Looking back on my past decisions, there's one in particular I have always regretted. Yet in a way it's helped mold me, for better or for worse, so I suppose regret isn't the right word. When scientists first discovered how to mLink, I was thrilled by the idea. I wanted to share what I had experienced with everyone I knew! However, as time went on it was clear the Government was not going to let just anyone mind link with everyone. I had developed my own conspiracies about this, but more on that later.

The only people that were really allowed to mLink were certified instructors, which were usually therapists. These people usually helped the mentally disturbed cope with what their traumatic experiences. Unlike what I wanted to use it for, which was mainly to link with the older generation and experience things I no longer could. (Namely, a Led Zeppelin concert). I had often heard about mLinks being on the black market, but like most things in the day the media blew it out of proportion and were extremely rare to come by. Even if you could find one, finding another person crazy enough to do it with you was rare. So in my mind it was a practical impossibility.

That is, before I met her. Kara was a girl I met back in college. I was a couple years older and she was brand new to the school. Also brand new to "dating" (if you can call what we were doing that). We'd hook up drunk most weekends and hardly talked sober. As a junior in college in couldn't have been a better. Then one day that all changed.

She came to my room one day with a machine I had never seen before. I made nothing of it. She sat it down in front of me and explained what it was.

"It's an mLink" she said, very casually

My jaw dropped. "You can't be serious!"

"You want to try it?"

"Of course!" I never even gave it a second thought.

Maybe if I hadn't been a little drunk at the time I wouldn't have made such a rash decision. But for years I had been wanting to! I didn't care about all the warnings the Government gave about it, it was just so that they could keep us in the dark about their big bad secret, right?

Wrong.

Turns out, I hadn't been the best 'boyfriend' to Kara (again, such a strong word). She had tried all different sorts of ways to exact revenge on me. Slandering me and other passive aggressive behaviors. Obviously none of which I took notice of. And that drove her crazy. Crazy to the point of mLinking with me to make me feel all her pain and suffering.

I could see myself. Well, a caricature of myself. And I'll be damned if it wasn't the scariest looking monster you'd ever seen. A true biblical lucifer, the devilish image of me towered above the real me and the real Karra. In a quick rush the beast gave out a terrifying roar and a wave of pure horror rushed over me. Just like that it was over, and the damage had been done. As I woke up from the "dream" Karra was already on her way out the door. I never saw her again after that.

I'll never quite be the same; and like I said originally, for better or for worse. I've treated girls I've dated better, but I'll never forget that traumatic event. To this day I still haven't quite dealt with what that experience. Ironically most therapists I've talked with about it suggest the only way to truly get over the traumatic experience is through an mLink. Yeah, good luck strapping me into one of those again.