Entangled

***

????As soon as our eyes met, I knew that she was different. She had eyes clear as crystal. Calm, determined, without impurities. I knew at once that she was someone that I could never be.

????I met her at the Supernatural Science Laboratory, a lab hidden inside the depths of a vast forest. I was placed there by the authorities to conduct research in quantum mechanics and the properties of subatomic particles. When I was walking through the laboratory with my team on my first day there, I saw her.

????She wore a white lab coat, her hair braided into a ponytail. She looked up from her work, saw the team, waved, and smiled.?

????“That’s Alice, she is doing research about the mind, very cool stuff.”?

????I barely heard her name. My mind was distracted by a strange sensation I felt, a warm fuzz that suddenly appeared from nowhere deep inside me. She turned toward my direction, and our eyes met. She smiled, and winked at me.

????I could see the light inside her.

***

????A couple days after I relocated to the SSL, I slowly became comfortable with the pace of the environment, and got acquainted with my colleagues. The SSL not only is a laboratory, but it also has a complete suite of housing and living utilities for the people working there. Of course, life here was much more secluded compared to my previous facility. After adjusting to this new place, I was able to start ramping up the speed of my research. Life became somewhat normal again. The long hours spent inside the lab, looking at different monitors and screens, changing different constants and repeatedly revising equations. The familiar routines all came back. Just like what I have done for more times than I can remember.?

????But life at the SSL was also different from before. She was there.?

????Each day, when I walked into the laboratory and headed towards my station, I always chose the route that cuts through the Biolab. Each day, I saw her working studiously with her team, eyes firm with an unspoken determination. Everytime I walked by, I involuntarily slowed my footsteps, so that I could be in the same room as her for just a little longer. From what I had heard, she had been working in this lab for almost seven years now. She has done many things here, went down many paths, but none of them led to anything. But despite all of this, I have never seen her without a smile at work. She seems to have a fire within her. A burning resolve that warms not only herself but also the people around her.

????One day, when I just wrapped up for the day, I turned around to find her standing behind me.

????“Hi, Zachary, right? I’m Alice, from the Biolab. Do you have some time to talk?”

????She reached out her hand, with a slight smile on her face.

????I grasped her hand, and gave it a shake.

????“Yes, I am Zachary. Nice to meet you. What do you want to talk about?”

????She asked me what kind of research I was doing. And so I explained to her the quantum mechanics that I was looking into. I mentioned how I had recently started looking at the quantum entanglement of subatomic particles, and what kinds of behavior they exhibit under this curious state.

????“Are you using some kind of physical manifestation like the double-slit experiment for observations? Or is it still theory?”

????Surprisingly, she seemed to have some knowledge in this field as well. And she expressed a lot of interest in my research direction.?

????I asked her why she was so interested, and she replied, “I don’t know. Just a gut feeling.”

????We talked for a long time, discussing my research, and also talking about hers. She was working on a topic that to me was really philosophical. She was studying how a person’s mind works, its relationship with the body, and what happens to it when they pass away.?

????“What is life? Is it characterized by the movements of the body, or the stirrings of the mind??

????The ideas she has fascinated me. It was as if I was taken into this world that physics could never explain, a world of imagination and fantasies. At the same time, talking to her, I understood why she wasn’t making much progress. Her research direction felt too abstract, too unpractical. But what was most striking to me when she talked was her eyes. When she spoke about her research, her eyes sparkled. Her eyes, her smile, the enthusiasm, the light inside her. It was dazzling.

***

????“Do you want to come take a look at what we have been doing?”

????I was in the cafeteria, eating a bowl of greek salad when she invited me.?

????She took me to her station, and gestured at a machine that looked like a circular tube with a long plank sticking out of it. I could see that there was a mouse inside, with some kind of ring wrapped around its neck. Next to the machine, there were screens with images that looked like spider webs imposed on a black background, with occasional flashes of red and green.

????“This is a fMRI machine, and we’re using it to investigate the brain activity of the mouse.”

????“What is the ring on the mouse used for?”

????She gave me a big smile.

