Cass dreaded doing the same song and dance over and over again--dealing with family. She looked at her messages on her phone, seeing that the last time she even bothered to call her parents was almost a year ago. At the same time, she glanced at the mirror and sighed with relief.

“At least he won’t ‘see’ how nervous I am. Eli promised that he’d only wanted to chat,” thought Cass, when she noticed her pale and sallow skin that shimmered with a cold sweat. Her dark hair was a tangled mess, with split ends and randomly floating hairs. She brushed her hand through her hair, taking note that the streak of purple dyed hair still remained.

However, she didn’t know what was making her nervous; if anything, her little brother Eli was the only family that she even bothered to talk to on a monthly basis. She’d always get worked up before talking to him, even though it was very predictable what he would ask. “How’s life?” or “Do you wanna know about mom and dad?” or “Have you played this new game?” He’d try to break up the awkward silence through making small inside jokes or memes, and although it was annoying sometimes, she chuckled now and again. Of course, Cass wouldn’t outright admit that it provided a small amount of comfort, but she liked to think that Eli knew—why else would he keep up the same routine?

She rummaged around for her headset; it couldn’t be that hard since she didn’t exactly have the biggest desk. Her small apartment, although not luxurious, at least afforded her all the necessities she needed. More importantly to Cass was the privacy that she had when she was alone; even for being located in a city, it was relatively quiet. Aside from the noises of a bustling cityscape, she could really be alone in her own world while she worked at a local financial firm.

Her eyes caught a glance of that familiar glossy black surface, something that looked more like a bizarre motorcycle helmet even in the year of 2057. With the advent of VR technology, it was only a matter of time before all consumer products really took advantage of everything it offered. The latest model offered all of the previous amenities that old hardware from the several decades earlier offered, including an in-built mic, headphones, browsing and streaming through the internet, communication, and more. Of course, it could never phase out old technology completely; for instance, Cass still relied on her phone whenever she went out for groceries or attended mandatory company meetings. As it turns out, wearing a VR helmet in public was still somewhat bizarre, no matter how convenient and affordable it became.

She placed the helmet on her head and waited in anticipation for the call from Eli to come in. Grabbing the tea she prepared earlier, she nestled into a comfortable position onto her bed that was next to her desk and took small, furtive sips from the cup. Cass felt the fabric of her hoodie rub against her, knowing that at this point it was too large for her current size, yet too old to really give up. It made her feel like she received it from a significant other, but more than likely her parents had already donated such items away, leaving only her clothes behind when she left home.

“It doesn’t matter,” she thought, “as long as I’m not with them anymore, they can’t control what I do.” Suddenly, a familiar ringing tone echoed in her ears. She put her tea down and quickly looked at the notification; sure enough, it was Eli. She accepted the call, expecting the usual “Hey sis! How’s it going?”

“Sis, you gotta listen to me. There’s something I need to tell you.” said Eli. Cass was shocked internally—why was his tone so different? Did his most recent girlfriend break up with him, or was he going to tell her that he was gay? Did someone die in the family? Thousands of thoughts were racing in Cass’s head, but nothing really prepared her for what Eli was about to tell her.

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“Uh, what is it? Is something wrong?” said Cass, trying, but failing, to hide her anxiousness, which Eli picked up on.

“Look, if you’re worried about something that’s wrong, I can tell you right now that it’s nothing! I guess I sounded really serious, I should’ve said ‘Hi’ first, sorry…” he said sheepishly.

“Well, what is it—“ Cass said, with frustration building up inside her before she was interrupted.

“That doesn’t mean that I’m not serious though. It’s about one of my friends.” At this point, Cass was more confused than frustrated, and conceding that she wanted to know more, decided to press on.

“Okay, go on.”

“One of my friends that I usually play with, you might remember him, Jake [Cass didn’t remember, not that it really mattered], has been gone for weeks.”

“Don’t you think that maybe he just doesn’t have internet, or broke his VR gear?”

“I thought the same thing, but when I tried calling him up on his phone, he didn’t pick up. I just learned today that he’s gone missing because I caught a snippet of news talking about a missing college kid.”

Cass’s stomach sunk; she remembered the only reason why her brother Eli would ever bother looking at the news was to see if school was canceled back in their suburban neighborhood whenever it snowed or flooded. She remembered the look of disappointment that his face contorted to as he realized he couldn’t keep playing games; she even shared some of that sentiment. However, this was different. Even when he grew up to be old enough to vote he never bothered to look at the news anymore; the fact that he was actually looking at any news whatsoever meant that this meant something to him. Another understatement that “it’s nothing” that have piled on the thousands that he’s said at this point.

“Are you okay then?” Cass was beginning to worry again.

“Yeah, I’m perfectly fine, but more than anything, I just want to find answers. I want to know what happened to Jake!” Eli was raising his voice at this point, anyone listening to him at that point could tell that he wasn’t fine. Cass used to feel the same way, used to have the same passion, before it was blunted. She brushed that feeling aside, and thought more logically about it.

“Not to be rude, but why do you care so…vehemently, especially about Jake? Don’t you have other friends? Don’t you think the police will be able to find him eventually?”

Silence was thick in the call. It was stifling for the siblings, as Eli struggled to explain his reasoning. Cass didn’t want him to stumble back into trouble; the last time she had to deal with nothing ended happily. It seemed to last an eternity before he continued.

“He’s…not the first one.”

“…What? What do you mean, ‘not the first one’?”

“I mean what I said. I looked into it, there’s been a series of disappearances ever since I noticed he wasn’t online anymore. A lot more people I played with are disappearing. The missing persons cases are randomly scattered, and when I tried to tell the police that it’s linked to the game, they just laugh it off!”

“That doesn’t make any sense, if that’s the case, why are you still here then?”

Eli paused. “I…I stopped playing when I saw that Jake went offline. I thought ‘Well, we linked our characters together, so if he’s not online, there’s no point to play without him’, because you know, I wanted to be respectful, not play ahead. You taught me that.”

“How are you so sure?”

“Look, I just have a gut feeling; I know that it’s dumb, and I know that you might be baffled that I would even pursue this, but I just need to know this.

“Know what?”

“I plan on going back into the game and getting the answers I need. Are you with me?”