In a dark hospital room, a 15 year old boy with dark hair wearing a patient's gown was laying on a small hospital bed. He has pale skin and a tired look on his face, despite his age. This boy was called Michael. He was staring wide eyed at the doctor standing next to him. His mind was processing the words that he had just heard.
".....What did you say?"the boy asked.
"Micheal, like i said, in five months, you are scheduled to leave"Said the doctor.
His eyes never left his board. He wrote down notes of Micheal's condition, seemingly paying no mind to Micheal. Micheal, having heard this, argued to the doctor.
"But Mr.Cherns, you can't just leave me in the streets, I have no one to turn to! If you kick me out, I'll die!!"
Micheal was at the brink of tears. Micheal was a child born with genetic heart problems. He was once a healthy boy until the age of ten; it was then that his parents discovered of his disease. At once, his parents had sent him to the hospital only to find out it was an incurable disease.
Through constant experimenting, Micheal was kept alive, but the experimenting was very costly and, in turn, caused his parents to work constantly. It was through countless hours of work that his father died. Micheal's mother soon followed after his father as she died in a car crash last week. He had no close relatives and now, at the age of fifteen, all he had left is the money left by his parents.
Micheal fought the tears in his eyes as he recalled his hopeless predicament. He bit the inner part of his mouth, not wanting to show his tears. Dr.Cherns clenched his teeth as he noticed this but still did not take his eyes from his board.
"I understand your concern Micheal, but, unfortunately, your parents' bank account only left you with $50,000. Even WITH your $60,000 that is still only enough for a few months. You must understand how much the experimenting costs"
Dr.Cherns finishes his notes, "Now, Micheal,your check up is done. You must go to sleep now. It is unhealthy for your heart to stay up."
Dr.Cherns went out the door, leaving Micheal alone in deep thought. Micheal was left in a state of despair. Warm tears slowly went down his face. Leaving nothing back he started to sob with all his might, cursing the world for his problems.
As he closed the door, Dr.Cherns clenched the door knob tightly. He silently cursed under his breath thinking of his uselessness. His head turned to the left to find two of his fellow co-workers standing next to him. Surprise showed on his face before he could replace it with a face of indifference. One nurse, spoke to the doctor:
"Dr.Cherns, don't hide your feelings. We all care deeply for Micheal."
The doctor sighed,"I just don't know what to do Helen. We're supposed to be saving people, but can't even cure a single child"
The other nurse, Hilda, went to try to comfort Dr.Cherns also,"Harold, you're already helping as many people as you can. There's no helping it if you're bank account can't handle your spending!"
Helen joined in,"yeah, Harold. Hilda's right. Spending money for other people so carelessly is dangerous! At this rate, you won't be able to retire!"
Micheal chuckled as he saw Helen trying to cheer him up. He then sighed as he looked down. It was the year 2055. In the past, many scientific breakthroughs were discovered but, now, it had slowed down.
The greatest difference was virtual reality. With the appearance of virtual reality, people with brain problems were experiencing slow recoveries. Not only that, people with disabled arms or legs could once again experience living with their lost limbs! Since its creation, virtual reality grew wildly popular. The media, the public, the medical industry, virtual reality spread through everywhere. Having many uses, of course it would be wildly popular!
Wait a minute, Dr.Cherns thought, I just thought of the perfect solution. Dr.Cherns, with a smirk looked toward Hilda and Helen. This caused both of them to jump from his sudden mood change.
"Hilda, Helen, I have a favor to ask" said Dr.Cherns.
They looked to each other and Helen asked," what is it?"
Dr.Cherns wrote something on his board and hands it to Helen,"can you move Mr.McLearn to this room?"
Helen and Hilda look at it and their eyes widened.
"But Doctor Chern's, this is for-"Hilda tried to explain, but Dr.Cherns interrupted her.
"I know, I know, but just do it. This is for a poor boy's sake after all."Dr.Cherns ran left and said behind him,"i'm trusting you!"
Slowly, the doctor's shape no longer seen as he went around the corner. Hilda groaned as Helen sighed while he left. Hilda then went to the administration to pass on the report.
"Does this every time" Hilda says as she leaves.
"I know, but that's what makes him charming." Says Helen as she leaves with Hilda.
Ch-1
Darkness.
Unending darkness surrounds a curled up Michael. Unable to move, he sits alone with no thought of resistance. Unending trails of tears roll down the young Michael's face, his back quivering. Alone, Michael wonders, why me? His arms wrapped around his knees, he sobs silently.