????“The ring is a very important part of the experiment. It is used to suffocate the mouse.”

????“Suffocate the mouse?”

????“Yes. To suffocate the mouse. Well we don’t actually suffocate the mouse, but rather we tighten the ring to the point of near death, and then we loosen it again. During all this time the machine records the mouse’s brain activity, and the data is then analyzed by my team.”

????She paused, making sure that I was with her. Admittedly, I was slightly lost.

????“What is the data used for?”

????She tilted her head sideways, seemingly trying to think of the best way to explain this to me.

????“Have you ever heard about what happens to people that have near-death experiences?”

????“Life flashbacks?”

????“Yes and no. The things people experience vary quite a bit. Some people have flashbacks of their life, but more interesting are the people who say they saw this strange world completely different from our own.”

????She continued on, her face lit up with enthusiasm.

????“By examining the brain activity of mice in this fashion, we hope to gain some insight into what the mind experiences when the body is close to death.”

????She took a glance behind her, and I followed her gaze. Inside the machine, the mouse was shaking slightly, with its mouth agape.

????“Of course, mice are not humans. There was a period of time before you came when we used people, prisoners with a death sentence, but unfortunately our research was put to a halt.”

????She looked at me and shook her head.

????“Sometimes you just can’t have everything you ask for.”

????I nodded my head with a slight stiffness. Involuntarily, my body reacted to the words I heard on its own accord, and my heart ached.

????“That is very intriguing.”

????She then showed me around the other parts of her station, and introduced me to some members on her team. From what I could see, everyone in her team had a lot of respect for her, and they were united under the same passion for their research.?

????And I felt the same. I was attracted to her persona, her coldness, her warmth, her smile, her eyes.?

***

????It was a few months after I arrived at the laboratory, when one day as I turned off the machines and packed up my laptop, she asked me if I wanted to go on a walk with her. We had become quite acquainted with each other by now, albeit I did not know much about her outside of work. I felt like there was something she wanted to say, and so I nodded and followed her lead, into the forest.

????We were turning a bend when she spoke.

????“What brought you here?”

????“I was put here by the authorities, I was told that this place was better for my research.”

????“No, not that, I mean what made you pursue physics? What made you devote the rest of your life to this?”

????I paused.?

????“Well, I guess that for me, it was when I was small, I saw a lightning bolt strike down a house before my eyes. I was enraptured, I think that is what made me become a physics guy.”

????I did not tell her that the house the lighting bolt struck down was my house. I did not tell her that when my mother shook in fear and my father wrapped his arms tightly around me, the fluttering flames that engulfed my house and my vision left a scar in my heart. A scar so deep, that all I could think about for days was its blinding light. From that day I became attracted to lighting like a wasp attracted to the dim glow of a lamp. All the books I read were about lighting and storms. When other kids were outside playing soccer, I was crouched in my room, reading books or watching videos about lightning. I wanted to understand everything about it. And so when I learned about how lightning is just the static discharge of tiny particles called electrons, I was amazed at how such small things could cause such splendid miracles. This led to my decision to enroll as a particle physics major in college; I dedicated all my time to learning about the properties of these tiny objects.

????That is what brought me here.

????I did not tell her all of this. Instead, I asked, “What brought you here?”

????“What do you think happens to you when you die?”

????She did not answer my question, but replied with another. I was slightly taken aback, but after some thought I gave her my reply.

????“Well, dying is the end, right? You just stop existing, your life comes to an end. You pass away, as your flesh rots and bone goes to dust. Nothing happens after death. That’s it.”

????“How about your mind?”

????“It’s the same, right? Your mind fades as the oxygen and blood to your brain stops, as the neurons inside cease to fire.”

????She considered my answer with a curious look on her face, and then smiled at me.

????“Zachary, we really are different.”

????Before I could ask her what she meant, she started talking again.?

????“I never liked science. I grew up aspiring to be a dancer. A ballet dancer. I always enjoyed dancing, moving through space, feeling the space, feeling myself.”

????She took one step forward and did a small spin as she lifted one leg slightly above the ground.?

