Kristina Joshevska

Lost love Image source Splendid day. The sun is shining, the sky is clear, looking like the cleanest ocean that has ever existed, birds chirping and dancing in the light breeze. This is the kind of day that makes you contemplate life. Lea and Alex wake up in their New York apartment all happy and filled with positive energy. They have their first cup of coffee of the day together on their balcony. They are talking about their past and how blessed they are to live the life they have now. “I can’t believe how lucky we are Alex. Before we met our lives were a fucking mess, you remember?” -said Lea. “Oh my god, of course I remember” -said Alex thinking about the years when they were both struggling with drug addiction and depression. “We really helped each other to get out of that dark place in our lives. And look at us now. You are one of the most successful AI scientists and I finally got the job I’ve always dreamt of. I still can’t believe I got the part for the movie.” “I’m so happy for us Alex. I love you so much” -Lea sighed. “I love you too honey” -Alex replied as he leaned in for a kiss. Both happy and at peace finished their coffees and went on with the day. Lea went to work and Alex finished packing his bags for his flight to LA to film the movie. He is supposed to be there for a month but their relationship is so strong that they know they can go through that one month. Alex gets on the plane and arrives in LA in a couple of hours. He gets on the phone with Lea to tell her he had a good flight and he is alright. “Hey babe” -Alex lovingly greeted her. “Hey honey” -she replied. “I just called to tell you I’m okay, I just arrived in the LA apartment and we are gonna start shooting the first scene tonight.” “Okay babe, we will talk more later when I come home from work. Stay safe. Love you” -said Lea and they hung up the phone. A couple of days pass by. They both do their regular stuff. She is doing some research for the new artificial brain exhibiting human-like intelligence that she and her company are planning on developing and Alex is on set every day. One day Alex goes out with some colleagues, they are having a whale of a time, drinking, talking, laughing. The night went on in high spirits. It is time to go home. Alex calls Lea as he walks home so she would make him company. He is so immersed in the phone call that he doesn’t notice he is crossing a street. A car driving 80 mph brutally hits him. His body slams on the ground and the phone crashes into pieces. Lea couldn’t breathe. Her heart dropped. Tears started to well up in her eyes. An ambulance was called, they brought him to the hospital and Lea took the first flight to LA. She didn’t arrive on time. Alex couldn't be saved. He didn't survive the accident, his brain stopped working. Lea’s life took a dark turn once again. She couldn’t get her life back on track for a long time. So depressed, she didn’t even see her family in months. She was by herself just thinking about her lost love. Desperate, she started contemplating on one rather crazy idea. Being an AI scientist working on this new artificial brain with cognitive abilities similar to those of the human brain, she decided to revive the love of her life. She collected all sources of interaction she ever had with Alex; phone calls, videos, messages, pictures, letters and what not. Every little thing she had, helped her build her artificial Alex. Lea then scanned the features of Alex's biological brain, copied and transferred them on a memory chip together with all the data she had previously collected from every personal contact with him. The only thing left was to find a surgeon who can prepare Alex’s body and insert the chip in his dead brain. After days of extensive research, Lea found the one. He was one of the best in the city and he had done surgeries of that kind many times before. The day of the surgery finally came. Lea trusted herself and the surgeon and couldn't wait to, in some way, revive Alex. The 15-hour surgery was successful. It was time for Lea to start a new chapter in her life. She was so, so excited. Alex with his new artificial neural net brain was finally awake and they exchanged their first words. “My Alex” -overwhelmed she started crying. “Don’t cry honey,” -said cyborg Alex while wiping her tears, “I’m here with you.” She placed her hands on his cheeks, looked into his beautiful green eyes and kissed him on the lips. He was responding with words and actions similarly but not exactly like Alex would’ve responded. The first night was full of emotions, tears and laughs. Lea had her first sexual experience with her cyborg Alex. That whole night wasn’t the same as the nights she had spent with real Alex but she finally felt better after a very long time. Months have passed by and she started getting used to her cyborg. She was feeling okay for some time and she was finally ready to introduce him to her family. Not everyone accepted this relationship. Even though artificial human beings were a common thing in this era of advanced technology, it was weird seeing a real human being and a cyborg in a relationship. People had so many questions. Too many actually but she was acting as she didn't care. She was doing the things that she felt were right in those moments. She surrounded herself with people who supported her and that's what kept her going. She was fooling everyone that she is finally in a good place but in reality she was always having mixed emotions. One day she would feel really happy, the other - miserable. Once again, she wasn’t at peace. There were a lot of ups and downs throughout this whole process but she came to a point where she realised that this relationship is not healthy at all. She started thinking clearly. No one could replace her real Alex, her real love; not even the cyborg who resembles him. The last few weeks there was a glitch in the cyborg that she couldn’t fix. That way she was constantly reminded that he is just an artificial human being, not a real one. Lea was losing her mind. Days went by and she couldn’t cope with her current life. She started missing her real Alex even more. She couldn’t fill the gap in her soul with this fake one. There was always something missing. After many sleepless nights she decided to lose Alex for the second and last time. “I’m sorry Alex” -Lea apologized to her cyborg, “I can’t go on like this. You can never be Alex, you can never make me happy the way he did. I have to let go of you.” “It’s okay Lea. You can put me back to sleep” -the cyborg calmly responded, “I love you.” She called the same surgeon as before and asked him to remove the memory chip from Alex's brain the next day. Lea spent the last night with her artificial love just crying and crying. Almost the same as she did with real Alex. Almost! That was always the problem with her cyborg. He was almost like Alex, but not Alex. She didn't sleep that night. Early in the morning they went to the surgeon's clinic. She kissed cyborg Alex for the last time because she didn’t get the chance to kiss her real Alex the night he passed away. It was done. In a couple of hours cyborg Alex wasn’t a part of her life anymore, just like real Alex. At last she could start off with a clean slate and a clear mind. She learnt a lot from this long journey and finally accepted her reality - the one that she couldn't accept since she lost her love.