In your everyday average apartment building, on the third floor, a father and son sit across from each other at a dining table. Neither spoke a single word, unsure of how the other would react if they did. All the father was wondering is how much time his son spent in the virtual world. The son wondered how his father would respond if he told him. The silence was broken when the door suddenly opened and a child followed by an older woman entered.

“Daddy!” The small girl shouted, running into her dads open arms. This was Max's little sister Sarah. She had the same black hair as her father and brother, although hers was quite a bit longer. Her blue eyes, which she got from her mother, glittered with joy, just like everyday when she got home from school. She was only six years younger than Max, turning ten last month.

“How’s my little girl doing huh?” Max’s father replied, albeit quieter than his daughter had been in. His demeanor took a drastic turn from the one he had shown earlier, now his expression was warm, as opposed to his cold one towards his son. His question had been directed to the woman, who was Sarah’s nanny.

“She did great today! I dropped her off at school in the morning, and apparently while she was their she made something for you!” The woman, Tammy, exclaimed happily. She always was a very upbeat person, even when she was Max’s nanny when he was little. He smiled, remembering those times that seemed so long ago. But then frowned when he saw what Sarah took from her bag.

“I made a drawing of all of us. See, we’re all angels, and there’s Mom! And here’s Daddy, and Max, and Miss Tammy! And we’re all in Heaven and happy!” The drawing was crude, but it showed five figures with angel wings and big smiles surrounded by clouds. While most people would find this adorable, it just brought up bad memories for Max. He shut his eyes, trying to block out the pictures in his head.

“It’s beautiful princess, I’m sure Mommy would love it if she were here.” Max’s father said, noticing Max’s behavior. He filed that away for later, he would get answers out of his son for sure. He was always good at learning what he wanted to know.

Standing at six foot three, Max’s father, Thomas Thorn, was a solidly built detective working with the local police department. His eyes, which Max inherited, were a rich amber color, though they were obscured by his glasses. And while he made decent money at his job, he still decided to live with his family in a city apartment, mainly to save money.

“Now Daddy has something really important to tell you, so sit down.” He said in his soothing voice. Max’s eyes tightened more, waiting to hear his father say the words he was dreading.

“You know Max went to that game testing thingy, right?” He waited for her to nod before continuing. “Well, something happened and he spent more time in there than we thought he would, and now he’s really old.” There it was. Max could hear the slight sadness in his father's voice.

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“But he looks the same! Lying is bad Daddy, you should know that!” Sarah didn’t understand what her Dad was telling her. Max still looked sixteen, and he had only been gone a day. How could he be really old? It didn’t make any sense!

Max took this time to go to Sarah, getting down on his knees so he was eye level with her. “Well the thing is, I don’t look old, but on the inside I am. And I mean really old. Do you understand?” He had a slightly sad smile on his face, he hated having to tell his little sister about his age.

“So does that mean you’re as old as Grandpa?” Now Thomas started listening, wondering that same thing. Tammy was standing off to the side, curious but also respecting the families space.

“I’m much older than Grandpa. He’s like a baby to me.” This made the girl giggle, imagining her old grumpy grandpa as a baby.

“What about Grandpa’s grandpa?”

“Same thing, like I said, really old.”

“Hmm, what about America?” She was trying to think of all the old things she knew.

“Like a blink of an eye.” At this point her eyes were wide, trying to imagine how old her older brother really was. She kept asking questions, and as he kept saying they were nothing to him, the adults became that much more shocked.

“... What about… um… Ah! What about the whooooole Earth!” Sarah grinned triumphantly, certain that she got her bro this time. Her father and nanny waited for the response to with bated breath.

“...hmmm. That’s a difficult one, but I would have to say yes, maybe not by much, but I think I’m older than the Earth.” He nodded to himself, stopping once he realized that he had just told his family how old he was. Sweat started rolling down his brow as he looked around him, waiting for the outburst he was sure was coming.

But contrary to his expectations, his father just sat there, inside his own thoughts. If his son was really as old as he claimed, then putting him back in normal school would end badly. But the only other place to go to would be… Suddenly it hit him, the cities. The Altera Corporation had planned for this, they knew the only place families could go after they learned how old their children were was the cities that they made especially for them! He wasn’t sure what the end goal would be, but he knew it couldn’t be good.

Still, they were right on one thing, Max couldn’t go to a regular school anymore. As much as he hated the idea, he was caught in Altera Corp’s trap. Resigning himself to what he had to do, he stood from his chair, towering over everyone else. He breathed in heavily.

“Alright, I have an announcement to make. Because Max still has to go to school, and he’s older now, he has to go to a school made for people like him. Unfortunately, the only school like that isn’t here. Which means we’ll have to move.” This shocked all of the people present, even Max who had thought he would have to beg his father to let him go.

“Alright, I’m going to make a call, and I want you to start packing. We have a busy week on our hands.”