Bo woke with a start, he was cold, colder then he had ever felt in his life, everything seemed so dark, even though his eyes were wide open. He tired to speak but his voice caught in his throat. He could hear voices on the edges of his hearing, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. A moment later he felt something being lifted from his head, and he could see. He blinked as he looked at the strange man that stood before him, glancing at the odd electronic device that surrounded him.
    “Are you okay?” the stranger asked.
    “Where am I?” Bo asked cautiously.
A second voice spoke up, this was one he knew quiet well, it was the voice of his cousin Daisy. “I keep telling you that thing ain’t safe Bo.”
Bo looked at her to ask what was she meant by ‘that thing’ when something else struck him she was a lot older then the last he had seen her, by about thirty years. Bo felt himself being helped out of the capsule, catching a glimpse of his reflection on the shiny metal, he was also thirty years older, his heart began to pound in fear. He glanced around the room. “Where am I? Where’s Luke?”
    “Just relax for a bit it’ll all come back to you.” Daisy said.
    “This is all just a dream, ain’t it?” Bo asked.
    “No, Bo the other is actually the dream.” The stranger replied.
    “Who are you?” Bo asked the man who looked to be in his mid twenties.
    “Bo, you know who that is. He is my son, Joshua.” Daisy replied.
Bo shook his head. “No, that ain’t possible.”
    “He’s having more trouble then ever before in coming out of it.” Joshua said, as he checked Bo’s vitals. “And he isn’t really responding back to reality.”
     “Oh, Bo, I keep telling you it ain’t safe to go in there, you have to life your life in the now not try to recapture the past. Let the memories go… memories were designed to fade for a reason.” Daisy said, her voice filled with a deep concern.
    “I don’t know what you are talking about … this is all like something out of a bad sci-fi movie … it has to be a dream. It can’t be real … if it is real where’s Luke?” Bo said, looking around for his older cousin, his best friend, his brother.
    “Bo, c’mon, have a seat.” Daisy said leading him over to the couch to sit down. “Have you started to remember anything?”
    “There’s nothing to remember, this is a dream.” Bo stated firmly.
    “He shouldn’t still be convinced of that this long after. The first few seconds there is always the temporal displacement ... but before he’s always came right back to reality.” Joshua said, the young scientist looked concerned.
    “That is because he has been spending far too much time in there. He refuses to live in reality.” Daisy said. “You have to stay out of there, Bo.”
    “Would someone just tell me what is going on.” Bo said.
    “You spend all your time in that … VR world refusing to let go of the past, and accept that Luke is gone.”
    “Gone?”
    “Luke died thirty years ago.” Daisy said gently, not really wanting to upset Bo.
    “No … Luke ain’t dead … I was just talking to him … this is a dream this ain’t real it can’t be real.” Bo said, he was truly frightened and desperately wanted to wake up.
    “Maybe you should take him home … he needs to get his mind back to reality.” Joshua said.
    “What he needs is to stay out of that thing. I thought being able to use VR to see Luke that Bo wold get over the pain of his death, but it only seems to be doing more harm then good. And now his mind maybe lost … he could’ve overdosed … it happens a lot to people who spend too much time in there.”
    “I know.” Joshua answered.
Bo looked around wanted to escape this nightmare. He looked at the machine if they claim that was what made the “dream” of what was reality, then perhaps the only way to shake from the dream was to go back in.  Bo stepped over to the terminal allowing blind instincts to tell him what buttons to press.
    “Bo, stop, you can’t go back in there.” Daisy said.
    “It’s the only way to get out of this dream.”
    “This ain’t a dream it is reality.” Daisy said.
Bo shook his head and stepped back into the capsule. “This can’t be real, it’s all too strange. I want to wake up … I want out of this dream.”
Bo slid the device over the top of his head, and down over his eyes. His body jerked slightly as it took effect.

    Bo awoke with a scream, a cold sweat covering his body, he sat straight up, trembling, as he stared into the darkness of the room. An instant later a light was  turned on, and Bo felt a friendly comforting hand on his shoulder, he turned to look at his older cousin.
    “Are you okay, Bo?” Luke said in genuine concern.
    “It was an awful dream … just horrible.” Bo said, as Jesse and daisy appeared at the door.
    “Everything okay in here?” Jesse asked.
The two Duke cousins looked at their family.
    “Bo, just had a bad dream.” Luke said.
    “Other then that is everything okay?” Daisy asked.
    “Yeah, it’s fine.” Luke replied.
Jesse and Daisy turned and left, they knew that Bo would only talk to Luke after having a nightmare, that was simply the way it had always been.
    “You want to talk about it?” Luke asked.
Bo nodded. “It was really strange. I was in this future type place … it was thirty years into the future.”
    “That ain’t too strange, for a dream, well at least one of your dreams.” Luke said jokingly trying to ease Bo’s tension.
Bo smiled slightly. “Gee, thanks Luke. But it was strange … I was in this thing … they called it VR.”
    “Who called it VR?”
    “Daisy and her son Joshua … Daisy had a son … he was about the age we are now ... he was scientist or something though I think.”
    “That is strange.”
    “I didn’t like being there, Luke it was scary. They told me “this” is a dream that you were dead and I was using the VR thingy to escape reality … live in the past … I was so scared.” Bo said.
    “It’s okay, Bo.” Luke said, giving Bo a comforting brotherly hug. “It was just a dream. You are safe now. You are home. You’ll never have to go back to the place in that dream ever again.”
    “Thank you, Luke.”

    “I’m sorry, he’s gone.” Joshua said.
    “Can’t you bring him back?” Daisy asked.
    “He had it sent to maximum power, he overdosed his mind, especially since he had just came out.” Joshua said.
    “So … he’s dead?” Daisy asked tearfully.
    “No, he is technically still alive, just zoned out. He is in a way living in the virtual world.”
Daisy wiped the tears from her eyes. “At least there he will be at peace. He never could find peace after the accident, he never stopped blaming himself.” Daisy said and brushed a kiss against her cousinss cheek. “Be happy, Bo.”