Just Below the Surface

A Short Story by Kharma Gentner

Walking home from school, I purposely step on each dried, brown leaf I see. Autumn is my favorite time of the year: the colors, smells, and tastes all tickle that special part of my brain that speaks “nostalgia.” My grandmother always goes all-out with decorations during the fall, and she makes the best apple and pumpkin pies. Smiling to myself, I continue pulverizing each leaf…crunch…crunch…crack!

That’s weird, I think. I take a step back to see what I broke. I use my foot to brush some of the leaves away and reveal a pair of ordinary, rectangle glasses with one lens cracked. Carefully, I pick up the black-framed glasses and put them on, using my pointer finger to secure the bridge on my nose. There’s nothing too weird at first; objects are a little magnified, but that’s normal for someone who doesn’t wear glasses. Then I see it. Static.

Very, very faint static patterns cover every object in sight. It’s most noticeable on the long, flat gray road, but I’m able to see it everywhere if I look closely enough. I whip the glasses off my face and observe them, trying to see if they have patterned lenses or something. They don’t. I pocket the glasses and finish my trek home, making a mental note to look at the glasses again under better lighting.

As I walk home, I think about school. More specifically, I think about my upcoming project for my visual communications class: design an advertisement for an ordinary object. My current best idea is to take some fruits from my kitchen and do a montage of people dancing (who will be acted out by my very loyal family members). I also thought about doing my mock commercial about socks or underwear, but neither of those options were appealing enough.

Wait! I thought to myself. The glasses! They look sleek enough to be the focus of an ad, even with one lens cracked. Plus, I can put them up to the camera to show off their “glitchy” effect!

Yes, this is an amazing idea! I jog the rest of the way home, excited to get a start on my commercial. It only takes a couple minutes until I reach the driveway to my two-story red house, and when I do, I see my dad’s car in our open garage. I can’t wait to see what he thinks of the cool glasses I found!

“Dad!” I call as I open the front door. After a few seconds without a response, I take my shoes off and head upstairs to my father’s office. I hear the sweet melody of Journey’s best hits intensify with each step I take. I creak open his office door.

“Dad?”

“Oh, hey sport!” Dad greets me, looking up from his computer. “What’s up?”

“I was walking home, and I found these cool glasses!”

“Cool how?”

“They make everything look staticy, take a look!” I practically force the glasses into his hands in anticipation. Dad takes them from me and analyzes them before putting them on. He looks at me, then his gaze switches to random objects around his office. With a confused expression, he removes the glasses with one hand.

“I’m sorry, kiddo,” he says, “but I don’t see anything.”

“No, you have to look closer! It’s easy to miss, but it’s there. Look at something blank, like the wall. Then you’ll see the static.”

Shrugging, Dad tries the glasses on again. He stares at the wall for a full minute before saying that he still doesn’t see anything.

“Are you pulling my leg?” he asks with a goofy Dad-smile. When I shake my head, he continues, “Maybe my mind is just boggled up from work. Show them to your mom when she gets home.”

“Okay!” I reply, and zip out of his office. I think it’s weird Dad couldn’t see anything, but he has been on his laptop all day. I’m just excited to get a start on my project, now that I have the perfect subject.

In my room, I set the glasses on my wooden desk and use my phone camera to record it, making sure to slowly zoom in for that “aesthetic” effect. Once I get some footage I’m happy with, I turn the glasses so they face away from the camera. Then, I inch the camera closer until it’s right against them. This should be good enough for the camera to catch that static pattern. I end the video, then watch it over. When it gets to the part where the camera is right up to the glasses lens…nothing. There’s no static! What on Earth? I pick up the glasses and wear them, and sure enough, there’s static.

“Daniel!” my mom calls from downstairs. Still wearing the glasses, I rush down to see her.

“Hey, Mom! Notice anything different?” I say in a jokey tone.

“Ooh, what’s with those?” Mom curiously asks.

“I found them while walking home today. They were buried under leaves, and I accidentally stepped on them.”

“Well, that explains the cracked lens. But you really shouldn’t wear those without properly cleaning them first.”

“Mo-om,” I roll my eyes, “That’s not the point! They make things look cool and glitchy!”

“Really? Can I see?” she asks, and I nod and hand them over.

