Tick... Tock... Tick... Tock... The old wooden clock hanging on the wall of the large room went on and on. Elise sat alone at her desk in the center of the room with her school books open, quietly reading by the light of the expensive chandelier above her. The windows were large, covered by oversized drapes, not that it mattered as it was already dark outside. The only way out of the red and black carpeted room was through a large wooden door with carved patterns on it that Elise occasionally glanced toward.
She eventually let out a long drawn out sigh as she leaned back into her chair, head falling backwards over the top rest so that she could stare straight up at the ceiling. She then closed her mouth and pressed air out to make a weird sound, then started tapping her foot on the ground to the rhythm of the clock ticking.
After a couple of taps an idea popped into her head and she sat up in the chair, then moved to her feet while still tapping her right foot along with the clock. She put her arms at her sides, then began trying dance moves in synchronization with the clock. At first by herself, then pretending her chair was a dance partner, and then sliding over the desk to the other side while knocking everything off of it, landing intentionally on her knees on the carpet after falling off, and began practicing ground moves she’d seen other contemporary dancers do on TV. She ended up on her back and did a kick flip up to her feet to continue dancing there, but just as she did she heard the lock in the door turning, causing her heart to nearly jump out of her throat.
Elise quickly turned and started grabbing her books to put them back on her desk, but it wasn’t fast enough and the door swung open. To her relief however, it was only Miranda the maid. As Elise continued to put her things on the desk, calmly now, Miranda rushed across the room holding a silver tray of food.
“Are you alright dear?” Miranda asked worriedly.
“Yup, I’m fine.” Elise smiled back at her.
“Come out of this room with me, it’s ridiculous to stay locked up in here.” Miranda pleaded as she put the tray down on the desk.
“If I sneak out, she’ll know you helped me and fire you.”
“I’ll take the risk of being fired by that woman.” Miranda replied.
“It’s alright, I’m fine. I needed to study anyway.”
“Three days locked in this room is a bit too much time to study, don’t you think?” Miranda commented, then began helping Elise pick up things from the floor.
“She was right though, my grades are too low. I’ll need to raise them if I ever want to get out of here.” Elise sighed.
“The day you leave is the day I quit.” Miranda said confidently.
“Are you sure? Won’t you miss my lovely mother and sister?” Elise asked sarcastically, to which Miranda simply rolled her eyes.
“I don’t understand that sister of yours. When I was your age me and my sister would defend each other over anything, even when we knew the other was wrong. Once, my sister stole from another girl in our school and was at risk of being expelled, I managed to convince the school the girl had simply lost it instead... Whatever that is a long story. Are you sure you want to stay in here?”
“Yup, I don’t mind.” Elise replied, sitting back in her chair.
“It’s okay to ask for help sometimes, dear. Don’t be afraid to.”
“Thanks Miranda.” Elise said as she looked at the food now and began eating, but just then there was a loud shouting coming from outside the room.
“You did what!?” A man’s voice called out.
“She tried to quit her dancing class in that vile place you call school! I warned you that those girls wouldn’t learn anything in that place.” A woman’s voice repeated behind him. Stomping from across the house quickly got closer until a tall man with short brown hair in a black suit appeared in the doorway of the room.
“Dad, you’re back?” Elise said excitedly.
“Yes, come on out of that room sweetie.” He replied, motioning her towards the door with his hands as her mother appeared behind him, shortly after Karin approached as well.
“Hi Dad!” Karin said with a big smile, throwing her arms around him to receive a hug.
“Hey Karin, how are you doing?” He asked.
“I’m okay.” she shrugged as Elise got closer with Miranda walking behind her, but didn’t attempt to hug her father as her sister did.
“What kind of parent locks their kid in a room for 3 days just because she doesn’t want to attend a stupid dance club?” Elise’s father yelled at her mother.
“It’s your fault! You’re the one who suggested they go to that place.” She replied.
“Stop trying to force her to do things she doesn’t want to do. The entire point of sending them to public schools is so that they could learn how the real world works and choose for themselves.”
“If you’re so confident you can raise them better, then why don’t you try doing it sometime?” She snapped back at him angrily as Elise felt Miranda put her hands on her shoulder.
“I’m busy working so that you can have this ‘lifestyle’ that you wanted so badly. I’d think that the only thing you have to do, raise our girls properly, wouldn’t be too much to ask! You’ve even got servants to cook and clean for you!” He snapped back.
