The poison was continuing to have a detrimental effect on my system, and I no longer felt confident in my ability to hold it back. I wasn’t going to make it. As I sat under the downpour of water, in my heart I knew it was all over.

“Blarrghhh! BBBLLAAAARRGGHHHHH!”

Sick shot from my mouth in hot, acidic spurts onto the floor of my shower. I could feel the griminess of it coating the back of my teeth, and feel the burn as some of it shot up into the back of my sinuses.

Defeated, I laid my throbbing head into my hands whispering, “Why do I keep doing this to myself. Fucking hell.”

Last night was simply another example of what had turned into a growing trend over the years. Drowning myself in some kind of media, while masking my pain and frustration with what always ends up being a few too many whiskies or beers. Specifically, last night I blacked out on the couch watching some old sports comedies while “medicating” my leg after I had rage quit playing my MMO of choice, Arcane Dynasties.

It wasn’t the game’s fault that I lost my patience and spiraled into a bottle of booze and some guilty pleasure films. I knew how heavily the gameplay relied on the player using a fully haptic feedback system before I ever signed up and got invested. While you could play with a simple visor and pair of haptic gloves as I did, the developers and top players made it absolutely clear how important using a full suit and a 360 treadmill was to get the most out of the gameplay and combat systems. Player versus environment combat is hard enough without using the treadmill, but trying to avoid player vs player combat while not using one is impossible, and with my leg, using a treadmill in any game is easily out of the question.

Just thinking about running sent a dull spike of pain from my right hip down to my ankle. I looked down at my leg, seeing the last remnants of vomit run down into the drain at my feet as the shower continued to rain warm water over my body. I ran my hand over the now-familiar scarred and pockmarked skin that hung over the emaciated-looking appendage, taking time to deeply massage some of the more painful areas. Even today, years after the accident, it still pains me to think of how active I used to be and how one man’s mistake irrevocably altered my life.

Gradually, I pulled my mind away from what would be another inevitable spiral into depression. There wasn’t time for my usual “Woe is me” pity parade, not today.

As I got back to cleaning myself, I called out to my Personal Assistant Terminal, “Pat, can you run through the morning routine, please?”

“Yes, Erik. Today’s date is Tuesday, February 9th, 2044. The weather for today is expected to be a high of 28 and a low of 9, with westerly winds reaching speeds of 10 mph with expected flurries in the afternoon. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Watch for Wednesday starting at 9 PM and lasting until Friday at 6 AM. Total snowfall is expected to reach anywhere between 7-9 inches in the Columbus area with wind gusts reaching over 40 mph creating white-out conditions. Would you like to hear any current events from yesterday, Erik?”

“You know me Pat, short of a nuclear explosion or the Browns winning the Superbowl, I’m not all that interested.”

Before Pat could pick back up on his morning routine, I turned off the shower and began to towel myself off. “Pat, get a pot of coffee brewing for me, two cups if you please. And do a scan of my fridge and cupboards.”

“Yes Erik, please give me a moment to get everything sorted for you.”

Once Pat left the bathroom terminal, I swung my good leg out of the shower and hoisted myself up onto it. I gingerly lowered my right leg onto the floor and gradually placed what weight I could handle without my cane or leg brace, which wasn’t all that much. The familiar throbbing pain in my knee and thigh greeted me, while my hip let me know he was thinking about joining the party today.

“Ooof, guess Pat wasn’t lying about that snow coming in.”

I grabbed a hand towel and wiped the condensation off the mirror and gave myself a long look. Today I needed to look at least halfway presentable, that is if I want to avoid too many uncomfortable conversations. I looked into my blue eyes seeing how bloodshot they were from spraying my mistakes all over the floor of the shower. My dark blonde hair fell in loose curls down to my shoulders and it could definitely use a trim, but I can get by if I put it back in a bun for today. My beard was in immediate need of attention and it was sporting an ever growing selection of grey hairs. Considering that I had just gotten out of the shower, I didn’t really want to do much more than trim up the neck and cheekbones. Besides, a fuller beard helped to hide most of the scars that still stood out on the right side of my face, except for the one that bisected my eyebrow and the one that ran from my temple towards my ear.

As I lathered up my neck and began to shape up my beard, Pat returned to the bathroom’s touchscreen terminal.

“Erik, your coffee is currently brewing and I have finished scanning through your current food and toiletry supplies. I would recommend that you place a grocery order before the end of the day and stock up based on the expected weather coming tomorrow. Would you like me to place your normal food order and to place orders for any required toiletries?”