Suddenly, two pairs of arms wraps around him and he's smothered in a warm embrace. He turns his head to find his parents, crouching next to him. Smiles filled with compassion and love packed in their faces.
"Mom.....Dad....? Is that you?" Michael looks at his parents with a large smile.
His parents look back at him with a tender smile and they slowly nod. Michael quickly grabs them into his arms. His dad laughs at his reaction as he hugs back and his mom shows a loving smile. Michael backs away and his mom gently wipes the drying tears from his face, and Michael wipes away his snot. His mother leans in close to Michael and says in a serious face:
"Michael, I want you to stay safe, okay? We'll going to be going away for a while."
"What?" Michael looks at his mother with bewilderment which quickly turns to distress. "Wait! You can't go!!"
"Don't worry Mike, we'll be fine. In the meantime, take care, okay sport?" his dad smiles at Michael and scatters his hair.
His parents get up and leave Michael, waving at him good bye. Michael stands up and sprints towards his parents, but they seem to disappear farther and farther. Slowly, they vanish from Michael's sight. Michael yells towards them:
"Noo! Come back, please! I miss you guys! Please!! Don't goooooo!!!"
Michael opens his eyes. His breathing is heavy and his gown drenched in sweat. He looks to his right. There beside him is a nurse, Hilda, looking at him. Hilda moves to Michael:
"Are you alright Michael? You seem to have had a bad dream." She checks his forehead and pulse.
Michael quickly recovers himself,"yeah, sorry, I'm fine now, thank you." He smiles at the nurse removes her hands from him.
Hilda's expression becomes concerned,"Alright, but if there's anything wrong, you just tell us alright?"Hilda says as she goes to leave.
"I will"
Hilda closes the door and Michael sighs. 'Whelp, i guess it's time to work' He brings out a laptop next to him and types up into an MMORPG from the old days. He takes a deep breath and looks at the screen with a calm smile. The year is 2055. At this time, technology had advanced and soon, virtual reality was created. Instantly, it was immensely popular, causing old games from computers and consoles to fall in popularity. Sadly, though, it caused old RPG games to plummet in players. This, however, did not include Michael because he could not afford the virtual reality devices needed. Still, the games provided what he needed.
Since he was young, he had played old MMORPG games to gain money. Through them, he has gained over $60,000! But it's still not enough Michael thought as he sighed. He logged in and was soon greeted by two of his in-game friends.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
On his left stood an avatar with pointed up hair. His skin tanned and his build skinny. His avatar looked about his age. The avatar had an angry expression on his face and his arms crossed. The avatar to Micheal's right had a distressed expression and faced the person on Micheal's left. He had short dirty blonde hair, a build similar to the other person but was just a bit shorter.
"Hey, Michael."they greeted.
"Hey guys!"Michael said,"What's up?"
" Nothing much" says one of them with a frown,"just that Timmy's gonna quit Mapleshtory online!"
The avatar of Michael says,"What?! Why?!"
Timmy looks to the person next to him and said,"Ah! Drake! I was gonna tell him!" Timmy looks at Michael with remorse and says,"sorry Michael, I got bored of Maple. I'm gonna be transferring to virtual reality."
Micheal expression turns to shock,"But we've been playing Maple since ages ago! Why now?"
"Well..there's this new VRMMORPG called Adventure Online that came out, it says it has items never seen before.. and i finally got enough money to get it! I can't just pass this offer up, right?" Timmy glances with a face of apology.
Michael sighed. In truth, he could understand clearly. Timmy, like him, sold items from games to gain money. With the popularity of VRMMORPG's and the promise of unknown rare items, it would be impossible to pass off the offer for pro-gamers like them!
Drake shook with anger,"so that means you can just abandon us?!"
Timmy looked at Drake and argued,"It's not like that! I'm not gonna quit the game completely! I'll come back sometimes."
"You.....What about Michael! You know he can't buy the game like us!"
It's true. Virtual reality costs a lot of money. They need money for maintenance, not to mention he needs to pay extra to the hospital to keep it, and including the electricity bills, he couldn't afford something like that!
"Sigh, Drake, it's fine, if Timmy or you wants to quit, that'd totally fine with me. After all, it's not like we can't Video message each other. We do have Skype."
(Author's note: that's right! Skype still exists!)
Drake looked at Timmy with an annoyed expression but he finally gave in,"hmph, fine, but still, you better come back once in awhile"
"By the way, Timmy, when are you going?"
"In two days."
Michael grins,"I guess we don't have much time to prepare for a leaving party then."
Drake looks at Michael,"What?"