“I’m trying my best, but I can’t do anything when she won’t listen to me! I mean, look at her hair, what is that? Is she trying to be a street thug or something?” Her mother shouted while pointing to Elise’s blue streaks in her hair.
“She’s just expressing herself like a normal teenager.” Miranda said.
“You stay out of this.” Her mother growled at the maid.
“I don’t have time for this. I only came home to see how my girls were doing, I’ve got a plane leaving for Germany in an hour. If I find out you lock up one of our daughters again, so help me god.” He said as he turned and started heading back down the hall towards the large stairs out of the house. Elise quickly broke free of Miranda’s hands and ran past Karin and her mother to catch up with him.
“Wait!” Elise stopped him, moving to walk beside him as they descended down the large stairs of the mansions main foyer. “Take me with you.” Elise begged.
“I can’t take you with me, it’s an important business trip.” He replied coldly.
“It’s always an important business trip.” She sighed. “I won’t cause any trouble, please. I don’t want to stay here anymore.” Elise pleaded. Her father stopped at the bottom of the stairs and knelt down so that he was at eye level with Elise, putting his hands on her shoulder.
“If your mother tries anything like that again, I want you to call me instantly, okay? But this is your home, and you’ve got school tomorrow.” He said as they looked into each others eyes. He then got back up and quickly walked towards the front doors of the house.
“If I call you, what are you going to do? Come back for five minutes to yell at her, then leave again?” Elise called out to him across the Foyer just as Karin appeared at the top of the stairs to watch him leave. “You’re just as bad as mom!” She shouted angrily with fists clenched. Hearing this, he stopped with the front door open to turn and look into Elise’s eyes once more. He saw her angry expression, but said nothing. He simply turned, walked out the door and shut it behind him. Elise stood frozen in place for a bit, staring blankly.
“Why do you always make them fight? Why can’t you just listen to mom?” Karin called out to Elise from the top of the stairs after a few moments of silence. Elise turned and looked up the long staircase to lock eyes with her older sister, giving her the angriest glare her face would allow. “It’s your fault that it’s like this.” Karin said, then turned and walked towards her bedroom. After hearing the bedroom door shut behind Karin, Elise clenched her fist and let out a loud high pitched scream of frustration, but no one in the mansion reacted. Tears built up in her eyes as she stomped across the foyer and through a hall until arriving in a bathroom with a large mirror and fancy sink. On the sink she found a small pair of scissors and used it to aggressively start cutting out the blue streaks in her hair as tears rolled down her cheeks.
[Darith - Short Term Growth]
“See you after school, I’ll be waiting at home for you to play, so don’t worry about falling behind or anything!” Darith said to Liana as she was lifted into Kristen’s car, Darith walking down the driveway with his backpack on. He tried his best to speak in code whenever Kristen was listening..
“Okay.” She called back cheerfully.
“Have a good day.” Kristen said to him.
“You too!” He replied, waving as he got to the sidewalk and headed towards the school. The more he walked in his regular body, the more he started to hate it. His legs started to chafe together in his baggy cargo shorts, and his shirt sleeves stuck to his arm as if they were choking them. He could feel extra parts shaking and wiggling as he stepped, feelings he didn’t have with his game character. The more he lived as a tiny little Nemothyne, the more he started to hate the feeling of being overweight.
He started daydreaming about how he could power up his real body using the game, so that he could lose weight. His mind wandered further to ask if it was even possible anymore, if something like healing Liana’s real body would be possible using something from the game. Before he knew it, he had arrived at school and silently made his way through the crowds of other highschool students talking and standing in circles in front of the building.
All he wanted was to be seen by as few people as possible, embarrassed about what they might see or what they might stare at. Every laughing student he walked past made him wonder if they were laughing at him, or something else. Finally he got into the empty class room and felt relieved, sitting in his desk without anyone around to stare. He used the time to fix his clothes as usual, preparing himself to look as skinny as possible before the first person walked in.
Within about 20 minutes the classroom filled up and the bell rang, and not to his surprise, Ryan was not there.
“Absent again? Have you heard anything from Ryan?” The teacher asked Darith as the class quieted down and everyone sat in their desks. Darith simply shrugged in response.
“Alright, well, today we’ll be starting from page 320 in your textbooks.” Their math teacher said, and the sound of bags and books shuffling filled the room. Darith took out his book and quickly looked at the 2 opened pages, then looked away a few seconds later out the window. His mind started daydreaming wondering what Ryan was doing.
