[ WP ] In the future virtual reality has surged . One of the more controversial uses is in prisons . Whatever crime you commit you have to relive through your victims points of view . It 's your first day in prison and you 're terrified because of what you did

She awoke from a dreamless sleep to the sound of angry static of her alarm clock. Her favorite station had been forced to shut down, but she kept the dial tuned to the frequency anyway, just in case. She flung her arm in a haphazard arc over her head, narrowly missing her target, and managed to catch the corner of her bedside table directly between two of the bones in her hand. 
 
 Today was going to be great. 
 
 She cursed profusely, first because of the pain in her hand, second, because once she finally got a look at the clock, she saw that she'd already successfully hit the snooze button three times: her bus would be leaving in five minutes, and she had at least a two minute run to get to the stop. She quickly pulled off her pajamas and shimmied into some distressingly tight jeans. She glanced around the room, trying to determine which piles of clothes would at least seem the least wrinkled. 
 
 `` Please.'' 
 
 She paused for a moment. 
 
 She decided the top from yesterday would have to do, plus it had the added bonus of still containing the tangled mess of straps that could probably be rearranged into a bra. 
 
 She flipped her backpack over her shoulder as she darted out the door, her mom shouting `` You better hurry, dear!'' As she slammed it behind her. 
 
 `` Stop.'' 
 
 She stops. 
 
 Then takes a deep breath, bounces on her toes, and takes off down the dewy sidewalk. Her heart is racing, she can hear the blood pumping in her ears. The only two thoughts in her head are `` I can make it.'' And `` I might actually have to use the school showers during gym.'' She sees the bus, pulled up along the far side of the street. She approaches the street and glances both ways: there's a car coming but it's pretty far, she can probably make it across before it gets here. 
 
 She should have known. 
 
 The moment her foot hits the slick pavement, she knows. Her stomach falls as she looks into the headlights of the oncoming car. She winces as the pain from her ankle shoot through her leg, and she waits for the impact. 
 
 It never comes. 
 
 He opens his eyes. 
 The VR headset is pulled back from his face, tears that had pooled in the goggles splash him hotly as it was removed. He hears the officers and technicians talking around him, but he ca n't tell what they're saying. They undo the restraints, freeing him from the diving suit-like apparatus. He looks at his hands. The seem unfamiliar. He looks up and sees a grown man and woman behind a plate glass window. The man has wet lines down his face, but a stern expression. He ca n't see the woman, buried as she was in the man's shoulder. They looked familiar. As he thought that, another wave of tears flooded his vision. He wiped them away and looked at the officer in front of him. 
 `` Do you understand?'' the officer asked. 
 `` Do I understand...?'' He repeated, as if he did n't even understand the words. 
 `` Do you even remember?'' the officer asked again, clearly angry. 
 He did. He had been driving that car. He had been reading something on his phone when that kid had jumped into the street. He did n't even see her. The tears came again, stinging hot. 
 She'd died on impact. 
 He looked over to the couple, the parents of that poor girl. The mom, especially. He remembered her voice so clearly from the dream. But it was n't a dream. The man wrapped his hands around his face and wept. 
 `` I'm sorry.'' Was all he could manage. `` I'm sorry.'' Over and over as he was dragged from the room. 
 
 The police cleaned him up and let him go. 
 
 Outside the prison was a highway. 
 
 The man smiled sadly to himself. 
 
 `` I'm sorry.'' He whispered as he jumped into the path of an oncoming semi.
