Chapter 3:

The Support Group for Interverse Losers

I'll be honest with you, I know that last part made it sound like I lost my stat boost and just immediately accepted my fate and clicked the link. Well, that was a lie. The truth is it took me a good hour, of sobbing and punching the wall, and pacing the apartment, just having an absolute mental break down. As was common for me.

I don't know how long I was at it, but, eventually, yes, I clicked the link. Right as I did I got an overwhelming sensation of needing to barf. I was teleported to wherever it was going to take me and promptly threw up all over the floor.

I groaned and wiped my mouth. There were gasps and a few laughs. I looked up from my puke pool. I had thought the link would take me to, like, I don't know, a waiting area. But, instead, it brought me to a meeting in progress. There were chairs in a circle, someone had probably just shared something very personal and sad, and I just upchucked all over it.

"Oh... oh my God. I'm so sorry." I went through my inventory and took out an item perfect for the job: [ Super Absorbent Washcloth +5 ] Just putting it down into the slop was enough to suck it up.

"It's okay, this happens sometimes, believe it or not." An old man directly across me said, unphased by my entrance. He was actually smiling at me. He was Japanese, looking very much like the old photos I'd seen of my grandparents back on Earth. "Are you alright?"

I stood up and put the washcloth away. "Y-yeah, I'm--well, no. I guess I'm not fine."

"You've come to the right place. We would love to hear about it." He gestured behind me and a chair appeared.

I sat down. "I... don't think I'm ready for that."

He nodded. "Perfectly fine. My name is Kenzo. What should we call you?"

"Oh, first names? I thought this was more... anonymous."

"It is, I'm just old and keep things simple. You can set your display name, if you'll notice you should have a notification for that at the top of your vision."

He was right. Guess I missed it in all the puking. I brought it up.

[ Name? ]

[ NOTE: All users in Statistic Anomalies will know you by this name and will have no other way of contacting you outside the group unless you give permission. ]

That was cool. If I had known that maybe I wouldn't have been so hesitant to join.

Maybe.

So, what did I want my name to be?

[ Lacey ]

Yeah, that would do. I hit accept.

"Ah, Lacey. Lovely to meet you. Say hello everyone."

A round of hello’s. And then one, "Hello everyone."

Of course my eyes were immediately drawn to that goofball. He was tall, that much was apparent even with him sitting down. His legs and arms were long and lanky, taking up more room than anyone. He had long unkempt red hair. But what caught my eye most was the fact that he had glasses on, normal thin rimmed frames. It was so strange to see someone wearing basic eyewear, usually if anyone had on any at all they were over the top and showy.

He grinned at me, a tad awkwardly, making eye contact and then looking away.

I should have smiled back but something dawned on me. I looked around at everyone in the circle. Not a single one was decked out in Interverse loot and equipment. No crazy skins or mods. They were just normal people.

Heart racing, I switched to third person and my view went out of my body to see me from above. I swiveled the camera until I was right in front of me. To my horror, I was just in normal earth clothes, a plain t-shirt and jeans.

"What the hell! Why do I look so...normal?"

"Ah, yes, maybe should have explained that sooner." The old man said. "While this is anonymous, we found that giving too much anonymity took out the human element. At one point people were able to hide their identity completely, and even use voice changers. But we found that it made the members unable to relate to each other on a deeper, human level. So, in here, we look like we would back on earth."

"Okay. I guess that makes sense. Still...."

I'd never gone crazy with body mods or anything, but I was known to go a bit wild with colored hair. I hadn't seen my natural black in so long. It looked just like my mom's which really wasn't a realization I needed right now.

I switched back to first person and tried to bury that thought.

"So, how about we all go around and introduce ourselves to our new recruit?"

They all went around and said their (fake) names and a little snippet about themselves. I tried to pay attention but they just weren't very interesting. And all I really wanted was to hear more from the tall, possibly funny guy. There was a 50/50 chance of him actually being cool or just an asshole. I was invested in finding out which.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

So I patiently waited as we went around the circle, every name washing over me, my foot tapping, begging them to go faster. But eventually the wheel went around and landed on Mr. 50/50.

"Hi," he said, normally enough. "I'm Stephen K. I, uh, like Stephen King books enough to name myself that. That's about it. Read The Dark Tower." He flashed some peace signs and that was it.

The wheel of names continued but I was stuck on the last one. A Stephen King fan? That's all the info he gave? I mean, that was cool, I guess. Pretty old stories but it wasn't unheard of to still read them. Even now he had his rabid fans. So, basically, I learned jack shit. And Stephen wasn't even his real name so, there we go, I might as well know negative one things about him.

But I mentally shifted him to Mr. 60/40, leaning toward him actually being cool. I would need to do further research...

"Miss Lacey?"

"What??" I said loud and wildly, forgetting my name for a second.

"Would you like to tell us something about you?"

"Oh, uh..."

"Just anything. Nothing as deep as what's brought you here, but interests or hobbies."

"I..." What could I share that wasn't too revealing? Only one thing came to mind. "I have a goldfish."

"Really? Does it have a name?"

"Percy."

"Wonderful name." The man said with a smile. "And why a goldfish and not some other pet?"

"I dunno. I just have always liked them. Fish, I mean. Especially small ones. They are fun to watch in their little fishbowl."

"A fishbowl?" A snobby looking woman said, sticking up her nose. "You don't have an aquarium? And just one single fish?"

