This story is fiction set in the future. No characters are made from actual people living or dead. Any similarities are pure coincidence. The setting bases itself in reality‚ with some of the places and things mentioned being real. However‚ it is only to set scenes‚ and for no other purpose. This material is for a mature audience. If this type of story bothers or offends you‚ or you are not of legal age to be reading this‚ then please exit from this story and go to something that you can enjoy more. Any comments‚ especially constructive ones‚ are most definitely appreciated. This story is my first attempt at writing anything‚ especially anything sexual. I hope you enjoy‚ and if you have any ideas or critiques‚ please send them to the address provided: [email protected] I will respond as soon as possible. Again‚ I hope you enjoy. If you like this story and wish to donate to help support the site (Nifty.org <3) © 2017 Michelle Watkins
We got so caught up in our ideas; we barely realised when we got to the front door of my house. We almost walked right into it; we were so unaware of it. We are klutzes and we both had a good laugh about it.
I open the door, and we walk inside. Our parents greet us and say that supper is ready. We run upstairs to wash up for dinner, and we walk downstairs quickly as well. We walk into the dining room and smell the many great aromas of our supper, our great feast, our Swiss Chalet dinner! None of our parents can cook a feast, so we are having a pre-made feast. Their chicken is still amazing though.
We sit down, pop the lids off the take-out lids of our feast. and start eating. It is amazing food; you should have it as often as you can. Anyways, we get a few bites in, and our parents start asking us about our walk went. We said it went well, but then I asked the all-important questions that needed to come up eventually:
“So, how long have you wanted to start a company, and how long have you known you’d be hiring Lana’s parents?”
“So, how long have you wanted to start a company, and how long have you known you’d be hiring Lana’s parents?”
My mum looks at me, with a slightly surprised look on my face.
“Not that long, why do you ask?”
I look at Lana and smile, I do not know what is about to happen and how much things will change.
“Well, that was just a side effect…of what happened.” Lana’s mum looks down as she says that.
“Why? What happened?” I look at Lana worried, and she looks down embarrassed.
“She got expelled from school for violence, drug use and low grades.”
I look at Lana in utter shock, She was always very thoughtful, studious, never even touched drugs, and not a violent person…what happened?
“M…may I be excused?” Lana gets up and proceeds to leave the room, and then we hear the front door open and close.
I look around at everyone and I am surprised that no one even made a sound. However, when I look closer, everyone is very distraught, and near tears.
“What just happened? What happened back in Winnipeg?” I am utterly confused at what happened and concerned for my friend.
My mum looks at me with tears now flowing down her face,, she takes a big sigh and then starts to tell me, “Let’s just say…Lana didn’t exactly take our move well. She made some bad decisions and is now getting a chance to fix them.â€
“What bad decisions? What’s going on?” I look around hoping for some answers from someone…ANYONE!
“She was caught on camera beating up a student that was mocking her for being trans, and later that same night was found to be unconscious with a needle of various mixed drugs in her hand.” Lana’s mom put a hand on my shoulder and took a moment to gather her thoughts, “She had shot herself up multiple times, and had to be given Naloxone, an opioid antidote, to stop the drugs from killing her.”
“O…o…overdose?” My eyes widen as I start to shake from the horrible thought of what had happened to Lana just a short while ago.
“Yes. So, while she was in the hospital, we talked with the only people who may be willing to take her in.” Lana's mom then turned her head slightly to my parents.
“Take her…in?” I look at my parents in confusion and worry; was she being disowned for her drug abuse? If so, is she living here and why are her parents here then?
My mum looks at my dad for a moment, then turned back to me, “Sweetie, Lana’s parents are only staying for tonight, Lana is moving in with us permanently. They are not admitting defeat in raising her, but this is her last chance at something of a normal life. We were the only ones who were willing to take her in, it was either us or jail.”
Wait, what? How was Lana that close and not in permanent rehab? Not that I want her to be there, but it is where she belongs if she is that bad an addict.
Lana’s mom takes another deep breath and looks at me with even more tears flowing, “We had our case done just recently, which was a headache in itself, due to our case JUST,” and she put a huge emphasis on the word just, “being able to go ahead with our plea for rehabilitation instead of just punishment. For this to work Lana had to plead guilty, with no conditions or exceptions to the crime described. She was, under the guidance of our lawyer, able to make a plea deal for a ten thousand dollar fine and to involuntarily participate in the new drug court program.”
I had read about those new drug courts. Well, they aren’t that “new”, we have had one in Toronto for over two decades. They are small courts that are more like support groups for drug addicts. You are in a school-like judicial system. You have an introductory phase, an intensive care phase, a stabilisation phase, and a graduation. Ours has their funding provided by CAMH, which is one of the biggest mental health care providers for the entire country. As such, it also has the strictest regimen for graduation out of all the programs. You have to be in the program for at least 12 months, although for most people it takes 18-24 in Toronto. You have to be completely clean for two months or more, have no criminal offences in 3, and have to have both consistent housing and employment. You also are encouraged to go out and find some way to give back to the community that helped you recover, although it is not a requirement for graduation.
It has been in the news a lot, most recently with a news article from a website called Healthy Debate. The article was brought up in a class discussion about punishment versus rehabilitation. Our class had a debate on whether the recidivism, otherwise known as a relapse into criminal behaviour, was greater to criminals served just punishment or punishment and rehabilitation right after the penalty. It always seemed like we were discussing a whole separate world that none of us would ever have much contact with, if any at all. Well, that changed quite dramatically today. Although all of that begged the question, why wasn’t Lana still in Winnipeg, going to that drug court? She had lived IN Winnipeg, not Toronto. It was clearly easier to commence and participate in the program in Winnipeg, so why did they move at all?