Michael leans to Drake and whispers to him through text. Drake's avatar smiles evilly. A second later, Drake logs out. Timmy shows a surprised expression as Michael brings out two potions and throws it on the ground. A gas starts to spread as Michael logs out.
A rumbling sound could be heard in the distance as hundreds of boars come out of the field and head straight toward Timmy. Timmy hurriedly tries to log out, but says a potion prevents him for 10 minutes. Timmy turns red with anger and says:
"Dammit guys! I'll get you back, I swear!!" Shortly after, Timmy's avatar dies.
Micheal laughs as he logs out. As he logs out though, he hears a knock on the door. Another nurse, Helga, comes in with a knowing smirk. She holds the door so to only show herself.
"Hey, Micheal, having fun?" Helga says.
"Helga? Why are you smiling like that?" Micheal filled with suspicion.
Helga gestures to Micheal to come to her. Micheal cautiously walks out of bed towards her. Helga's expression turns to a serious look.
"Micheal, you trust me, right?" Helga asks.
Helga is the one closest to Micheal so, of course, Micheal nods.
"Good" Helga says as she pulls out what appears to be a blindfold,"then wears this."
Helga gives Micheal the blindfold and Micheal looks at it with doubt before looking at Helga for confirmation. Helga chuckles and nods her head. Micheal sighs. I just might regret this, he thinks as he puts it on. He then feels a tug at his hands and he slowly walks where it directed. After one minute of turning, they reach to a stop. Suddenly, he hears a door opening.
"Okay, take off the blindfold!" Helga yells.
He follows what Helga says and takes it off. What his eyes meet with fills his mind with disbelief. Oh yeah, it's my birthday, he thought as in front of him is a happy birthday sign with Helga and Hilda giggling at his surprised face. After the dismissal incident, he forgot about his own birthday. What was next to them though was enough to bring him to tears. Beside Helga and Hilda was a gleaming silver capsule. On it were the letters,"Micheal C. McLearn".
"Wha- ....But how-.....How did you get this?!" The stuttering Micheal could barely believe what was in front of him. In front of him was a brand new virtual reality capsule!!!
"It wasn't our idea Micheal, it was Harold's idea" Hilda said.
"Wait, DR.CHERNS?" Micheal could barely believe his ears! Ever since he first checked in, Dr.Cherns always treated him with indifference. It couldn't be possible for THAT Dr.Cherns to do something like this....could it?
Hilda laughed at his doubt while Helga explained,"Micheal, I can understand your disbelief but you need to know that Dr.Cherns is a really nice guy. Even though he doesn't seem like the type, he's helped plenty of people with situations just as bad as yours and is doing all he can to help you earn money. He had to pull quite a few strings to get you this, you know."
Micheal looked at Helga in a state of fright as he mentioned his 'job'. Using items to gain money was still considered against the law and if he was caught, he would receive a $50000 fine for all that he sold.
"You knew?"Micheal asks.
Hilda laughs at Micheal's reaction "Hahahaha look at his face! He thinks we didn't know hahaha!"
Helga shushes Hilda and wears a calming expression,"Don't worry Micheal, know one's going to tell. We programmed it, so it won't reveal things like your laptop."
Oh, Micheal thinks, so that's how they knew. Micheal goes into a daze as he calculates what has transpired in his head when Hilda interrupts his train of thought:
"Hey! Are you gonna get in or not?!"
Micheal suddenly grows a big smile and charges to hug Hilda and Helga. Hilda and Helga look at Micheal with kind and caring smiles.
"You just enjoy yourself in there, alright?"Helga says.
Micheal nods, heads towards the capsule, and says, "tell Dr.Cherns thank you for me, will you?" He then closes the capsule behind him. Inside, there's a small panel. In front of him, a monitor that says 'welcome'. It then changes to, 'would you like to join Adventure Online?' He's shocked of the name of the virtual reality game. He didn't know what game it was til he was inside. He shakes away the surprise and says:
"Yes"
The screen says 'loading' then after a second says 'enjoy'! He then grows a big smile. Time to join the game! He thinks as he transports to his new life.
(Authors note: Hey guys, hope you enjoyed my chapter! Please critique it and if there's anything that seems wrong in it, please tell me!
Also, for all those who have read this earlier, I'm sorry for the trouble or confusion it might've given you. I was playing around with the controls trying to edit the chapters but lost control in the end. And so, I mixed the prologue and chapter 1. I am very srry. )
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Also, I seperated the paragraphs to make it easier to read, hope that helps make it easier to read