1 001. Dead (edited)

Proofread by Dark Pride

***

A man was running in a dark alley. Behind him, two men in black were chasing him. 

"Stop, or I will shoot," a man who was chasing him shouted. 

The man didn't stop, 'Old man, what did you give me? Whatever it was, I'm being chased for it, and it looks like they wanna kill me!' 

*Bang* 

A bullet pierced his right foot, and he fell down, "Ah! God... It hurts!" 

"You should've stopped, when I said stop, Mr. Adam. So, where is the thing that your father gave you?" One of the men in black kicked Adam, who was curled up in pain. 

"Why don't you find it yourself? Even if I give it to you. You'll still kill me, right?" 

*** 

This situation started yesterday. Adam got a letter from his father, who should have died three years ago in an airplane crash. There was a micro SD and a letter with his father's handwriting inside the envelope. 

He said sorry for deceiving him all these years and that he was alive and well on an island somewhere. He and his colleagues were secretly researching something that could change the world.

But one day, their activities were detected by their enemy. Some branches of their organization had already been destroyed, so they were forced to send their almost finished result to someone they can trust, and that was Adam. 

Then, his father asked Adam to keep it for a while and not to open it. Someday when the situation had calmed down, his father would explain everything. 

At first, Adam felt that someone was messing with him, but after reading the letter a few more times,he decided to believe it.

His father had always been a mysterious figure for him. He was rarely home, but he made sure to send money to him and his mother every month.

Occasionally he came home and stayed for a few days before leaving and disappearing again. 

He always wrote a letter to him and his mother to assure them that he was ok up until the crash. 

His letters were always handwritten, even though social media and email was easier and used more frequently. The handwriting was what finally convinced him that the letter was actually written by his dad.

When his mother passed away from cancer, Adam was 20. He had been a full-fledged online shop owner, and that was five years ago. 

Until this morning, his life was perfect. A stable growing business, a cat, an inheritance house, a honda van, and a sweet girlfriend. 

But when two men in black came this morning, he knew he would be die, or at least he would be "taken care of". It was just a feeling, but he wanted to struggle against his fate. 

*** 

"You know Mr. Adam? You're right, so please make it easier for us. We are busy people and we don't want to do these things to you. You will talk, believe me. It's just a matter of time. If you talk now, I will give you a painless death. Oh... Sorry! I mean a less painful death. You are in pain right now after all," One of the men with blonde hair smirked at Adam. 

"Hey... Don't say that. We're reasonable people. Mr. Adam, we will give you one million dollars for that thing. You can grow your business and marry your girlfriend, or you can go on a vacation. Anything is possible," the other man with black hair took off his sunglasses and smiled kindly at Adam. 

Adam knew that they were playing good cop and bad cop, it was cliché. In Adam's eyes, they just wanted to mock him. He was angry and he felt helpless, so he wanted to do something that would make them crazy, one last act of defiance, "You didn't lie to me, right? Okay, I'll give it to you, but remember your promise!" 

Adam saw them smirking subtly, but he pretended not to see it and put his hand in his jacket pocket, took out the micro SD, and made a movement as if to give it to the man with black hair. 

But halfway through, he let go of the SD card and made the micro SD fall into his mouth. With all his remaining strength, he bit it to pieces, swallowed it, and smiled, "Sayonara dumba**es!" 

The two men in black froze, their faces went pale and then redden in anger. The blonde one then pulled out his gun, pointed it to Adam's face, and shouted , "A**hole!" 

*Bang* 

*Bang* 

*Bang* 

*** 

His vision went dark and he couldn't feel anything around him. He was floating in an empty space, without air to breath, light to see, warmth to feel, or sounds to hear.

'Am I dead?' 

'Anna, will you miss me?' 

'Dad, I hope you are alright.' 

'Tom, sorry I can't take care of you anymore.' 

'God... You know I've always been a believer. Maybe I made a lot of mistakes and I said a lot of things that should not have been said, but I believe You are merciful. Please don't just throw me into hell.' 

Then a door opened above Adam and a delicate white arm was outstretched to Adam. 

Adam, without hesitation, reached out and grasped it. He felt himself get pulled to the door and pass through it. 

He then realized he was in a white space. There was nothing except him and a girl, the owner of the arm who pulled him here.

She was about 10 years old with long silver hair. She wore a white robe and bare feet. Her face was so beautiful, it was almost as if it was glowing. 

"So beautiful... Are you an angel?" He said unconsciously. 

The girl giggled and with a naughty smirk, she said, "I had never guessed that you were a lolicon, and no, I'm not an angel." 

Adam froze, his face reddened, "I-I didn't mean that. Wait! Am I dreaming?" 

"Hahaha... Of course not. You are dead. Face it! But our situation isn't that bad. I think He has a plan for us other than throwing us into heaven or hell." 

"Is that so? By the way, thank you for helping me. Who are you?" 

"My name is Eve, that's what they used to call me at least. Anyways, it's got nothing to do with you, please don't ask stupid questions about it," She said

Adam's face started to make a strange expression, but he hid it this time, "O-okay... Are we stuck here?" 

"I don't know, but it's fine, right? For me, this is the first time I've really been alive," an innocent smile appeared on her face. 

Adam couldn't hold it in anymore, "what do you mean 'The first time you are alive'?" 

Eve just smirked, "You should know, I am the program that your dad and his colleagues were developing. I was never finished, but somehow, God perfected me.  I mean, I was just an AI that didn't really have a life, but now, thanks to Him, I have my own personality and I can truly be considered alive." 

Hearing that, Adam was jolted, "Y-you were an AI? So this was all because of you!" 

"Yeah, sorry for getting you involved and getting you killed. But you know, that wasn't my decision. It was your father and his associates' choice." She smiled bitterly. 

*Haaahhh* 

"Yeah, but that's in the past now. Honestly, I do have a little regret, but for the most part,  I'm satisfied with my life. I have done all I can do and, although my ending was a little tragic, I couldn't do anything about it, right," Adam smiled bitterly. 

"That's a lie and you know it,"  Eve stared at him accusingly. 

Her words touched his reverse scale, Adam stared at her angrily, "What do you know about me?" 

"You haven't accepted that you died. You miss Anna very much, and you want to meet her again. You are worried about your father's safety and you are also worried about your cat Tom, and about who will take care of him. Am I wrong?" 

Having heard Eve's words, Adam was frozen to the spot, "H-how?" 

"I don't know, I can just 'read' you. Can't you do that?" 

Adam was trying to digest what Eve said. Then he felt a new door was opened inside of him. He felt a connection between him and Eve, 'But that's impossible.' 

'And yet, you can feel it, right?', he heard Eve's voice as if it was whispered to his soul directly. 

'Wow, how can there be so much information in your head. Are you connected to the Internet?' Adam tried to convey his mind to Eve without talking. 

'You know, you are weird. How can you accept all of this so fast? Just like when those men in black chased you. You gave up hope too fast. For normal people, they would struggle until the last moment or give up the micro SD for false hope. Just now, you accepted all about our mental connection too easily. How can I say, you are too realistic.' 

'You're contradicting yourself, you just said I had lied to you about my feelings and that I still didn't give up my past. And now you're saying that I'm too realistic,' a smirk appeared on Adam's lips. 

'...,' for the first time, Eve was dumbfounded. 

"You didn't answer my question," Still not really comfortable with speaking through telepathy, Adam chose to speak out loud instead. 

Eve wanted to tell him that he could find out for himself, after all their minds were connected, but suddenly they felt a strong attraction from above. Before they had a chance to respond, they disappeared from that space.