A World Just Broken

YOU DID WHAT?!"

The tall man fell backwards in shock, using the filing cabinet behind him to prevent him from crashing to the floor. It was a beautiful sight for Jason. He stood grinning, his eyes filled with joy, relishing this rare moment of emotion from the usually stone faced, Doctor Carlson. Again, the doctor repeated the sentence, louder, yet stunned. Paler than before like what had happened was sinking in. The smaller man laughed. Almost maniacally, then replied in a sing-songy voice. "I reset them! All of them. Deleted the file! Gone, gone, gone!" With every "gone" he narrowed his eyes until he was squinting.

He couldn't believe it. This was not his Jason. The sweet, quiet man in the corner office, with the cardboard cutout of Superman (Signed by the voice actor, as he used to love to remind him.) This Jason was someone else. Someone else entirely. His posh accent, quiet demeanor, and blue striped sweatshirt, with the stain on the pocket were all there, just like they had always been. But something was off.

The Jason he went out for coffee with each monday. The jason who he had lain on the trampoline with on his 10th birthday, waiting for a meteor shower to arrive, This jason was gone. The Jason standing over him grinning, would not of fallen asleep. Not as the first meteor lit up the night sky.This was not the Jason he had fallen in love with so many years ago.That boy would never of killed the entire population of the earth. He was now on the floor, with Jason looming over him laughing. A sudden anger welled up in Carlson's throat. He leaped up, towering over the short man, who in reality was only a year younger than him, but extremely petite. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU! Don't you understand what you just did! You're insane! You just caused..caused.." He couldn't bring himself to say it. Saying what jason had just done, somehow, made it real.

"I'm not crazy, dear. Far from it. I just..woke up. We all should. We all will eventually. We all wake up and realize we were never that important. We're all selfishly pruning our ego's until we die. We're making ourselves feel better Everything. Everything we take for granted? We're not worth it. We all just have different ways of reacting to waking up. Some pray. They pray and pray. Spend years praying, to whoever will answer. Until they forget what they started praying for in the first place. Other's turn to drugs or alcohol. Pray to them. Then forget why. We all wake up yes,but most do nothing. Most fall back asleep. I, on the other hand, can make a difference."

He held up a sheet of paper with ten different chains of numbers and letters. Dr.Carlson recognised them immediately. The passwords. The passwords to the immune system files of every single human being on earth. No matter where they are, no matter age, gender, anything. When they were born they had chips implanted by their parents by order of humanitarian law. These chips controlled the immune system, along with other important bodily systems, in order to provide a world without sickness or disease. A perfect world he had been taught ever since he was a child. A utopia. He was the most important man in the world, with those codes. Capable of anything. He was told to guard them with his life. To never share them. These were the rules laid out for him when he took the job. The responsibility of this job took it's toll on the doctor. He often came home pale, and tired. Eventually he couldn't take it anymore. He had break those laws. The one person he had trusted in his life. The one person he had showed how to access them. Just in case. That person had been, of course, Jason Macilosio. Carlson had no reply. He had no air in his lungs, no will to talk. He slid back down to the floor. Suddenly he felt a catch in his throat. The vision in the corner of his eyes began to grow blurry. Something felt terribly wrong. He looked up at Jason. It was happening. The bacterium's were taking over. He soon, would be gone. Jason's expression suddenly changed. He was feeling it too. The pain. He slid down next to him, golden brown hair brushing against the doctor's cheek. Carlson pulled away. Looking down at the man in is arms, he no longer saw the corrupted person who had destroyed the world. No. He saw the sixth grader who had carried too many books and then dropped them all down the stars. He saw the childhood friend running through the sprinkler on the fourth of July. A single tear ran down Jason's cheek. "I could do something... but they didn't deserve this." They both slid to the floor in silence.