"Aquariums cost lots of money so, yeah, just a fishbowl. And one fish. I sometimes think about getting another but the bowl would be too small then."

Why was I saying all this? It was like some mental dam had burst and I just kept talking.

"I think I would have probably just had a fish back on earth, too. A real pet would be overwhelming. Having to feed it, walk it, take it to the bathroom... A goldfish would be all I could handle."

There were nods of agreement in the circle.

The snobby woman spoke again. "Why do you even bother thinking about Earth? There's no point. We've moved on, everything is so much better here."

"Then why are you in a support group?"

Stephen laughed, and the woman went from a shocked expression to pure anger, unsure whether to glare at me or Stephen. She eventually settled on me.

"That's enough, B." The old man said before she could argue any further. "Before our new recruit entered I believe you were speaking, right? How about you continue and we will wrap things up, hm?"

"I'm not done with this little bi--"

"B." The man's words were so filled with disappointment that if they had been directed at me I think I would have completely changed my life around on the spot to never have to hear him sound like that again. I really hoped he never turned that power on me.

The woman abandoned her anger and laughed nervously. "Right. Well, where was I?"

"You were talking about how you kicked your husband out," Stephen said while picking at his nails.

"Ah, right. So, I kicked that piece of shit to the curb, finally, and..."

She went on for a long time. I will spare you the details. The rest of the group amused her and asked questions and laughed in the right spots. But I completely checked out. I tried to access my messages but an annoying alert flashed in my vision:

[ Warning! Some functions are disabled in meetings. Please pay attention to your fellow Anomalies ;) ]

Fuck. That was so lame.

The lady went on for like twenty minutes which isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things but when you're locked into place with nothing else to do, let me tell you, it feels like an eternity. By the end of it my head was killing me and I just wanted to leave (which I couldn't do without giving a reason, you know I checked).

And there was another reason I didn't. Mr. 60/40. He was still a mystery to solve and I didn't feel like waiting until the next meeting to get to the bottom of it.

"Well, B, I think I have to stop you there," the old man said, kindly cutting off the woman mid rant about how awful her husband was. "We've already gone a little over. It was so good to see all of you. Feel free to hang out and chat for a while, there's food and coffee in the back, as per usual. Meeting is adjourned."

He stomped his foot and a wave of digital light rippled through the room like a droplet of rain hitting a surface of water.

[ Meeting over! Restrictions removed. ]

[ Went to your first group meeting! Feeling less alone now? Group levels unlocked!

Statistic Anomalies: Level 1

Meetings attended: 1

Meetings until next level: 1 / 5 ]

[ Social Experience Gained!

Talked for the first time in a meeting: +1 Social Point | Level 11 -> 12

Threw up in a public space: -1 to Public Respect | Level 5 -> 4 ]

Great, another blight to add to my stat screen. I sighed.

"Don't worry, only you can see the group stats. You'll take them to the grave unless you choose to disclose them." A voice said beside me, making me jump a little.

The group had let out and people were mingling, laughing and eating at the back of the room. But Mr. 60/40 had made his way over to me.

"Oh, uh, that's good." I stood up and the chair vanished. "Have you... been coming here long?"

"Since I was twelve."

I couldn't hide my shock. He laughed.

"You probably think I would have been the youngest, right? But no. There are groups for teens AND kids."

"I guess that makes sense, I've been getting requests to join since I was a little kid."

"See how much fun you've been missing out on?" He gestured to the room around us and we both laughed. "What took you so long? Or, maybe I should ask what new low did you reach?"

Ouch. He was transitioning out of small talk very quickly. How much could I tell him?

He took my silence badly and tried to backpedal. "Sorry, I didn't mean to--"

"No, it's all good. You're right. I did hit a new low. My 25th birthday."

He whistled. "Yikes. That's rough. I'm 23 so I haven't quite hit that yet but just thinking about that makes me want to add my puke to the floor-- so yours was totally justified."

I laughed again, so much laughter in this hell of a night that had started so differently.

"Thanks, I'm glad you understand. Has it really happened before?"

He nodded. "Extremely common. Pre-group jitters are real and messy. You want something to eat or drink?" He pointed to the back of the room where the crowd still was.

"Kind of. But... people."

"Yeah, people. I'm not so great with them either. Want to... go somewhere else? I mean, if you don't want to meet outside of group I totally--"

I sent him my contact details.

His eyes light up. "Wow. Okay. So your username is--"

"Shh. Not here. Let's go somewhere else. Somewhere quiet. But with food. Any ideas?"

"Yeah, I got a place. Here."

A message popped on screen with a restaurant address. I didn't pay nearly as much attention to it than the name of who sent it to me.

Stephen K.

I raised an eyebrow. "Your current username and the name you chose for the group are the same?"

He shrugged. "I'm not that creative with names. And I don't have anything to hide."

"In that case I'm gonna want a full breakdown on why you joined the group."

"You got it." He winked right before transfering to the next location, fading out of existence.

As far as I was concerned, the mystery had been solved. Stephen K was the coolest person I'd met in, oh, maybe ten years. Time to see how long it took before I ran him off.

I noticed the name of the restaurant and laughed as I clicked on it and was beamed away from Statistic Anomalies, my long history of hatred toward it being all for naught as, so far, it'd been the one thing that made this crazy night better.