Noise overloads my ears. The sounds of talking, yelling, footsteps, cars driving and beeping. Opening my eyes, I took in my surroundings and glanced to the side of me. Rebecca stood there, still in the body from the Prime World. We were in an alleyway, right in front of us was a river of people walking past, some of them looking at us before looking away, disgust in their eyes.
“Where are we?” Hearing Rebecca mutter, we look around again and start walking towards the entrance of the alleyway, ignoring those around us. Looking around, I’m shocked at the sight of what used to be our normal life, I hadn’t seen this sight in months.
Shops bustling with activity, skyscrapers high in the sky, crowds of people moving as one in different directions, cars lined up on the streets, honking at each other every now and then. I also noticed that the HUD of our System is still there, a timer at the top.
29 Days, 23 hours, 57 minutes and 34 seconds until you return.
We started walking along with the crowd before finding a quieter street of shops and walking down it we paused in front of a window of a particular store, revealing why people were looking at us in disgust.
My hair is a mess, dirty and all tangled. My face is crusted in dirt where I hadn’t been burnt while my clothing looked completely different from what everyone else is wearing, but it’s also all torn in different places. Rebecca isn’t any better, her blue hair with purple streaks is a mess, some of the blood from the dragon still there, though faded. Her burn marks and scars are visible along her jawline and arms.
“We look like shit, like we were just rolling around in a mud pile.” Rebecca purses her lips before tearing her eyes away from the window. “We’re in Carlton, I know this strip of shops.”
“Yea, we came here a few years ago. First objective is to find out what happened…to us.” Glancing around, I tried to see if there were any places we could find information from. We had both discussed at length as to what we should do, and the first, most vital piece we needed is information about when we were taken to the Prime World and to find out what happened to our bodies.
“No money means we can’t easily just rent a computer to use. Maybe we should mug someone for their phone?” Rebecca suggests as we start walking once more, the attendants of the shop we were in front of had been glaring at us.
“I like the idea, but we can’t just yoink their shit. We could just use their phone to get information. Let’s leave it as a last resort, we’re drawing a lot of attention to ourselves because of our appearance as it is.”
After walking around for a bit longer, we debated going to a library but being refused entry into one we decided to just hold someone up.
“Should we disguise ourselves?”
“We’re not here for long. How do you hold someone up anyway?”
“I don’t know Rubes! I’ve never done it before.”
“Well, it’s best to nab them when they’re alone, right?”
“I guess? Witnesses would just call the police. Isn’t it going to be awkward to stand there holding someone up while we browse the internet? Shouldn’t we grab like, twenty bucks and go to an internet cafe?”
Keeping our voices low, we changed our goal and walked into a small store that hadn’t had any customers in the last two minutes. We pretended to browse and seeing the store clerk, a man in his thirties, we put our plan into action. Giving a signal to Rebecca, she moved to the door while I walked up to the counter, pulling out the mostly damaged glock.
The clerk, who was sitting down reading a magazine, looked up as I held up the unloaded gun. He didn’t look panicked at all and sighing he pointed at the till. “Hundreds are on the bottom, loose change on top. We don’t keep any more on premise, just take it.” Seeing him go back to his magazine, I nearly fell over. Here I am, heart beating nervously, yet he just casually ignored the fact I’m robbing him! Hey! React more, I’ve never done this before!
“Ah…um, I just want a twenty dollar note…”
The man glances up at me with a raised brow. “Are you new to this? The store doesn’t have cameras so you can just take it all…”
“N-no, I just need twenty to browse the internet…” Nervously laughing, the man looks at me in confusion before looking at the gun.
“You could sell that for more, loads would take it off your hands. If you’re this desperate, I can give you the twenty but you shouldn’t do this anymore.” Opening the till, he hands me a twenty dollar bill before going back to his magazine.
“Why are you so calm?”
The man shrugs before responding. “We get robbed like five or six times a month. The owner doesn’t live in Australia so he doesn’t really respond nor care about the money we lose, instead is worried we won’t have enough stock. He refuses to install cameras, don’t ask me why.”
“O-oh, well t-thank you.”
“No problem. Make sure you and your girlfriend there get a good shower and some clothing, there is a charity run store a few streets over that way.” Flicking his head in one direction, he continued reading his magazine without another word. Holstering the gun once again, I returned to Rebecca, a little dazed about my encounter with him. I had to admit, he’s a kind person.
“How strange.” Rebecca muttered when I told her the story. We walked down the street and upon finding a backpackers store, entered and seeing the line of computers that seemed to be from the 90s, we asked to use one. The clerk ignored our appearances and we paid twenty dollars for thirty minutes. We sat down together at one, opening a browser and search engine.