????“And I was really good too. My mother would often praise me for my elegance. I really thought I was going to be a dancer.”

????She was still smiling, but it was now different. Gentle, but infused with hints of sorrow.?

????“But of course, good times never last. When I was sixteen, my parents were involved in an incident.”

????She briefly described the incident, her voice calm and indifferent, and how it left her parents in a state of coma.

????“It’s what they call a persistent vegetative state. A state of deep and continuous unconsciousness where cognitive functions are lost. At that time, I was unable to comprehend the situation my parents were in. How can someone be alive but not at the same time? If someone becomes unconscious and remains so, are they still living? I was scared, but at the same time amazed.”

????She plucked a leaf off a branch from a nearby tree, twirling it in her hand before blowing it away.

????“It was the first time I actually thought about the difference between life and death. The meaning of life, and death. I was still a dancer, but from that day on, my mind was obsessed by this question that seemed to have no answer. ”

????She went on to describe how she gave up on dancing and instead devoted herself to the field of life science, year after year of immersing herself with the ultimate questions bigger than life. In this sense, she was the same as me. Perhaps that’s why I felt this unexplained affinity to her when I met her for the first time.

????But we were also so different.

***

????As particles decayed and withered, as they quietly sprang to life, one year went by.

????I headed towards my station just like any other day when I noticed something was not normal. The lab was filled with a tingling excitement that should not be there. I could see my colleagues talking to each other with low voices, coupled with signs of nervousness and anticipation on their faces.

????I asked one of my associates if something that I wasn’t aware of was happening.

????“A general from DoD is visiting the lab today. You don’t get to see someone from the DoD everyday.”?

????“I see. That is true indeed.”

????The general arrived at the lab around two hours later. He wore a black uniform, badges strewn across his chest. He stood tall and firm, a man shaped by battles and war.?

????I knew he had arrived for I heard some commotion coming from the other part of the lab. Of course, I wasn’t that interested in what the general looked like, and I was in the middle of my research, so I focused on the task at hand and tried to block out the noise from afar.

????However, to my surprise, the general came to me.

????“Excuse me, your name is…Zachary?”

????I was interrupted by a strong and deep voice. I looked up to find the general standing before me.

????“Yes. I am Zachary.”

????“Nice to meet you, I’m Grandal, from the DoD, second division.”

????“Nice to meet you, sir.”

????I shook his hand. His hand was firm, sturdy, and had a roughness that was only seen on one kind of man. He is not only a general, but also a soldier.

????“I heard that you are working on particle research?”

????He started asking me some questions, about what I was doing, and other small talk, but I had a feeling that he was building up to something important. To the reason why he came to me.

????“I also heard that you are getting along pretty well with Alice?”

????Here it is. I straightened up my body, and nodded.

????“No need to be so tense, Zach.” The general patted my left shoulder, and gave me a smile. “You see, Alice’s father was a great friend of mine. He saved my life twice back in the day. He was more than a friend. He was a true brother. It was rough when I heard about his passing, but I promised to take care of his daughter. She never had any friends, so it's great to see her getting along with someone.”

????“My pleasure.”

????The general gave my shoulder a good shake.

????“You are a fine young man. I am glad that the SSL has you.”

????The general went on to talk about Alice, about how she was introverted when she was small, about how she was an angel that could melt everyone’s hearts. But also how she lacked friends, how she is closed off from others.

????“Did she tell you about the incident with her parents?”

????“Yes, she mentioned how there was an explosion in the lab.”

????“Did she tell you why there was an explosion?”

????I shook my head.?

????The general shook his head and let out a sigh. He then grabbed both of my shoulders, and looked straight into my eyes. We locked eyes for a moment before he started talking.

????“Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you, son. On the day of the explosion, Alice was inside the lab with her parents. She was curious with what her parents were doing, and so she pleaded with them to bring her to the lab. Her parents agreed. Her parents were working on developing a new biochemical weapon, and they were already at the final stages. On that day, Alice’s parents were next to the reactor, when she pressed a button that made the reactor release the chemicals. The chemicals then reacted with an open flame in the lab and caused a small explosion.”