The same feeling returned to him from before, the feeling of wasting time and falling behind. He began to play out a scenario in his head where he snuck to the hospital to get Liana and they went into a dungeon together. He daydreamed about all of the types of bosses and monsters they might encounter. Then his mind started wondering about new spells he could make using his spell mastery.
“Darith? Care to answer?” His teacher said, drawing his attention back to the class and causing him to quickly jerk his head to the teacher. He saw most students looking bored at their books while a few turned to look at him.
“Answer what?” Darith asked.
“Question 3 on the page.” His teacher said with disappointment. “Pay attention please instead of staring out the window.”
“-31.6.” Darith replied without thinking. He and the teacher both simultaneously got expressions of shock.
“Already solved it I see? Maybe this material is a bit too easy for you then.” the teacher eventually shrugged, then went back to his lecture. Meanwhile Darith was still surprised. How did he know that? He looked at the textbook closely, and it felt like all of the information on the pages were already in his head. By just glancing at it, he could recall all the words and numbers, and answer all of the questions.
He opened his notebook and quickly jotted down the answers appearing in his mind for each question, then rushed through the book to the back to the answer keys. He found the answer key to page 320 in a second, and sure enough, all of his answers were accurate.
“At least stay on the same page, Darith.” The teacher commented as he watched Darith shuffle through the book.
“S-sorry.” Darith said, the teacher spotting Darith looking at the answer keys in the back.
“Ah-hah, cheating for the answers? You can’t learn how it’s done if you only look at the solution. Have you ever heard the expression ‘teach a man to fish?’” His teacher asked.
“I wasn’t cheating, I can answer all of these... Really fast.” Darith said in amazement and confusion to himself, though the teacher considered this as boasting, all students eyes now on Darith.
“Alright then,” The teacher walked to his desk and shut his textbook, taking it away and walking to the chalkboard. He grabbed a piece of white chalk and quickly scribbled down an equation related to their current material.
“Solve thi-”
“902.” Darith replied, then threw his hands over his mouth, remembering now that he had drastically raised his intelligence stat over the weekend. Was it that? Or was it the analyze skill? Not only was he really smart, but thinking extremely fast with incredible memory.
“Hmm. Once more.” The teacher added another question.
“Thirty..... No, it’s just 0.” Darith replied. He couldn’t figure out himself why he knew the answer, but he just did.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Impressive. I’ll make you a deal, Darith. You pretend to pay attention in class, and I’ll get you an exam to see what grade you should be learning at for tomorrow, okay?” The teacher smiled.
“O-okay.” Darith replied, some of the students now mumbling to each other in amazement, but Darith himself was more amazed than any of them.
[Liana + Jaese - Helping Hand]
“All clean now?” Kristen asked while pushing along Liana’s wheelchair through the hospital.
“I feel dirtier than before Cindy started washing me.” Liana replied.
“Oh come on it can’t be that bad.” Kristen said in disbelief.
“If you don’t believe me, you should ask her to give you a sponge bath.” Liana retorted.
“Oh no, I’ll take your word for it.” Kristen replied. “So, how was your weekend, having fun with Darith?”
“Yeah, it’s really fun! It’s the most amazing game ever!” She said as her eyes suddenly lit up with excitement, though out of view of Kristen who stood behind her wheelchair.
“What sort of game is it, what do you guys do?” Kristen asked. Liana hesitated at answering, remembering that she wasn’t supposed to tell people about it.
“Well, it’s kind of like an adventure game. Darith is a wizard and I am a healer. Yesterday we fought a really strong monster and got a special reward from it.”
“He’s a wizard, huh? Next time you are playing maybe tell him to learn some magic that’ll keep his room clean.” Kristen replied.
“I don’t think there’s any magic like that in the game.” Liana wondered.
“I doubt there’s any magic in the world that’ll make him keep it clean.” She laughed, Liana giggling a bit along with her. “I’ve got to get back to work, anywhere you’d like to be dropped off?”
“Hmm, what about the police officers, are they still here?” Liana asked.
“Ah, it’s been so busy I didn’t mention it. The officer that was in the ER didn’t make it, and apparently the other officer you talked to went after the guys that did it. He ended up in the ER on Saturday as well, still didn’t catch the guys. Luckily he’s recovering, but pretty crazy situation.” Kristen replied.
“Can I see him?” Liana asked hopeful.
“I don’t know if they’ll let you, but let’s try and see how he’s doing. I’m also a bit worried about him.” Kristen commented.
