My daughter's been chatting with a guy online who wants her to describe the apocalypse.

Souls are like farts. They’re born suddenly when they finally come out, then they quietly fade away into nothing. I heard that joke from a radio commercial for a virtual reality game called *Easter Island*. I was driving home from work when it came on real quick at the end of a commercial break. “Easter Island is now live,” the narrator said. “There’s only one island left in the world of tomorrow,” the narrator said. “Make sure you’re part of it,” the narrator said. I listened while focusing on the road. I didn’t think about it at all until my daughter Lily got home. Lily is 15 years old and not exactly shy but not exactly outgoing either. She’s a very sweet girl though, probably the kindest person I’ve ever met. Her Mother passed away five years ago and she’s been seeing a therapist to deal with it ever since. The therapist convinced us last year that she needed more social interaction. So my wife and I signed her up for a dating site. We think it’s a little premature for her to actually start dating boys but she said it would be a good way for Lily to prepare by being able to talk to other people of her age. My wife and I talked it over, then we talked it over with Lily, and she seemed to be okay with it. The dating site was specifically for teenagers between 13 and 17. It said so right on the webpage. We set her up last week. A few days after that, Lily started spending more time in her bedroom. At first, we were worried she was spending way too much time online. She was probably going to get a bunch of boyfriends and breakups and make a huge mess of her life before she even turned 18. Or worse, she was going to find some freak who was going to abduct her. But none of that happened. Lily didn’t seem to have any interest in any of her boyfriends. Instead, she told us she had met a nice guy who was interested in talking to her. “When I get home from work tomorrow, I think we’ll have to talk to him,” my wife said. Lily said okay. We didn’t follow through on that, though. It wasn’t until the next night, when we heard Lily laughing at around 2am, that we realized how deep this whole thing had gone. We opened her door on her. It was dark, I don’t know why. She usually kept her nightlight on. “You gonna come downstairs and watch tv?” I said. “No.” I heard rustling. “I’m coming.” More rustling. “Can you turn on the light?” my wife said. “Yeah, sorry.” I heard the lamp turn on. It sounded like she was scraping herself out of a pile of garbage. “Yeah, okay.” Lily came down. She was acting weird, like she had just woken up. “You been chatting with that guy all night?” I said. “Yes.” “How old is he again?” my wife said. “Not sure. 20s or something.” “That’s not good that you’re chatting with an adult all night,” I said. “I know, I know.” “Yeah, okay.” “Can we go to bed now?” “Yeah, of course.” The next morning, I listened to my radio on the way to work. The radio was playing music, then a commercial break, then a commercial for *Easter Island*. Then some more commercials, then the dj. The dj was talking. He was excited. He was talking about *Easter Island*. “They have been working on this thing for years,” the dj said. “They’ve put billions of dollars into it. It’s not just a game, it’s a virtual world. They’ve made a whole ecosystem from scratch. They know how everything interacts with everything else. It’s a world just like our own, where the rules of physics have been programmed into the simulation. What this means is that the world is a whole lot bigger than a lot of other games that have their own little rules of physics for different parts of the game. With this, you can maybe even open a portal to a different dimension or something.” I’m paraphrasing here but that’s the basic idea. I listened while focusing on the road. I didn’t think about it at all until I got home from work. Lily was on her laptop. Her face looked like it was wrenched in agony. “Hey,” I said. “How come you guys won’t let me get an iPhone?” she said. “I hate these stupid laptops. They’re so bad for my neck.” “I’m sorry,” I said. “They’re prohibition of smartphones is going to be over in a few years. It’s not the best thing for kids but lots of people agree with us to keep them away.” “I don’t care about not having an iPhone. It’s just that these stupid laptops are so bad for my neck.” “I’m sorry.” “When’s dinner gonna be ready?” “I can’t tell you.” “I’m starving right now.” I thought of a joke I heard once. “I’m not a vegetarian because I love animals,” it went. “I’m a vegetarian because I hate plants.” I changed it up a little bit. I said, “I’m not starving because I hate food. I’m starving because I love plants.” Lily laughed. She looked so much better with that smile on her face. I wanted to make her laugh even more. I thought of another joke. “I’m not stupid because I hate learning,” it went. “I’m stupid because I love ignorance.” Lily laughed again. “What the heck,” she said. “I’m gonna go for a walk.” “Okay.” She went for a walk, she played with her dog, she played with her cat, then she went back to her room to do her homework. “Okay.” A few hours later, my wife and I went upstairs. Lily was in her room. She didn’t notice us. She was on her laptop. She was crying. She was laughing. She was smiling. She was frowning. Her face kept changing. Her face looked like it was wrenched in agony. “What’s going on?” my wife said. “I don’t know.” Lily didn’t hear us. We could hear her. “I’m gonna miss you,” she said. “I’m sorry.” “I’m not gonna miss you,” she said. We heard keyboard clacking. “I love you.” “I love you.” “I’m pregnant.” “I’m pregnant.” “I’m gonna miss you.” “Please don’t kill me.” “Yeah okay.” “How’s our baby?” “Our baby is gone,” Lily said. “Our baby has a hole in its heart.” I opened the door on her. It was dark, I don’t know why. She usually kept her nightlight on. “You gonna come downstairs and watch tv?” I said. “No, okay. I’m gonna go for a walk.” She went for a walk, she played with her dog, she played with her cat, then she went back to her room to do her homework. We didn’t follow her. We stayed in her room. I turned on the light. I heard rustling. “You okay?” my wife said. “Yeah, gonna be fine.” The nightlight flickered on. “I’m gonna miss you.” “I’m gonna miss you too.” We both started crying. We hugged each other. I kissed her cheek. “You okay?” I said. “Yeah, gonna be fine.” We heard rustling. “Yeah, that’s right.” “Yeah, okay.” We heard keyboard clacking. “I love you.” “I love you.” It sounded like she was scraping herself out of a pile of garbage. I walked over to her desk. I looked at her laptop. On her screen, there was a conversation. *how’s our baby* *our baby is gone *how’s our baby* *our baby has a hole in its heart *how’s our baby* *our baby is gone *how’s our baby* *our baby has a hole in its heart *how’s our baby* *our baby is gone *how’s our baby* *our baby has a hole in its heart “Look at this,” I said. “Yeah, don’t,” my wife said. I looked. What the hell was all this? “Is this that guy she’s been talking to?” “Yeah.” “But who is this? Why is Lily acting like she’s the guy’s baby’s mother?” “I don’t know.” “Look at this.” “Yeah, don’t,” my wife said. I looked. There was another conversation. *i’m pregnant* *how’s our baby* *i’m pregnant* *our baby has a hole in its heart *i’m pregnant* *our baby is gone *i’m pregnant* *our baby has a hole in its heart *i’m pregnant* *our baby is gone “Can you make sure Lily doesn’t spend any more time on her computer?” I said to my wife. “Yeah.” “Also, you think she wants a phone?” I said. “I don’t know,” my wife said. “I’m gonna talk to her therapist tomorrow.” I left. I went back downstairs. I sat on the couch. I thought about Lily. I thought about her therapy sessions. Then I thought about virtual reality. I thought of a joke I heard once. “Souls are like farts,” it went. “They’re born suddenly when they finally come out, then they quietly fade away into nothing.” I think of another thing I heard. “Easter Island is now live,” it went. “There’s only one island left in the world of tomorrow. Make sure you’re part of it.” *There’s only one island left in the

My daughter's been chatting with a guy online who wants her to describe the apocalypse.

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