????He paused. I could see his eyes slightly redden.

????“When I arrived there two hours later, all I saw was bodies lying on the floor everywhere. Still, lifeless, the sight was too cruel. The little girl was the only survivor, by some miracle. The biochemical weapon proved to be a huge success on the warfront, but its price was too heavy for Alice to bear.”

????The general looked into my eyes for a long time, making sure that I understood what he said. After a long silence, he released me from his grip, and sighed again.

????“I just want you to understand what is behind her past. I can give her all the money she wants for her research, but I have failed to give her the closeness she needs as a friend.”

????The general looked at me once again.

????“And I hope that you can give her that.”

????The general soon left after talking to me. At the entrance of the SSL, I saw Alice leap into his embrace, and how he swung her in a circle, lifting her off the ground as she stretched out her arms. She had a smile that I had never seen before. She was like an angel, soaring in the sky.

????It only occurred to me then what my feelings towards Alice were. She flew into my life and lit up my world. To me, she was?an angel. She had?a heart stronger than steel, but at the same time she looked?so fragile. I wanted to protect her. I wanted her to be able to smile like she has always smiled forever.

????I promised.?

***

????“That is so exciting. I can not imagine what discoveries await you.”

????I nod, looking at the trees ahead of us, the green leaves shimmering under the golden sunshine.

????We walked slowly, amidst the forest, feeling the aroma of life surrounding us. I had already lost track of how many times we have walked in this forest. Almost everyday, after work, she would invite me to take a walk with her, inside the depths of the trees. Sometimes we would talk about things, about our work, about our past, about her favorite book. Sometimes we just walked, treading on the narrow trails, listening to the chirp of birds.

????It has already been four years since I arrived at the SSL. Walking in the same forest, things have become so different, but at the same time remained the same. My research has been progressing steadily. Two years ago, my team discovered that when two muons are induced into a state of high acceleration and become intertwined, the local magnetic field characteristics change in strange ways. We did not understand what caused this behavior, but it was an exciting discovery. Now, I am looking into the entanglement of other subatomic particles and marking if they exhibit similar responses. I am almost certain that we are on the edge of discovering something great, just a slight push and we will finally see what is on the other side.

????I have also become close friends with Alice. After all the interactions with her inside the lab, after the countless walks in the forests and the conversations we had, my admiration for her only grew stronger. She has a kind of determination that I could not comprehend. A kind of faith in her beliefs and her work that dwarfs the largest mountains and deepest oceans. Even though her research yielded no results in the past four years, there were no signs of her wavering. She is like a soldier, stepping through snow and ice, through hell and fire. Undaunted and undeterred, pursuing the dim light in the far distance.

????She suddenly stops, bringing me back from my thoughts. She bends over and picks up something from the side of the trail. She turns around and reveals the object– a rose white as snow. She puts it to her nose, and takes a deep breath.

????She then looks at me and smiles.

????“I always loved white flowers.”

????She places the rose in her hair, above her right ear.?

????“What do you think?”

????She takes a few steps forwards and does a little twirl, her white lab coat floating in the cool breeze. She is like a fairy in the forest, becoming one with the trees around her. As the light shines through the leaves and coats her in a light glow, she seems to come from another world.

????After fully enjoying the moment, she comes back to my side, and we continue walking.

????“Do you remember the first time we walked amongst this forest, and I asked you what happens after you die? When you step out of time, when you leave the world behind you?”

????She continues without waiting for an answer.

????“I never told you my thoughts on that matter. For me, death is never the end. In fact, it’s more like the beginning. We all know what happens to the body after death, but what about the mind? Does it fade like a candle light that has burned all of its wax, or does it in some way transcend the boundary of life?”

????She turns her head towards me, her eyes mixed with emotions I could not comprehend.

????“For me, your mind never fades. It simply goes somewhere else. It detaches from your body, and moves on. It goes to the other world.”

????“The other world?”