The first thing Jaese perceived was a vicious pain in his chest. The rest of his body felt light, numb even, except for the pain just below his right shoulder. He saw black, and when he slowly tried to open his eyes he was met with white light. His vision was blurry and took a moment to adjust to the lighting, but after a few seconds he was able to identify his surroundings. Hospital roof, hospital bed, hospital room. He turned his head slightly, lifting one arm to see an IV in it and some other monitors hooked up to his body, the rhythmic sound of the heart rate monitor beeping beside him.
“Jaese? Can you hear me?” A familiar voice spoke, causing him to turn his head and see Richard sitting at his bedside.
“Ugh, yeah...” Jaese replied hesitantly, sitting up slightly but stopping because of the pain in his chest. “What happened?” Jaese asked, just as Richard quickly stood up and opened the room door.
“He’s up.” He said to the officer guarding outside the room, and the officer nodded and grabbed his radio while Richard shut the door.
“What’s going on?”
“You got hurt badly, we think by the same guys that robbed the bank. Luckily he missed any vitals, but it seemed whoever attacked you was aiming for your heart. The only reason you’re alive is because the weapon they used had an odd shape. Doctors say it’s consistent with the wounds of the other officers. You were out from blood loss but you should make a full recovery.” Richard said as he sat back down.
“Well isn’t that great news.” Jaese replied sarcastically.
“I need to ask you a few questions about what happened, is that okay?” Richard said calmly.
“Yeah, that’s fine.” Jaese replied.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” He asked.
“Well, I-” He started confidently, but as he tried to think back to what happened he simply recalled nothing. A blank white image filled his head as he tried to think about getting injured. “I don’t know, I-” he thought harder for a few moments, until finally the white memory disappeared and he saw Gabriel entering the old building.
“I followed Gabriel into an old abandoned building. I followed him there, called it in, I was waiting for backup. That was after you told me you arrived at the restaurant. You said something about a bunch of girls going crazy?”
“You were found bleeding out with that wound in your chest inside the building. Do you remember why you went in, or what happened inside?” Richard asked.
“N-no... I can’t remember. It’s strange, all I can remember is just white, like the memory is blank.” Jaese replied.
“The girls we arrested in the restaurant said something similar just after they stopped acting crazy. Took them awhile before it happened though.” Richard commented, glancing away from Jaese for a moment.
“What about Gabriel then, he should’ve been there. You think maybe he did this?” Jaese replied.
“He was nowhere to be seen. Jaese, the officer that arrived at the scene found you bleeding out, and right before you blacked out, you said something to him. You said ‘not pretending’. What did you mean by that?” Richard asked nervously.
“I don’t... I’ve got no idea.” Jaese replied.
“It’s really important you remember, try if you can. Do you remember what you said to me at my desk, before I sent you to the gang house?” Richard asked.
“Yeah, I told you who ever is doing all of this is using tricks to try and make themselves look like some sort of wizard...” Jaese said, himself now realizing what his supposed words meant. “So why would I say ‘not pretending?’”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like this case one bit.” Richard sighed as he ran his hand through his short black hair, looking to the wall in deep thought. “Too many things that aren’t adding up, and we can’t get any answers.”
“Have you tried tracking down Gabriel?”
“We’ve been watching his house, but he’s disappeared. Tai’s gone too, can’t find any of his people.”
“I wish-” Jaese focused really hard, trying to pull up any useful memory, but nothing came up. “Why can’t I remember!” He said angrily.
“I’m guessing some sort of drug is involved. Tests came back clean on you and the girls from the restaurant, but it's the only realistic explanation left. The only alternative to that is what you said when you blacked out, that whatever is going on isn’t just some trick.”
“You think, real magic?” Jaese asked in disbelief.
“At this point, I don’t know what to think.” Richard said, just as the door opened and Kristen walked in the room.
“You’re awake! How are you feeling?” Kristen asked
“Like I’m on something.” Jaese commented as Richard stood up to be polite for the lady entering the room.
“That’s just the painkillers. You lost a lot of blood and the doctors had to give you 16 stitches in your chest.”
“When can I get out of here?” He asked.
“We’d like to keep you under observation for another day before you’re free to go.” Kristen replied.
“Great.” Jaese sighed.
“Until then you should make sure you get a lot of rest. If you need anything you can press that button there.” She pointed to a nurse button on the side of his bed.
“Alright, thanks.” He replied politely, and Kristen quickly turned to step out of the room just as Arnold arrived outside the door.