“Alright, sooo ‘Apocalyptic World Incident’, that should do it.” Hitting enter, we saw the page slowly load with the results, the first result revealing much to us.
“‘The Video Game Massacre; How Apocalyptic World Murdered Over 1 Million People.’ So our theories were spot on then.” Grimacing, I clicked on the article and we both started to read.
“‘The moment the countdown to the games launch clicked over, their pods brightly glowed blue. Their vitals plummeted and flatlined instantly, and opening the pods we found them to be dead!’ A comment from the medical team of Italy's esports top team states what happened on that night five months ago. His description matches what every esports medical team states…
The families of those affected by this disaster have been paid out thanks to a massive collective online effort to raise money for them. The developers of Apocalyptic World and the engineers of the Virtual Reality Pods have been brought to trial and following a very quick and decisive trial have been sentenced to death for their conspiracy of mass murder. They still claim innocence to this day, stating that they are not at fault for the incident.”
“They sentenced them to death?”
“The devs were American, plus a million lives were lost. It’s not their fault though.” Opening another tab, I typed another sentence into a search engine. ‘The Dark Reapers.’
“‘The fall of The Dark Reapers; The Players Lost Too Soon.’ Let’s have a look to see what happened.”
Reading through this article, we found that our org had paid every family member out, bankrupting themselves but the CEO had sold everything, including his own house and cars, to ensure the families of players were paid out as much as possible. The CEO went bankrupt, but an effort from the online community raised enough for him to rent a house for a while and he’s been offered positions in companies because of his self sacrifice.
Bringing up another search, I start typing the next sentence, but tremble and hesitate. Feeling Rebecca’s hand on my leg, I breath out and type again. ‘Tessa Piper’.
Hitting enter, I held my breath as I saw the results. All of the top results were about trying to get comments from her and browsing all of the ones on the front page. I saw that various journalists had tried to meet with her for an interview but were told no.
Mrs Piper, who lost her husband when her daughter, Ruby ‘Midnight’ Piper was only three years of age, refused comment once more about her daughter’s death, loudly stating that our journalist should, and I must note this is her words, ‘Pound sand and eat a dick’, slamming the door in the face of our journalist. As you may know, Ruby ‘Midnight’ Piper was the well loved leader of a team within…
“Pound sand and eat a dick. God your mum is amazing as always!” Both of us burst into a fit of giggles, relief spreading from my core with the knowledge that mum hadn’t committed suicide. Searching for Rebecca’s dad, we found another article that had a similar reaction from her dad, telling the journalists to ‘suck a fat one.’
“Our parents really are amazing, being able to keep going like this…” Rebecca smiled gently before taking over the keyboard. “Alright, time for directions, we’re going to go see Mrs Piper now.” Typing my address with familiarity, Rebecca and I asked for a pen and paper and quickly wrote the details of the location. Leaving the shop, I prepare myself to jump before Rebecca stops me.
“Rubes, normal people don’t go jumping roof to roof, remember!” Hastily telling me, I blinked and stopped myself.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Oh fuck, I completely forgot! I’m too excited…”
“Me too. We could walk there, it’ll take a few hours.”
“Mm, I want to rush there, but walking will be good. Should we try and have a shower somewhere?”
“Hm? Is there a public shower nearby for free? Or should we go hold that man up again.”
“Argh, I don’t want to hold anyone up anymore! I thought it would be cool but he just shrugged me off. We need to pay him back when we can.” Both of us started following the directions we had written down while also keeping a lookout for a public shower. Failing to find one, we kept walking for hours. With our strength and stamina, a few hour walk didn’t feel like much and with each other as company we kept walking.
The streets eventually became familiar. We walked past a park that brought back memories of my childhood and I knew we were only a few streets away. I had thought I’d gotten rid of my nerves, but they flared up once more as my stomach tightened. I stopped talking as my mind started going blank. Feeling Rebecca’s grip on my hand tighten, I tried to collect my cool again but soon we turned onto my street.
“It hasn’t changed at all, has it Ruby?”
“Mm.”
“Nervous? My heart is beating out of my chest, but just remember, we’ll do this together, okay? We’ll convince her as much as we can.” Gripping Rebecca’s hand a bit more firmly, we slowly walked towards a particular house…my home.
A rather simple home, you could look online and find thousands similar to it. But it’s home, even if it looks like a common house. Seeing my mum's little buggy in the driveway, I stood there, hesitating. Rebecca didn’t say a word and left me to my thoughts. Breathing in, I took a step forward towards the house along with Rebecca.
