When All Is Lost

Louis was sixteen years old when his father died, a man in his hundreds. He was still strong when he visited him last winter break, strengthened by medication. His father would say "I'll meet her again! And I'll hug her tight! You'll see...huh you have her eyes! How beautiful! I'll meet her again!", repeating those words like a broken record. Louis found it annoying so it was a big shock for him when the old man suddenly died. From a heart attack they say. His older brother told him that their mother has passed away and when their father learned about it he just died from grief. Their sister in that side of the country sent them an email about the held funeral.

"Don't follow their path Louis, it's a sickness. Even Lorenzo fell for it." Leo exclaims, he is Louis older brother, as they stared at casket being lowered down. The funeral was held during a nice afternoon which would be just the right time to have a nap by the porch, his father in his wheelchair would be humming some old song nearby with a look of longing.

The mention of Lorenzo, didn't evoke any emotion from Louis, according to the family record he died at the age of twenty-two during the earlier years of the Gender Segregation without stating the cause of death. Leo who was born through artificial womb, three years after Lorenzo's death, also has no memory of him other than what is written in the family record. He (Leo) was already forty-nine when their father decided to have Louis. Their father and mother who were both members of the Anti Gender Segregation Movement decided that no Head of the family should be born from some unknown ovum donated just for the sake that their son could have a child, in short they have no interest in passing the position to a bastard. The strict discipline their father has imposed on Leo adding to the misogynistic indoctrination from the State controlled schools has made him the perfect example of the new man that the Aidan Republic believe should be. This character of an adult has made it his responsibility to make Louis be like him, after their father died, which the young man abhors. There will be quarrels that would end with Louis saying words such as "Stop acting like you're my father." and the worse being, "If you want a new heir go use our parent's cream pie in the refrigerator.". 

Their Age Gap has made it impossible for the two brother to treat each other as brothers, after all Louis is practically younger than Leo's own children. Adding to that would be the temperament Louis got from his senile father who spoiled him like a grandchild. The old man would tell stories about the days before the segregation, about his wife, about Lorenzo, and sometimes about Leo. These stories he keeps close to his heart like a talisman, to protect himself from the egotistic and misaligned rhetoric he encounters within the social circle that their family belongs in. 

It was during a Private Exhibit show casing the new models of Humanoid Robot Companions that Louis had Freudian Slip as he whispered out loud, "If I could use its body to be on the Women side of the country.", and by luck the guy beside him replied, "Would you want to?" as he gave him an invitation to The Secret Club of Rich Men. The name Louis found to be cringe and childish, but being wealthy himself, understands how rich people live life to be entertained. 

The Extended Reality Equipment was delivered in his condo, earlier than the woman who bought a Companion to receive her unit. It was a week before he got the go signal to use the XR Equipment. When he opened his eyes he remembered his father's old murmurs, it was funny how out of the blue it entered his mind, "Told her my shirt wasn't there, told her that, I opened all the shelves I say none. Mona found it, yeah Mona did, it was really there, like magic. She's a witch, my sand-witch, me the filling..." Stop! Not beyond that! Louis tried to focus but his Father's stories is becoming like a curse.

Was it the light, the breeze, the sound of wind chimes. Louis can't help but be enamored at the woman in front of him.

"Good morning dear companion." Her voice tickled his ears and her sweet smile makes him want to say,

"I wish I was a TV, so I could always be near U." 

F*ck.