????“Yes. The other world. For these past years I have been working on how to prove its existence. I used to focus on the biology, but going down this path brought me nowhere. After learning about the discoveries in your research, I realized that my direction was wrong. The core of life is not biology, it’s physics. We are all made of atoms, of tiny tiny particles. And the ways they interact with each other is what governs the fundamental rules of life.”

????She pauses.

????“My theory is that this other world is superimposed with our own, but there, life and death are the opposite. When you die in our world, you simply go there. And vice versa. You see, there isn’t actually death, life is just a continuous cycle with no end. This explains why you sometimes have unexplained feelings of familiarity in unknown places. Why people see images of strange places when they are near death. More importantly, this model matches your findings. Entangled particles are not changing our magnetic field, they are revealing the magnetic field of the other world.”

????She finishes the line with a clear excitement in her voice, like ending a musical composition on a high note. I am once again amazed by her imagination and creativity. My mind was pulled towards this captivating idea of an otherly world, I was wholly intrigued.

????“Perhaps we can combine our research topics. Work on it together,” I suggested.

????“Yes, we can. We definitely can.”

????Her voice was soft, so soft that I barely heard her. I was about to ask her if anything was wrong when she said, “Let’s go back. It is getting late.”

????I pushed the words down my throat, and nodded. We made our way back to the front entrance of SSL, and parted ways there. She said that she had some things to take care of, so I waved her goodbye at the door. It was a Friday, and I guessed that she wanted to finish up her work from this week before taking the weekend break.

***

????I was sitting in my chair, reading a book when my phone rang.

????I picked up the phone. The call was from her.

????“Are you free to come to the lab right now?” She asked, “I have something I want to show you.”

????I was surprised to hear that she was in the lab. I wondered if she had been there for the entire night.?

????“Sure. Give me a moment.”

????“Great, see you soon.”

????I placed down the book, and left my house. A few minutes later, I was outside of the SSL.

????It was morning, and the SSL was empty and quiet. The lights were off, and I did not hear the low hum of the machines, nor the usual chattering of scientists.

????I walked into the Biolab, but she was not there. Slightly confused, I took out my phone and called her.

????“I am in the Biolab but I can’t find you. Where are you?”

????“Oh I forgot to tell you. I am in the Particle Lab.”

????It was strange that she was inside my laboratory, but I did not think too much about it.

????I found my way into the Particle Lab, and she was standing next to one of the particle accelerators, her back turned towards me, looking at the monitors. The accelerator was powered on, and I could see a faint blue lighting glowing within the transparent casing.?

????“Alice!”

????She turns around, and waves at me. She is wearing the same white lab coat, and she has the same smile, but there is a clear sense of fatigue within her demeanor.?

????As I walked next to her, I was able to see what was inside the accelerator more clearly. There were particles inside, moving around in erratic ways, bouncing into each other, being visible for just a brief moment before vanishing again.

????“Entanglement.”

????“Yes, these particles have been induced into a state of quantum entanglement. A state of coexistence.”

????She picks up an envelope from the table beside her, and places it in my hands.?

????“Here is something for you. You can open it when you get home.”

????She then turns back towards the accelerator, her eyes fixed on the particles inside the machine.?

????“Have you ever wondered why quantum entanglement exists?”

????Her question took me by surprise. I considered it for a moment, and realized that I have actually never really thought about it. I just took its existence for granted. Despite its unexplainable properties, I simply took it as a fact of nature, as something that is just there.

????“No, I haven’t.”

????“The answer is actually quite simple. It’s simply a microscopic manifestation of something much larger, something much more principle.”

????I felt a jolt through my body. I realized what she was trying to say.

????She turns to me, her eyes filled with a glowing light.

????“You seem to have noticed as well. Yes, quantum entanglement is simply the microscopic version of the entanglement of two worlds.”

????I could hear my heart pounding inside my chest. It made perfect sense. Just like how something as grand as lighting is caused by tiny particles interacting with each other, what about the entanglement of even smaller particles? I remembered what my doctoral advisor once told me, that at the end of the microscopic is the macroscopic. It felt like all the pieces of a puzzle falling into place. It was like a moment of enlightenment, an epiphany.?

????She clearly saw the shock and astonishment on my face, for she smiled.

