The Virtual Anonymous meeting was held in the basement of the Unitarian church on Alden Street. It felt less like a church basement and more like a bunker for broken souls. Smoke from countless cigarettes and vapes circled just outside the door. The floor inside was concrete, the walls were lined with ancient, yellowing caulk boards with Bible verses tacked to them. And the coffee, always too strong, had the bitter, reassuring Tang of something endured rather than enjoyed. There was no digital clock, only the ancient tick of an analog wall unit, just above the poster of the Twelve Steps. That was deliberate, Liam told him early on. Time should pass slowly in these rooms. Uncomfortably so, if need be.
“You go, Scott.” Joe’s voice rang out excitedly from the back of the room.
Too excitedly.
– Excerpt from: Scott’s Fifth Year –
Every generation creates new ways to escape. Few of them begin by looking dangerous. But when technology can offer a life more exciting, more fulfilling, and more rewarding than reality itself, the line between entertainment and addiction begins to disappear. Scott’s Fifth Year imagines a future where recovery means far more than simply unplugging. It asks whether people can reclaim their lives after discovering a world they never wanted to leave.
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