“Yes, Pat. Make sure you also add some additional whiskey to the order, I think I finished off that bottle last night.”

“Of course Erik, are there any other items that you would like me to add to help you further support your poor life decisions?”

“No Pat, I’m sure the bottle of whiskey is more than enough, please and thank you.”

Once I had finished my shave and spent a moment brushing the taste of vomit from my mouth, I slowly limped my way into the bedroom after grabbing a fresh cup of coffee. As I pulled on my jeans, Pat further resumed my morning walkthrough.

“Erik, there seems to be a discrepancy in your schedule for today. Your schedule has been set to begin your tutoring sessions today at 12, but you are also scheduled to meet Brian for lunch at 11:30 downtown. I do not believe you will have enough time for both.”

“I thought I told you to remove the tutoring from my schedule, I already scheduled off for today. Besides, I got word that the school was pausing tutoring until mid-march, tomorrow is going to be the last day for a while.”

“I am truly sorry to hear that Erik, I believe being able to work this year has been good for you.”

I let out a long sigh. It had been a nice change of pace. I wasn’t really qualified for most at-home employment and doing some online tutoring for the city schools had been rewarding, if not very lucrative. Even though I enjoyed the work, I still wasn’t struggling financially. I was still getting by comfortably off the insurance and… inheritance. That combined with the monthly UBI checks from the government was more than enough for me to rent my small one-bedroom apartment in a moderately nice part of the city, while also funding my mostly reclusive lifestyle.

“I do not believe that I have ever scheduled you for any kind of meal, except for when your sister came to visit. It is good for you to leave the apartment every once in a while.” Said Pat.

I let out a sigh before responding, “Pat, set a reminder for me to dig into your settings tomorrow morning. You are getting too personal.”

“I apologize Erik, I will set that reminder for you.”

“Thank you, please send Brian a text for me to let him know I’ll be there on time. That should come as a shock to him.”

“I will do that for you. Is there anything else I can help you with this morning?”

“Can you please call me a car to take me downtown and have it arrive to get me in 15 minutes?” I asked.

“Yes. I have sent a request for an automated taxi to arrive downstairs in 15 minutes. Please let me know if you need anything else prior to leaving. Have a good day Erik.”

I let out another long sigh and shook my head. The P.A.T. was a fairly common AI personal mobile phone assistant that integrated with my apartment's systems to monitor temperature, supplies, and media devices. While the system had a wide range of settings, from nearly robotic in nature, to almost indistinguishable from personal human assistant, I had left mine at near factory settings when I first began using the P.A.T over three years ago. While the P.A.T. system was great, my Pat had a habit of occasionally straying real close to the line of inappropriate when it came to commenting on my personal life. Typically a quick reminder that I can change its settings, essentially overwriting its personality, was enough to get it back on the straight and narrow for at least a few weeks. It was always an empty threat though. While I didn’t necessarily appreciate some of the uncalled-for meddling into some of my personal affairs and lifestyle choices, I was loath to lose what little human-ish interaction he offered me, something I wouldn’t risk losing by messing with his current personality settings.

Putting everything aside for the moment, I focused on getting ready before my car arrived. Reaching over next to my nightstand, I grabbed my brace. Pulling it up on my leg and over my jeans, I made sure it was in the proper position before activating the fitting process. Silent motors spun up, tightening the cushioned straps around my thigh and calf. I then lifted my leg up and down from the knee, allowing the brace to calibrate its support at my knee joint. While my brace didn’t give me a full range of movement in my leg, it did allow me to place up to half my body weight onto my leg, compared to my normal 20%-25% I could get without it. Additionally, if the charge in the brace ever got low, I could lock the brace at the knee, and get by with my cane until I charged it back up, though that was rarely a necessity. In any case, I still made it a habit to use my forearm cane when I walked, whether in or outside my apartment, since it helped relieve stress for my leg overall, which had a moderate impact on the pain I would experience throughout the day.

With my brace taken care of, I sat up and lightly limped over to my closet to finish getting dressed, deciding on a thermal undershirt and a heavy flannel workshirt due to the weather. I took a moment to finish my coffee and pour my second cup before tying my hair up into a low bun. I spent a few quiet moments in my recliner near the front door in the living room sipping at my coffee, until Pat informed me that my car had arrived. Standing up and pulling down the last few hot dregs of coffee, I pulled on my coat before opening the door to my apartment.

“Here we go.”