Second Generation - Lyra

  Lyra's apartment 2074

  Lyra stares at her medication.

  She is not sure how long she has been staring at it. Does she even remember what’s in it anymore?

  She rattles the pills around in the cup.

  Her health monitor has prescribed her several drugs with important sounding names for the past several years. She has triggered on a number of indicators. Trouble sleeping, loss of appetite, headaches.

  Lyra is 46 years old. Lux began school 6 months ago. Lyra has a successful career, a supportive partner, a healthy child, and a beautiful home. She has been successful in nearly every measurable way. Financially, she has a job and a high paying job at that at a time when joblessness has changed the world around her, but she has kept herself and her family financially comfortable. Her investments are in automatically managed funds making 9.5% and additionally, she knows one day she will see a significant inheritance from her mother. With no real change to her lifestyle, her and her family will be comfortable for the rest of their lives. That should be a comforting feeling...Strange that it creates an emptiness…It sound crazy when she tries to articulate it, but She longs for the days when her future was uncertain. When her effort – her success – was necessary to build the future of her dreams. Things were simpler with simpler goals. There was a NEED. Doing her job was had a purpose. If she failed her family would struggle and if she succeeded, doors would open to her. She could get up every day and know that she was building towards her family’s successful future. Now that that future was secure…what now…

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  What do you do when you no longer need to be productive to live comfortably?

  Lyra throw the pills to the back of her throat, crushes the cup, and stares into the mirror.

  “Pull. Yourself. Together.” She says to herself.

  Lyra tries to think about what she wants to accomplish today. The problem with setting goals is achieving them. . What comes next? What is she working towards now?

  Its time to start the day. She moves to sand up, but sinks deeper into her chair. She always thought depression was for sad people, not successful people.

  What will today bring?

  Probably the same as yesterday. Same as tomorrow.