The door appeared in front of me far too quickly, and hesitating a bit more, I raised a trembling hand and rang the doorbell with a gentle push. Hearing the all too familiar tune play through the house, I waited as the sound of my heartbeat resounded through my ears. Hearing the footsteps of someone approaching the door, I stiffened up, unsure of what to say. The door opens, revealing a woman who had slightly greying hair but an all too familiar face…mum.
My brain froze up when I saw her, she looked like she had aged years since I saw her. I couldn’t see any life in her eyes, like she’d been living for the sake of living. She looked at the two of us with a frown, slight disgust in her eyes before speaking.
“What do you want?”
I couldn’t reply, my heart pounded hard while I tried to think of the words I had prepared, but I couldn’t. Rebecca came to my rescue.
“Hello Mrs Piper, are we intruding?”
“If you’re looking for food I don’t have any.” She went to close the door, causing my mind to panic.
“Ah, we’re not! We’re actually here to speak to you about your daughter.”
“I’ve told you journalists over and over, go pound sand and eat a dick!”
“She’s alive!” Rebecca nearly yells as mum stops closing the door, her hand trembling on the door knob. She didn’t move for a moment as Rebecca continued. “Mrs Piper, you may not believe me, but once the fool next to me reboots, she’ll offer you evidence.” Rebecca pokes my side. “That’s your queue.”
“My daughter’s dead. Get off my proper-”
“Six years ago, a night like usual. I came to you in the living room for advice…I told you that I had become nervous around a friend at high school…” Mum stopped shutting the door again, her eyes snapping to me as I spoke. “After I told you, you had laughed at me and I yelled back at you, telling you to stop laughing. You bounced off your chair with excitement and hugged me, telling me I’m an idiot and that I had fallen in love with Rebecca…
“Two years ago, we got into our very first fight. It was a stupid fight, so stupid that we had promised never to tell anyone. We argued about a dress, with you saying it was black and blue and me saying it’s white and gold. It was a heated silly argument and we both stopped at one point, realising how stupid it was and laughed about it, promising not to tell a soul. I never even told Rebecca.”
Mum looked at me, disbelief in her eyes but she remained silent and taking that as meaning she didn’t believe me yet, I continued.
“A year ago…no, a year and a half ago I discovered a small piece of flooring in your room was loose, so I lifted it up to check the damage and found the love letters dad had given you at high school, along with pictures of the three of us *hic* when I was a baby. You found me there crying my eyes out when I found a letter from dad to me, telling me how much he loved me. And instead of being mad you made copies of everything so I could have mementos of dad of my own.” Tears falling from my eyes, I looked at mum. “Mum, it’s me, Ruby.”
I couldn’t tell what she’s thinking, her eyes had clouded over, disbelief in them before she opened her mouth.
“W-what was the last sentence of that letter?”
“‘I love you, Ruby. If you ever read this, please watch over your mother for me. I know she’ll raise you with love, I’ll be watching over you both.’ He passed away from cancer a year after *hic* he wrote that letter…”
Hands trembling, mum raised her hands slowly and cupped my face in them. I could feel the warmth in those hands as she looked at me in pure disbelief. “R-Ruby?” Tears ran down her face as the trembling worsened. “Is it really you? I never told anyone about those letters…It’s you isn’t it?!”
“Mm, it’s me, mum. I’m sorry, sorry for not returning sooner.” Breaking down as she pulled me into a hug, I felt her finally break down.
“I-I can’t believe it, I can’t! B-but no one else knows those stories, I know Ruby didn’t tell anyone, even Rebecca!” Her grip on me tightened. “Ruby, I can’t believe you’re alive!”
Crying my heart out as I hugged her, I heard Rebecca pipe up.
“We should move inside, we’re drawing strange looks from a few neighbours.”
“Oh, tell them to pound sand and eat a dick. Come on, come in. Look at you, Ruby, you’re all dirty.” Mum pulls away from me before dragging me inside, Rebecca following us and closing the door.
“You really like that saying, don’t you, Mrs Piper?”
Mum turns to Rebecca before looking at me, her face still teary eyed. “Who is this?”
“I’ll give you *hic* a guess.” Choking up a bit while I wipe away the tears, mum has a look of shock as she turns to Rebecca.
“Bek? You’re alive too?!”
“The one and only. We have one hell of a story for you, Mrs Piper.”
“I imagine you do. This doesn’t feel real, either you’re really Ruby or I’ve been hoodwinked big time…” Mum chuckles. “Oh, maybe this is a dream?” Dragging me to a couch, she sits down while keeping me right next to her.
“Well, if it’s a dream then we’re all sharing it.” Rebecca sits down next to me without hesitation. “Ah, you still have this couch? I confessed to Ruby here.”