????“Watch closely.”

????She stepped towards the panel, and pressed one of the buttons. The accelerator starts buzzing, and the blasters on each end start to charge. A beam was blasted upon the particles, and the room was filled with a blinding light.?

????“Oh my gosh.”

????As the light faded, the insides of the accelerator became clear. The blasted particles stopped moving. Instead, they again reached a steady state, forming a large ring. Inside the ring, there was a most curious sight. A sight indescribable with words. It was like a rift in space, as if someone ripped apart the fabric of air. A portal emanating a dim pink glow.?

????Looking inside, there are glimpses of another world.

????“It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

????I slightly tilted my head, lost for words. She was right. This other world truly exists. I was able to witness the most important discovery made by man with my own eyes. A discovery that will reshape the field of physics, that will re-question the meaning of life and death.

????“Alice, this is incred–”

????But before I could finish my words, she suddenly opened the valve of the accelerator, and jumped inside.

????“Alice!”

????I reached out my hand out of reflex, but before I could do anything, she shut the valve behind her. She went up to the rift, stopping right before it, and turned back towards me.

????“Sorry Zachary, I have no other choice.”

????She smiles at me for one last time, her eyes bright with a stunning clarity.

????She then reaches out her hand, and touches the rift with her fingers. First it was her hand, then her arm, then it spread quickly across her whole body. Her skin slowly became transparent, as if she was fading away. She became enveloped with a faint light, and she glowed golden. Before my eyes, she was like dust, picked up by the wind, and blown into the distance.?

????She was gone.

***

????I stood in front of the accelerator, and stared into nothingness in silence.

????I could not understand. Why? Why did she do such a thing? When she has just made such an incredible discovery?

????The excitement and awe from witnessing the creation of the rift was replaced with a burning sensation inside my stomach. A pain that was beneath my skin, that made my body light, and my heady fuzzy.

????I clenched my fist and pounded it against the accelerator’s casing.

????She was gone.

????My hand slowly slid down the casing, and finally gave way to gravity as it swung back to my side. I slowly walked away from the accelerator, my head drooped down in resignation.

????Her flowing hair, her smile, her eyes. All of her, slowly fading into the air. The pictures kept on replaying in my mind as I walked back home.

????Once I got back, I closed the door, and sat down on the chair. I took out the envelope she left me. It was a brown envelope, with a leathery texture.?

????After staring into the brown mosaic for what seemed like forever, I finally made up my mind. I ran my finger across the top fold, feeling the cool parchment paper. I open it, and take out a white piece of paper, folded neatly. Alongside it is a small usb.

????I place the usb on the table top next to me. I then spread the paper open, slowly smoothing the folds on my lap. I take a deep breath, before fixating my eyes on the paper. The paper was filled with words, written neatly with a black pen.

Dear Zachary,

????I hope that this letter finds you well. If you are reading this, it is probably the case that I have caught myself in an unexplainable situation. I do sincerely apologize for my abrupt disappearance, but hope that you understand. I had no other choice.?

????Of course, you may still be confused as to why I did what I did, so please allow me to explain.

????Ever since your team made the discovery that entangled particles can change the local magnetic field, I have been thinking about what the cause may be. I stayed in the lab after work and tried to replicate your results. As you have probably noticed, I also asked you a lot of questions about your findings. Somehow, I just felt that this discovery was closely related to my own research.

????Two weeks ago, I was inside the particle lab tuning the accelerator when a possibility flashed across my mind. What if we go smaller? What if we entangle smaller particles? If we go to the end of the microscale? And then we blast them apart??

????I tried this at once. I reran the accelerator, using quarks as the particles. And once they were induced into that state, I blasted the particle cloud with a beam of two thousand watts per steradian. That is when the magic happened. The rift that you probably saw earlier, it appeared right in front of me, for the first time.

????It was a moment of complete awe. A moment where I felt a kind of satisfaction so profound that my heart fluttered. You see, at the time I already had some kind of theory in the back of mind, and the appearance of the rift seemed to confirm all of it.

