16/09/2025
The Long Life of John
John once believed in progress. When the miracle pill was released, he was first in line — a drug that promised more years, more vitality, more time to become something greater. He swallowed it without hesitation, a future burning bright ahead of him.
At first, it worked. His body healed faster, his mind linked effortlessly with the Synchronised Mind, that endless hive of shared thoughts where no idea belonged to one person alone. Machines rose to take care of everything — cooking, working, building, dreaming. Humanity was free, they said. Free to live. Free to create.
But John discovered freedom can be a hollow gift. With no struggle, no purpose, his ambition withered. His creativity slipped into silence. His hands, once restless with ideas, now clutched only a glowing screen. Days blurred into endless nights of scrolling — other people’s words, other people’s lives, other people’s thoughts, streamed directly into his skull until he could no longer tell where he ended and the machine began.
Then came the mutation. His cells, stretched far beyond their natural rhythm, twisted under the drug’s hidden curse. His body decayed, but death refused to claim him. Wrinkled skin, brittle bones, ragged flesh — and still, he lingered.
Now John sits on the park bench each day, the same park where he once walked with friends and laughed about how bright the future looked. He doesn’t notice the seasons changing. He doesn’t notice the faces that pass him by. His thumb moves in one slow, eternal motion, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling.
The world has left him behind. Yet he remains.
A man promised life everlasting, with everything life life could offer at his fingertips.