“If you are wondering why and how we were able to move it from Winnipeg to Toronto, there were several complications with having Lana staying in Winnipeg. As you know, Winnipeg sadly is one of the most crime-filled cities in Canada.” Lana's mom said this in a way you can only say it with living in that sort of danger every day, and I nod in agreement as well. I remember reading a study that as of recently, there were thousands of crimes happening there every year. They were going down in number every year, but that did not mean that it was not still very dangerous.
“Lana could not stay in such a city when she needs support, not only from family, but from the community as a whole. We pleaded our case, and the judge agreed that moving away would be a very beneficial thing for her.”
Ok, so Lana was not in Winnipeg because keeping her safe and away from temptation was paramount to ensuring her risk of re-committing was low. She also needed a place that gave her a fair chance to re-integrate as a functioning member of society. That brings up the most important question though, why here in Toronto with us?
“We moved here because the judge believed it would be better for Lana in the long run.” That makes sense, Lana’s parents were always working to pay their bills, they were both hourly workers, and only got paid minimum wage and benefits. However, they did love their kid and wanted the best for them, so this was the best option for them. It’s painful to do for all sides, but necessary to do.
That leaves some very important questions though, why here in Toronto of all places? Also, why with us of all people? It’s not like we are the only other drug court in Canada, so why here?
Lana’s mum reaches into her pocket and pulls out a brochure. I gasp and reach out realizing this may be the reason they moved here.
It was.
It was a brochure for the new company RiftLinked and their new VR1 product Riftnux. It is a helmet with a connected chest pad to replicate and add in sensations throughout the body on a microscopic level not possible with just a helmet or chest pad alone.
They had released many demos to impressive results in conferences held around the world almost monthly. Their demos utilised the OpenXR standard made for all VR platforms ranging as far back as 2015. However to everyone’s surprise a couple of weeks ago, they announced that from now on their new games would not utilise OpenVR, and require their own VR software to run it. In the following interviews they said it was to ensure complete immersion and maximum performance. They also claimed that other systems do not stop your nerves from moving your muscles enough and could cause damage with the demanding gameplay promised in their games.
The operating system running within is a custom built system called Vizu. It is Linux-based like OpenVR, but it has a lot of proprietary code in it which supposedly allows it to emulate VR better than completely open-source projects. That caused many people to decry them as using open-source software and giving nothing back in return. They were able to silence critics by showing how the code that is proprietary is for the sensors in the helmet and chest pad, and no other system would have the hardware to use it. Therefore, there was no point in releasing incompatible code to the masses which would be unusable in other systems.
To that end, they released all the code that was compatible with other VR platforms. It was not a lot and nearly every section had a lot of code missing due to the sensors being so integrated into the software. However, they did fulfill their promise and other systems took what they could get.
This VR system is an absolute masterpiece, but what does it have to do with Lana and the move? It seems to be completely unrelated and I wanted some answers.
“I know what this is, but what does this have to do with Lana and her move?”
“When Lana was with her temporary psychologist, this was brought up as a tool to help with her recovery. It apparently can replicate sensations that can help Lana get off drugs and be healthy, all while being able to enjoy playing video games.”
“So you thought that the most tech-savvy family you knew was the best option to help her?”
“Yes,, we talked it out with both your parents and the judge. We all agreed it was the best situation for her and her recovery.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me? Why leave me in the dark?”
“Well, Lana had told us how it ended between you and her, so we had no real idea on how to tell you about everything that had happened. So we waited until we arrived today to tell you. Not a great way to do this, but we had no other idea on what to do.”
I couldn’t exactly argue with this line of reasoning; I wouldn’t have had any idea on how to deal with it as well. It was the best decision for all people involved, but it doesn’t mean I can’t get pissed though. I will deal with them later.
“What happens now?”
“What happens now is that we spend tomorrow getting Lana adjusted to living here and going to court as well. Then we leave and Lana lives with you for the foreseeable future.”
That made sense that for the first appointment in court, Lana’s parents would want to be there. After that she will live with us to ensure she can make her appointments with both the court and her new therapist, and get the help to best utilise the Riftnux.
However, how was Lana going to get the Riftnux? Her parents would not be able to make such an expensive purchase, so where would they get the money to buy it?
“We talked with the judge, and we managed to get a court-approved low-interest loan to be able to buy it. We’ll be the ones to pay it, so you and Lana will not have to worry about it.”
“Wow, that is very nice of you to do. Not having that worry will help Lana so much down the road.”
“I am glad that you agree as well, but that’s enough talk about this for now.” Lana’s mum stood up from the chair and then turned towards me smiling and pointed towards the door. “You need to go find Lana and talk to her. Let her know things are going to be ok between you two.”
I nodded in agreement, “You are right. Excuse me.” I got up from the table and hugged my mum, dad, and Lana’s mum. I walk down the hallway and take a couple of steps outside, and I see Lana a couple of blocks away just sitting on a bench with her head in her arms. I start to walk over to her and I shout to get her attention. She looks up and I notice that her face is stained with tears, she has probably been crying ever since she left. I walk over and she hugs me tightly and starts sobbing into my shoulder. I don’t know how much time passed as I just held her, but I didn’t care. I let her get out over a year’s worth of hurt and all I could think was one thing:
“No matter how long it takes, I will take away your pain. I promise.”