“He’s awake? What in the hell were you thinking! I told you to take time off not go chasing after the guys by yourself!” Arnold said angrily as he pushed into the room, but Richard blocked him from going further in.
“Doctor said he’ll need rest, you can yell at him later.”
“To hell with that, you’ve got a lot of questions to answer.”
“Please don’t cause too much stress for the patient, the wound could open back up.” Kristen said politely to the two.
“Come on, let’s talk outside.” Richard insisted, leading Arnold out of the room. Kristen left after them.
“Thanks.” Jaese said to her quietly as she was closing the door. She simply turned and winked at him before shutting it, and he slumped back into his bed, trying once more to recall what had happened.
Liana sat in her wheelchair down the hall a bit from the room, watching as Kristen, Arnold and Richard all left the room. While Arnold and Richard began arguing, Kristen walked over to Liana.
“So, how is he? Can I talk to him?” Liana asked.
“I don’t think it’s a good time right now, they seem a little on edge. Listen sweetie, I’ve got some patients to check on, are you okay staying here?”
“Yup.” Liana nodded.
“Alright, don’t get into any trouble okay?” Kristen said as she gently kissed Liana on the forehead.
“I won’t!” Liana said, and Kristen walked off into the hospital. Contrary to her words however, Liana instantly used the control on her wheelchair to move closer to the arguing detective and police captain.
“He can’t remember.” Liana heard Richard say to Arnold.
“And you believe him? That’s bullshit.” Arnold replied angrily.
“I’m pretty sure he’s telling the truth, just like those girls.” Richard replied calmly. Arnold responded by putting his palm to his forehead and pacing slightly, turning around once.
“Someone better tell me something. I want to know what the hell is going on in this city. The commissioner is so far up my ass I’m starting to cough up his toupee.” Arnold said angrily, but in a whisper.
“I know how you feel. Right now all we’ve got is Gabriel, if we can find him, maybe whoever is doing this hasn’t messed with his memories like they’ve done to Jaese and the girls from the restaurant.” Richard said.
“Alright.” Arnold said as he pulled out his phone and pressed a few numbers. “I want all available units looking for this Gabriel Estada guy, get a city wide APB on him. Set up a press conference so we can get his face on the news. I want this guy found yesterday.” Arnold said, then quickly rushed down the hall with Richard behind him.
Liana was then left with just the officer standing quietly in front of Jaese’s hospital door, leaning against the wall. Liana hesitated for a moment, then decided to move towards him. As she got close, the buzzing sound of her wheelchairs motor got his attention and he turned to look at her.
“Excuse me officer, can you tell me what happened to Officer Jaese?”
“Sorry little girl, that’s official police business.” He replied, and as he looked at her he did his best to not stare at her scars. He failed horribly, and Liana noticed it, but she pretended not to.
“Do you think I could talk to him?” Liana asked.
“Are you a friend of his?” He asked.
“Well... N-no... Not really. I’m just a patient here, I talked to him the other day.”
“Ah, I see. You don’t need to worry about him, he’ll make a full recovery, he just needs to rest. What’s your name? I’ll let him know you stopped by.” he replied politely, though his eyes on her scars made him seem rude to her.
“Liana.” She replied with a pouting expression, turning her wheelchair and driving it away. Her curiosity was left unsatisfied, and she started brainstorming about something else she could do to kill time. She just remembered that she wanted to try a healing spell on a patient when she heard an odd thunk sound behind her. She turned around to see the officer she had just been talking to sitting down on the ground with his back against the wall, head tilted to the side.
Eric Jesthen - Lvl 6
She saw above his head, just like all other people in the hospital had their names and levels. This wasn’t unusual for her now since she was a part of the game, what was unusual was the status effect icon sitting below it. She quickly tapped her right index finger towards the icon to see what it meant.
Sleep - Rank 81
The target of this spell will sleep for the duration or until damage is taken.
Time Remaining: 2m53s
Seeing this, Liana’s eyes opened wide. She understood why he fell over now, but why? What was going on? She quickly glanced around the hospital looking for someone that could have cast the spell, but there were only doctors and nurses in the hall around them. Nothing stood out at first, Liana glancing around to the best of her ability. She then considered going to wake the officer up, but how? Could she dispel him? She didn’t know any magic to do that. If he takes damage, she thought. She then started wheeling her chair forward with the plan on pinching the sleeping officer, but stopped when she spotted a doctor walking down the hall from the other side of the hospital. She felt an odd aura from him, and when she looked at his name above his head she instantly knew why.
???? - Level ??