“Oh, I know all about it. Ruby, you just kissed her without a word back then, didn’t you?”
“S-shut up! I told you, I didn’t know what to do.” Feeling my face blush, I straightened up and looked at her. Her eyes no longer had no life, but they were still full of disbelief. “Mum, about what happened, we know what happened that night…and after. What happened to us is…”
I told her everything, from what happened before we got into the pods until we killed the dragon. Mum stayed hooked on the story the entire time, even throwing a quip in there at some points. When I finally told her about when we first came to the house, I stopped. “You know the rest.”
She didn’t look at me in disbelief anymore, I’d been a bit worried she’d think this was all a dream or that she’s having a delusion. Perhaps she might think it’s a delusion and she’s just accepted it, but after asking her she cracked a laugh, saying that if I was a delusion I’d have been a lot more beautiful, causing me to pout.
“To think you two have been sent to another world like that. Oh you two dears are filthy. Go shower, I only have your leftover clothing, Ruby dear. Bek dear, do you want me to call your father? He would be ecstatic that you’re still alive.”
“Ah mum…”
“Oh hush Ruby, I know what you’re about to say. ‘But mum, if you go telling people I’m alive they’ll think you’re crazy!’ Seriously child, you ought to believe in me. Steven has been coming over to help me with fixing this place up every now and then and I make him and Tim dinner. Those two have never gotten over your death, Bek dear. It might take a lot of convincing.”
“O-oh, I um, I don’t know if I’m ready.” Rebecca nervously looked at me as I reached over and held her hand, wordlessly sending her a message. Giving her a smile, she looked at me before nodding and smiling back.
“Oh you two lovebirds, exactly the same expressions! If I had any doubts before they’re gone now! Bek, I’ll call him while you’re in the shower and tell him to come over tomorrow, so don’t run away, got it?!”
Mum pushes us towards the shower and gives us two towels. “Oh, and only wash yourselves! You can have your fun later, you two.”
She walks away as we glance at each other. “She’s taken it really well…”
“Still worried she might be thinking it’s a delusion?”
“A bit, but it just feels so surreal.”
“I KNOW I'M NOT GOING CRAZY AND YES RUBY IT’S SURREAL, SO HURRY UP, SHOWER AND COME DOWN FOR DINNER.” Hearing her loud voice, we both jumped. I forgot, the walls here are thin!
Stripping down with Rebecca, we made sure to unload our guns, which we had told mum about, turned on the shower and waited for it to heat up. As the hot water hits me, it agitates the burns as I squeal in pain.
“Oh toughen up princess, it’s a bit of water!”
“Shut up, mum!” Shouting that back, I heard Rebecca laughing and turning on her, she kept giggling.
“I’m sorry, I can’t help it. It’s just like normal between you two!”
Grabbing her wrist, I pulled her in and hearing her squeal in pain as well, I heard my mother once again tell us to toughen up. Grabbing the soap, the two of us started to clean ourselves and the sheer amount of dirt, blood and muck that came off our bodies shocked us. We knew we had been dirty, but we hadn’t expected it to be this bad!
Rebecca started washing my hair as we both took our time to relax, thoroughly enjoying the hot shower we had been craving for a long time. Turning around and washing her hair, we both washed up completely and stepped out. Seeing our reflections for the first time since showering, I felt a bit speechless.
What I had thought to be medium dark red hair had turned out to be bright red hair, my skin white and fair, though the scarring from the burns were still obvious. Rebecca in turn had bright blue hair with light purple streaks, slightly tanned skin along with similar burns on her.
Drying ourselves, we wrapped the towels around us as mum opened the door, holding two stacks of clothing.
“Here, these might be a bit tight but we’ll go shopping tomorrow. I have plenty of money so we’ll get you lots of cute clothing!” Shoving the clothing into our hands, she looked us up and down. “You guys look a lot better without all that dirt and sweet crusted on. We’ve got to take you to the hairdressers and get you guys cleaned up too! That hair is far too long.” My hair reached the top of my tailbone and Rebecca’s reached her butt. We usually tied it up and because of that it had been knotted to all hell. Getting dressed into the dresses mum had brought us, which were a bit tight around the chest and a bit short, we headed downstairs to see a table of food that caused our stomachs to rumble.
“Well, dig in! I gather that you’re sick of mysterious canned meat and rice, so I ordered a lot of variety.” Looking at the food, I quickly realised she’d ordered it given that it would’ve been impossible to make so much so quickly. Sitting down, the three of us started eating as Rebecca and I shared stories with mum, with us talking throughout the night.