The hospital room smelt of synthetic bodily fluids. The smell overpowered Gremy’s rotten mushroom breath. Gremy’s big bug eyes were not popping out as much as they usually were. She was lying there in a daze. Julie was sobbing in the corner. “Don’t cry Julie. I’ll be fine,” Gremy mumbled. “A mini-stroke is not fucking fine Gremy.” Julie had her face in her hands. She was tense all over. Her neck was aching. “I can’t believe your body can keep betraying you like that, Gremy.” Gremy did not live the healthiest lifestyle. She loved butter and online shopping. She poisoned herself with choco-lebnicks and glasses of Sauvignon Blanc. With sweetness comes suffering. With sweetness comes heart disease, diabetes and strokes. And different strokes cause sadness to different folks. “Things need to change, Gremy! You can’t keep doing this to yourself! I’m sick of visiting you in this place.” Gremy’s huge bug eyes started leaking. Julie called her grandma Gremy as she resembled a Gremlin. “I know, I know,” she responded. A month later Julie visited Gremy in her bungalow. “Gremy, I need you to do something for me. I need you to install a software into your mobile. It’s called BeAlive.” “Bee-hive? You what?” “No BeAlive. Watch- you’ll need to take a photo of yourself each day and send it to me. As a sort of proof of life.” “What a ridiculous thing to do!” “Please Gremy, I need you to do this!” Gremy’s eyes bulged out further. Julie could smell her rotten mushroom breath. “Gremy, if you die, I don’t think I can continue on. The world would feel evil and apocalyptic. My whole world would cease to exist and it would be replaced with a massive big hole. Gremy you must stay alive for me!” “I don’t want to go. This old dog still has life in her. But this BeAlive is stupid. That is not life! It’s pixels.” “Please Gremy!” Julie had tears in her eyes at this point. Gremy did not want Julie to have a full-on emotional meltdown. “Fine” Gremy gave in. Day One of BeAlive and Gremy already forgot. Or had she? Maybe she was slumped over in her seat in the living room watching Only Fools and Horses, slumped over her laptop while she was shopping for crocs. Julie sent Gremy a Whatsapp message- a link to something on the Hoppertitty community support. Someone complaining about dogs defecating on the pavements. “Look at this miserable cow’s post, Gremy,” Julie wrote. Julie didn’t care about the old cow at Hoppertitty but she wanted to know that Gremy was alive without asking her directly. For the whole morning Julie kept checking her phone and there was no response. She could feel her blood pressure rising. She knew she had to call her. She needed to know to stop this sinking feeling. She called. No answer. Half an hour later. Gremy started ringing her. “Gremy!” Julie answered. “What’s wrong? Why are you calling?” “You didn’t respond to my message. You didn’t send me a picture on BeAlive!” Julie sounded like she was having an asthma attack. “Bloody Beehive! Ok I’m sorry I’ll send you one now.” Gremy rolled her eyes at Julie for the millionth time. “Well there’s no point now. I’m talking to you.” Gremy kept her word. She sent a photograph each day. At the same unflattering angle she always did. Everyday after Gremy sent Julie a picture, she could relax and get on with her day. Weeks went by and Gremy continued to send photos. Except whether Julie asked Gremy specific questions about her day her responses were weirdly formal and vague. Gremy was often rude and abrasive yet her responses were polite. When Julie asked how Gremy’s day was, Gremy replied “Very well thank you.” Maybe the mini stroke made her more polite? Julie decided not to dwell on it. She was up for a promotion at work and had started dating someone she met on Hinge. Things were going well and she didn’t want to spoil her happiness. One day Julie received a call from Gremy’s neighbour Donald. “Julie, sorry to contact you out of the blue. It’s just I’ve been trying to get a hold of Gremy but she won’t answer the door. There’s this awful smell coming from her house. I think you should check in on her.” This phone call shook Julie with anxiety. Immediately she sent Gremy a message asking if she was ok. Gremy responded stating that she was fine. Julie decided to travel to Gremy’s just to make sure Gremy hadn't neglected her house. The mini-stroke may have affected Gremy’s sense of smell. Julie walked down the road Gremy lived on. Her usual fast paced walk was hesitant almost as if the air was heavier. She reached the door and sighed before she unlocked it and walked in. The smell hit her as soon as she walked in. Julie walked into the kitchen and she saw Gremy’s rotten arm spread across the floor. Julie paused in shock and then she slowly walked in. There lay Gremy’s decomposing body. Her face looked like a rotten mushroom. Julie screamed out in horror and began to sound. This was her worst fear. The death of Gremy. But how could this be? Gremy had sent her a picture yesterday and she looked fine. Julie saw Gremy’s phone on the table. Julie went to pick it up and looked through the file library. The last photo was taken three weeks ago. How could this be? Julie looked at Gremy’s BeAlive app and saw an icon she didn’t recognise on the nav-bar. She clicked on it. It took Julie to another app installed on Gremy’s phone- BeEternal. It turns out Gremy had installed the extension BeEternal. Her likeness and voice were uploaded to an AI which generated an image and messages imitating Gremy. It would continue to send Julie images of Gremy which were slightly altered to look like an original image. BeEternal is an AI powered phone application that allows you to live forever digitally so your loved ones will never have to mourn you. It will create new memories, messages and jokes to share with your family forever. Move over death, BeEternal is here to stay. Available on App and Play stores.