“It’s easiest to see when you look at something bare, so look at the wall first. You should see some soft static dots.” I watch her closely, silently praying that she can see the pattern. When she takes the glasses off and shakes her head, I sigh with disappointment.

“Dad couldn’t see it either, and neither could my phone camera. Do you think it’s something with my eyes?”

“It could be…” Mom starts, “but probably not, if it only happens when you wear the glasses. I’ll set up an appointment with the eye doctor, just to be safe.”

“Okay,” I say dejectedly. It’s nice having cool glasses, but it’s no fun when the trick doesn’t work for anyone else. I head back up to my room and try to finish filming for my commercial. I got some cool shots of myself wearing the glasses with my arms crossed, which were achieved through help from Dad. After filming, I connect my phone to my school laptop and get to editing. It only takes an hour to get my desired result, and I’m ready to present it at school tomorrow!

*

All day during school, I could hardly contain my excitement. Not only did my video turn out cool, but I brought the glasses with me so the kids in my class could try them on. It feels like hours go by of watching my classmates’ videos, until finally Mr. Koscinski calls my name. He opens the video file I sent him and projects it onto the classroom TV.

“Sleek…stylish…intelligent. These are what people around you will think if they catch you wearing these babies!” my grainy voice announces over the speakers. Man, maybe this was cringier than I thought. Then my shots of me wearing the glasses come on, and it actually looks awesome! My 3D video effects add smooth transitions between video frames. It’s not professional, but hey, I’m proud of it! Two minutes later, the class applauds my video. Smiling, I look over to Mr. Koscinski. He’s normally a cheery guy, but he is staring at me with the most serious, intimidating look I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t break eye contact until one of my classmates says his name, and then he goes back to normal. What did I do wrong?

I feel on edge the rest of the class period. Was he upset that I did a bad job? Did he dislike the object I chose, since it was partly cracked? I’m not sure, and I have a hard time focusing on anyone else’s commercials. After the period ends, he calls me over to his desk.

“Daniel,” Mr. Koscinski says carefully, “I need to know where you got the…object in your video.”

“The glasses?” I ask, confused.

“THEY ARE NOT—” he shouts, then catches himself with a sigh. “Yes, Daniel, the glasses. Where did you find them?”

“They were in the middle of the road yesterday when I was walking home.”

“Just out in the open?”

“Well, no. They were under some leaves. I stepped on them, and that’s how they got cracked. I’m sorry for using a broken object for my commercial.”

“Daniel, there’s nothing wrong with your assignment. It was well executed.” I beam, happy that he liked my project! He adds on, “It’s the glasses. They aren’t what you think they are. Tell me, did you notice anything weird when you put them on?” 

“Yeah, everything I looked at had this static pattern over it.”

“Oh my God.” Mr. Koscinski says slowly. “It’s you.”

“What do you mean? What am I?”

“Daniel, only a select few people are able to see the static. It’s…it’s the fabric of this universe.” Upon seeing my confused, gaping face, he explains further. “None of this,” he gestures around, “is the real world. You are in a virtual simulation. The developers use these glasses to see the framework of the simulation, but one of them must have lost their pair.”

“No…this can’t be! And if it is, how do you know?”

“I know all of this because, Daniel, I am one of the developers. That’s how I recognized the glasses so quickly, because I have the same pair.” Mr. Koscinski reaches into his pocket and reveals black-rimmed rectangle glasses, identical to the pair in my hand, except not broken. “Most people are unable to see this simulation’s framework, but some people have been discovered to have an extra set of cone cells in the retina that allow them to use the glasses. You must possess these extra cells.”

“So it is something wrong with my eyes,” I mutter to myself, thinking of the conversation I had with my mom yesterday. “What does this mean for me?” I ask Mr. Koscinski.

“This means, Daniel,” he says while standing up, “that we would like to formally invite you to join our team of developers. We need someone with your acute sense of vision on our side. What do you say?” Mr. Koscinski smiles and extends his hand for me to shake.

“I…I don’t know! Would I still get to visit my family?”

“Daniel, everything would be the same for you. The only difference is that you would sometimes have assignments from us. Bugs to fix, inventory to take, stuff like that.”

“Wow! Okay, I’ll do it!” I jump out of my seat and shake his hand. Mr. Koscinski’s smile turns into a devilish smirk as he flips my hand over and pushes a hidden button on the back of my hand. Before I can react, everything goes dark.