Science fiction
Flash fiction
Nature Futures, Nature Magazine, June 2017
The lights wink on as Matthew drives through the familiar patchwork suburb. Snow dusts the shadowed edges of the houses and that's how he knows it's not real. It hasn't snowed in years.
He pulls into the driveway of the first home he shared with Cynthia. Shivering his way across ice to the front door, he runs through half-crafted sentences in his head.
“Does she know I'm coming?” he asks aloud, his breath slipping away like smoke.
Coda, his virtual assistant, answers. The posh voice seems to come from all around.
“Cynthia's aware you're here.”
“Is she ... still aware this is a simulation?”
“Local run time exceeds two years. That's well beyond human capacity to retain awareness of life outside simulation.”
My first story to be published in a premier publication, and in print. This story was one I had been simmering on for years, and couldn't quite crack it. Originally, I had a story about a couple that were drifting apart, and had a thought in mind that their house was a kind of gateway to fantastical places - each had their own space they withdrew to. But it didn't work - there was no real plot or motivation.
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