????With the appearance of the rift, I started to measure its properties. I have recorded all of the results in the usb, and I believe you will find them useful. I also tried placing objects into the rift, and they all exhibited the same behavior– dissipating into nothingness. I tried paper, wood, flowers, even an old computer, and they all faded away in the same way. It was as if they were transported to the other side, that the rift was the tunnel connecting the two worlds. But alas, curiosity can never be satiated. As I experimented with more and more objects, and seeing that the results never changed, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if the rift touched something alive. What chemistry would it exhibit, if it was mixed with life??

????I started with insects. Then mice, then birds, any animal that I could lay my hands on. The same thing happened every time. The only explanation I had for this phenomena was that the objects, alive were not, were all transported to the other world. But this is all speculation, and I was not convinced. There was still the ultimate question. What would happen if the object was a human?

????This one question filled my entire mind, it grappled my heart with increasing pressure as the days went by. What would happen if it was a human? I knew I couldn’t ask my fellow workers, as they would definitely disable any immediate progress towards answering this question. Perhaps in a few years the mysterious veil covering the rift will be at last uncovered, but I can not wait that long. Curiosity can not be left unanswered.

????But I was reaching a dead end. The confliction! It was yesterday when I finally made up my mind. After parting ways with you, I drove to the hospital, and signed a waiver to stop medical treatment for my parents. The feeding tubes were removed, and with the help of the staff they were transported back to my home. The one outside the lab, of course. After the ambulance left, I immediately took them into my car, and drove to the laboratory. As usual, the building was dark and there was no one there. I found my way to the accelerator, and turned it on. In no time, the rift was there again, a mix of silver, pink, and gold. I stared at it for a long long time.?

????My mother went first. As her foot touched the rift, she started to fade, just like all the other things that had faded before my eyes. But somehow, this time it was different. I felt a strange sensation pulse through my body, and I felt a tear roll down my cheek. But I stood there, watching her as she slowly turned golden, and became one with the air.?

????My father was next, and it was the same. The rift was fair to all. I looked at the now empty stretchers, and then at the rift that quietly floated in space. I stood there, in the empty lab, thinking back on my entire life, and the life that lied before me. I stayed there the entire night, thinking. I thought about many things, I wrote down this letter, and I made my decision.

????Tomorrow, it will be me.

????Zachary, it has truly been an incredible four years together. You are not only an amazing researcher, scientist, but also a great friend. I know you don’t like to talk often, but I can feel your kindness whenever you are around me. In the lab, in the woods, I came to find some kind of belonging around you. Being with you, I was able to find some kind of peace that was missing from the past twenty so years of my life. Sometimes I can’t help but wonder, if I did not choose this path, if I did not do the things that I have done, what would things be like?

????Once again, thank you for everything you have done. And perhaps I can thank you again in the distant future.

Till we meet again, Alice

????I looked up from the letter and stared at the ceiling of the living room. I felt a whirl of emotions. I felt a kind of disbelief. But more than all, I felt a pang of sadness. A feeling of loss. A feeling that was bittersweet.?

????My mind was brought back to the place where she touched the rift. Where she slowly faded in front of me, her body becoming golden under the rays of the morning sun. Where her eyes pierced space and time, where her gaze pierced through my heart.

????She was gone.?

????She was gone, and things could never be the same.

????Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–?

????I took the one less traveled by,

????But she, taking neither, she pruned a path for her own,

????And that has made all the difference.

????自己近期寫的一篇短篇小說，希望大家喜歡。創(chuàng)作靈感來自于劉慈欣的小說《球狀閃電》，當(dāng)時看完真的是極為震撼，腦海中立即就有了想寫下一篇類似的小說的念頭。

????其實本來這個故事還有后續(xù)Alice和Zachary重逢的片段，但是因為篇幅的原因沒有得以展開。不過現(xiàn)在的結(jié)尾也算是頗為圓滿了。

????大家讀完后如果有什么想法或者建議的話都可以跟我說，歡迎交流~

P.S 強烈建議沒有讀過《球狀閃電》的朋友去讀一讀，真的超級好看。