitched, the heavenly kingdom being replaced by the grinning face of an old,
weathered woman. The glitch was so quick
that most people probably missed it, but it was long enough for me to catch it,
and from the way Kurt gripped my hand, and Max suddenly sat up straight, I
figured that the rest of my group had seen it too.
Aria’s voice faltered,
and she turned. The background glitched
again, for longer this time, and the face of the old woman re appeared. The hag was cackling silently.
“No, no, no, no…” Aria’s
horrified mumbles echoed through the packed auditorium, her voice connected to
the sound system.
**
In the control room Q
stood at his computer, dumbfounded. He
knew that face. He knew who that was,
the woman who was invading his program.
She was the same person who had cursed Aria. It couldn’t be her, though. Q had sealed her away, using the same spell
that his mother had used on Aria. He had
sealed that old bitch away!
“You’ve been a bad boy,
Q.” His mother’s voice echoed through the control room.
“Leave me alone!” Q
stepped away from the computer screen, nearly tripping over some stray
cords. “I got rid of you once, and I’ll
do it again!”
The old bitch’s face
popped onto his monitor, her yellowed and bloodshot eyes looking right at
him. “Your little song bird is my
property, and I want her back!”
“Don’t you touch her.” Q
could feel his jaw clenching.
“Oh,” she cackled, “and
how do you plan on stopping me?”
Q rushed to the fuse box
on the far side off the control room.
“I’ll pull the plug.”
He smashed his hand into
the fuse box, a shockwave surging through is body, sending him flying.
**
Aria screamed, and the
auditorium suddenly went dark.
I stood completely still,
the dread building inside of me. That
moment, that perfectly normal moment was gone.
I could make excuses, claim it was part of the show, or a computer
error, but deep down I knew. There was
another battle ahead of me, ahead for all of us, and this was where it started.
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