My mouth went dry, and I kept licking my lips, but they seemed to stick together. "I feel like my world has crashed around my ears," I said. My heart beat wildly as I took a deep breath and then another. Before I looked at Luke and Caroline, the blue box followed my gaze and filled up my vision. "Uhh, does anyone else see a blue box?"

"Blue box?" Luke asked, looking around. "Do you mean the mailbox over there?" he said, pointing to the street corner.

Caroline huffed. "Victoria, is this like the fairy?"

I vividly remembered the bright ball of light that had plagued my mom’s garden for months over the summer when I was eight. "It came on my birthday too," I said in frightened hushed tones.

"Uh, Caroline ixnay on the pixeyai," Luke hissed. "Victoria, what does the box say?" he asked urgently.

I turned to my friend and blinked rapidly. "What?"

"What does the box say?" he asked insistently. I began to read the words aloud to my friends. "Happy 16th birthday! You have 1 hour to complete setup and registration, or the system will initialize with default settings. Do you wish to enter Set up? Yes/No? What does that even mean? What system?" I asked in a panic. "What are default settings?"

"I don’t know," Caroline said, looking away from me and fidgeting with her hands. "I’ve never heard of the system," she said convincingly. The blonde looked at Luke as I examined his contemplative face. He chewed on the side of his lower lip.

"Luke?" I asked, noticing he seemed to have thought of something.

"I’m thinking. It doesn’t make sense; that’s not real," he said, his eyes darting around.

"What?" Caroline asked.

"Please, tell me," I said, a plaintive whine in my voice. This whole thing was scaring me. Was I going crazy? Had I always been crazy? Like that witch Dorgon the Gorgon had always claimed?

"Okay, so there’s this book I read something… Apocalypse? I forget the author. Tao Corvin? No, that’s not right. But in it, the system is this thing that provides magic energy, and, well, it’s weird, but people become like players in a game-like world. But that shit's not real," he said, pulling out his phone. Punching a few buttons, he came up with a graphic. "See, it’s just a book." He looked thoughtful. "And we weren’t included," he said, motioning to Caroline and himself. "So yeah…"

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"A game? You think this is part of a game?" Caroline chimed in.

"No. It’s not a game!" Luke hissed, his eyes darting around the plaza, looking at the other students from their school. "There is only one way for her to know what it is, though."

"It could be a figment of her imagination," Caroline said as she patted me on my arm. "Ignore it, and it will go away."

"I don’t know if I’d be happier if it were, Caroline," I said, looking to my best friends for help. "I mean, if it's a figment of my imagination, then the school psychologist is right, and I’m deeply disturbed."

"I say, yes," Luke looked thoughtful as he replied. "From what you said, you have a choice to do it now or later. But it’s going to happen."

"If it’s even real," Caroline replied, an upset look on her face. "Here. Though?" I asked as I looked nervously around the plaza. "What if something happens?"

"Like you passing out from seeing ghosts, in front of the entire school’s junior class?" Luke quipped. Caroline and I both gave him the evil eye. "Look, I don’t know. What’s the worst that could happen?"

"Well, now that you’ve said that, it would just be tempting fate for her to do it here," Caroline said as she cuffed him on the side of his head. "Seriously. You should know better than that," she said as she glared angrily at him.

"I’ve got an idea," Luke said. "The club, you can come there and maybe learn about character creation. Before you, I don’t know?"

"Open Pandora’s box," Caroline said. "You should tell someone."

"Who?" I asked, hearing a sullen whine in my voice. "But why me? Who would believe me? I mean, can you see Doctor Dorgun talking to me about it? That woman thinks I’m insane as it is." My friends grunted in agreement.

"You know, if this system thing is real, maybe Dorgun really is an alien," Luke chimed in brightly with a chuckle.

Caroline guffawed. "Oh, please with that forehead? Got to be some sort of Orc."

"I could see an orc," Luke said smiling. "I mean, look at that jawline." He snickered as we joined him in a laugh.

I looked at Luke. "Can you help me? Explain this whole character creation stuff?"

"I don’t really know if I can help," he said, dazed by my request. "It would probably be easier if we went to the club this afternoon."

"I don’t have time," I stated. "It said I had an hour..."

"Why?" Caroline asked, her question mirrored my own thought.

"Well, I’ve only played a few games, and they’ve all been pretty much the same. But Mr. Lagrand, he’s played all kinds of games and probably could give you an idea about how others work. I just kind of know Dungeons and Dragons." Flummoxed, he shrugged as he ran a hand through his messy, dirty blond hair.

"You look so cute when you do that," Caroline said as she reached over and tweaked him on the nose, causing Luke’s eyes to go wide. Caroline looked at him coyly. "You know… I don’t have a date to the dance."

Luke blushed even harder and stammered out. "W… would you do me the honor?" he squeaked on the last syllable.

"Yes!" Caroline exclaimed and hugged Luke, then ran off squealing. I noticed how huge his own eyes were as they followed his date around.

"What just happened?" I asked, more than a little befuddled. "Guys, focus. This is about me," I said petulantly.