Seeing this, she panicked. She quickly turned her wheelchair around and moved in the opposite direction. She knew she was above level 10 and could be attacked by other players, and she also knew that this guy was way higher level than she was. Her first thought was that she needed to get out of her body, but not knowing where she could do it. Was there a city guard watching her? No, probably not, that guy just cast a sleep spell, she thought, and as her mind raced she saw an open door lining the hall and steered her wheelchair into it.
Inside the room were 4 hospital beds, each filled with older people who all glanced at Liana for a moment before losing interest and going back to reading books and magazines. Liana saw them and got annoyed, with them in the room she couldn’t switch to her game body, but at least she was out of the view of the other man. She quickly turned her chair around and drove it right in the door frame so that she could peer out of the room, though it wasn’t as subtle as she was hoping for.
Regardless, the ??? Player was preoccupied, he immediately walked into the hospital room Jaese was in, completely confident as he stepped through the door in his white scrubs. She made out shaved blonde hair and a bony facial structure, but she couldn’t see much more details about him than that. He was in the room, then out. Only a few seconds, then he left the same way he came. He didn’t glance around to see if anyone saw him, he walked as if he didn’t care, and this bothered Liana more than his ?? Level.
Once she was sure he was gone Liana used her controls to drive her wheelchair towards the sleeping officer. Her first idea was to pinch him to wake him up, but she hesitated and changed her mind, deciding to check and see what the player did inside the room. She opened the door with some difficulty using her right hand, then drove the chair inside.
Jaese was sleeping soundly in the hospital bed with two separate status effects.
Sleep - Rank 81
The target of this spell will sleep for the duration or if damage is taken.
Remaining: 2m11s
It was the same status as the officer’s outside. She then moved her finger to look at the other.
Curse: Doom - Rank 10
Targets afflicted by this curse will die when the duration reaches zero.
Reamining: 23h59m11s.
Liana’s eyes opened wide, and without hesitation she lifted her right hand.
“Grand Restore!” She said, causing a large green circle to appear in front of her hand, moments later a large green light shot over Jaese, showing large green numbers to represent how much he’d been healed. The status effect remained. “Remove poison!” She tried, a similar spell circle cast, but it had no effect. “It’s a curse, how do I remove a curse?” Liana panicked. She glanced to see Darith’s health bar in her party interface, and she knew what she had to do. Before leaving the room she looked at the time on the curse, and then struggled to pull her phone out of her front right pocket, navigating to the alarms menu. She set an alarm to track the timer on the curse, then used the remote to back out of the room.
“Kristen!?” Liana called instantly, shouting out into the halls of the hospital. “Kristen!” She repeated, getting plenty of attention as she went full speed down the halls until finally a nurse stopped her.
“Is everything alright Liana?” Nurse Cindy asked, stepping out from one of the rooms.
“Do you know where Kristen is? I need Kristen right now!” Liana begged.
“What’s wrong dear?” She asked worriedly, meeting Liana at eye level.
“Nothing is wrong, I just need to talk to Kristen.” Liana replied impatiently.
“I’ll page her then, one moment. Cindy said as she walked into a room to grab a phone that was hooked into the wall, pressing some numbers. “She’ll be here as soon as she can, do you need anything?” Cindy asked worriedly.
“No, no I’m okay I just need to talk to Kristen.” Liana replied again. Cindy asked a few more times worriedly, but eventually left Liana to wait by the door until Kristen arrived about 5 minutes later.
“What is it, is everything okay?” Kristen said with a panicked expression.
“I’m okay.” Liana assured her.
“Oh thank god, I was worried, what’s wrong then?” Kristen asked as she let out a sigh of relief.
“I need to go home to talk with Darith, can you take me home?” Liana pleaded.
“Right now? Is it about that game?” Kristen asked, noticing her cellphone on her lap.
“Yes... Well, sort of, but it’s really important.” Liana insisted.
“Sweetie, Darith won’t be at home for a few more hours, he’s still at school.” Kristen replied, sounding slightly annoyed now.
“It’s really really important though!” Liana begged with desperate eyes, eyes that Kristen never saw from Liana before. She hesitated for a moment, then let out a long sigh.
“I’ll tell you what, I’ll take my break around 3:30 and drop you off at home then, okay? That’s when Darith gets home from school.” Kristen replied reluctantly.
“O-okay, thanks a lot!” Liana said with a nervous smile, reaching for her phone to see the timer counting down from 23 hours, 50 minutes, seeing it was only 11:30 am as well.”