Walking into the hospital was always accompanied with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Jay loved his sister more than anything. Ever since their dad died, he had tried to be someone she could look up to. Someone his mom could rely on in her shrinking family. But try as he might, remembering everything he had learned from his father, it still wasn’t the same. Jay knew he could never make up for the loss, but he needed to keep trying.

A nurse greeted him as he walked by the station. She didn’t give him directions, because they all knew he could find his way around the whole floor. Unfortunately, he was a frequent face in these parts.

Jay noticed a man in an expensive looking suit talking to one of the doctors that he’d met in Sarah’s room, but wrote it off. He had learned early on: doctors didn’t like people who pried. They were busy trying to protect health information. Really, they were just plain busy. Most likely, the man was some executive or board member, or a lawyer, but it was hard to tell. Jay shook his head to clear his thoughts, then continued to his sister’s private room and knocked gently.

“Come in,” she called out. When he walked into her room, her face lit up. “Jay! I’m so glad you’re here.”

Every day for a hundred and thirteen days, he had visited her in the hospital, but each time she acted like it was the best surprise of all.

He looked around to see what she was up to. The hospital room was plain. Jay made a mental note to tack up some artwork or something. In contrast, the bed was vibrant. The linens were littered with piles of paper and Sarah’s laptop.

“Did you cause a paper explosion again, Sarah?” he asked, giving her an intense questioning look. She stifled a giggle, which was the exact reaction he had wanted. She pointed to a chair in the corner that could have his name written across the old material.

“You can’t talk about explosions in a hospital,” she chided back, trying to keep a serious face. “You’ll have the poor nurses setting off an emergency alarm! Aren’t their lives hard enough?”

They both tried to stay serious, but neither of them could stop the grins that came over their faces.

“How’s the studying going?” he asked, walking over to her bedside to spy on her papers. Jay didn’t know why he tried. He could tell it was a Biology assignment. That was about it.

“It’s going. I’m in three different classes to keep up with the curriculum. The credits I brought with me from high school aren’t going to be enough to stay on track if I’m planning to graduate in four years. Which I am.”

Jay wanted to point out that she was the one who decided to take a biomedical engineering degree as part of meeting her medical school requirements. He was worried about the pace she was pushing herself to keep up. He didn’t see the point in rushing herself into even worse health. It wasn’t going to help her get any better.

His concern won in the end, earnest feelings spilling over. “You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep pushing so hard. That’s almost a full class load in addition to all the medical testing. You need time to recover.”

“My body might be failing,” Sarah said with a frown, “but my mind is sharp. I need something to do all day, or I’ll die of boredom before I die of disease.”

“Why rush it, though? You’re making things worse on your body.”

Trying to diffuse the conversation, she responded with a playful grin, “It’s a game between me and the doctors to see if they can discover my problem before I do. So far, I seem to be in the lead.”

“I’m being serious.”

Sarah was unbothered by his sharp words. She motioned back to the chair Jay always sat at, reminding him that he was still standing. Then she crossed her arms, as if appraising his conviction. “So am I. The fact that things like this still happen to people is ridiculous. I know they try their best. Who wants to specialize in rare patients? They’d probably get bored, too. But I’m motivated.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “Alright, Sarah. I don’t want to fight. You win. Has mom come to visit you recently?”

“Nah,” Sarah said. She dropped her arms and his happy, loving sister returned. “She texted me earlier today. I guess she’s been working cleaning houses for people on the weekends and stuff. I asked her if she was keeping our house clean, too. She told me to mind my own business.” She chuckled as she finished. Looking past her, Jay noticed the plant on her side table was heavily wilted. He hadn’t noticed the day before.

Her gaze followed his. “You could help me water it? I hear they like water.”

“I can take a hint,” he agreed. “Do you want some, too?”

Sarah nodded enthusiastically. “I hate asking nurses. They’re always busy poking and prodding, but I’m seriously parched. I’ll finish this assignment while you’re gone and then we can really talk, okay?” She turned to her school work as she finished speaking, so Jay figured she didn’t expect an answer.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

He snuck out of the room as quietly as he could to avoid disturbing her thought process. He passed by the same executive he had seen earlier talking to another doctor. He recognized both doctors were ones that worked with Sarah. Jay wasn’t too shocked. Those were the people that worked on this floor, after all. He went around them before they could notice his interest. If it was about Sarah, he would hear about it soon. Mind your business, Jay.

He easily found the water fountain and ice machine. There was a coffee machine nearby, too, which he immediately started, because a caffeine buzz was, as every true gamer knew, an essential part of the gaming process. He got some water for Sarah along with a smaller cup for the plant, but once the coffee finished, Jay realized he would need to balance holding three cups. It was awkward.

He survived the trek only to be defeated by the door, stopped right in front of it. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out how to open the door without spilling something everywhere. Jay was on the verge of bothering a nurse, when someone reached around him.

“Allow me,” the man said as he opened the door. It was the executive in the suit. Now that Jay was closer, he noticed the man was wearing sunglasses inside, which was a little odd. He ignored it. Most likely, the guy had spent the night drinking and was hungover. Or maybe he even had some special condition. They were in a hospital.

“Thanks,” Jay said. The man seemed content to leave their interaction there, so he continued through the door. As Jay went to drop off the water and coffee onto a table, he heard the door close. That was nice of him, whoever he was.

Jay watered the plant, but Sarah was still deep into her assignment, so he sat down and watched her work. She was ferocious. It was hard to believe she was suffering from some rare disease. Even though the stress the work put on her scared him, Jay had to admit he was a little proud.

As she finished her assignment thirty minutes later, she collected the materials into a pile. Although the pile had papers every which way, Sarah obviously had some kind of method to the madness. She placed all of them on her other side table and turned her attention back to him.

“Sooooo. Word on the street is you were meeting her today.”

“Word on the street? Sarah, I told you yesterday that I was meeting her. It wasn’t some crazy rumor you happened to pick up.”

“Just play along, Jay! Jeez. Let me have a little fun.”

“Alright, alright. Yes, I talked to Taylor Lynn. She’s got this game she wanted me to play called Tumultua Online. I told her I’d give it a shot tonight, but that I probably wouldn’t be continuing. Which was just my way of letting her down easy; I can’t get back into all that.”

Sarah was quiet for a long while before she responded. Jay was comfortable just sitting in the silence, because his sister and he often did this, engrossed in their own activities or thoughts. She would speak up when she was ready.

“I don’t understand why you still hang out with her. You’re in love with her, and she pretends like she doesn’t even know.”

“I don’t love her… exactly,” Jay said, fumbling over his words. “And anyway, I don’t think she really knows anymore. I try my best to keep it hidden.”

“How could she not know? You’re super obvious.”

“Gee, thanks. After I told her how I felt, she said she wasn’t interested in anything more than being friends. She left me alone awhile, as you know. You’ve always been this nosy.” She stuck her tongue out at him, but he just continued on, “After she gave me some time, she wanted to keep playing games. She figured I was over it, but I didn’t get over it. I just learned how to keep it inside. That’s on me.”

“Yeah, but she practically flirts with you.”

“I’m fine. It’s much easier to see her as just another person, trying her best, when I see her in real-world HD. It’s harder when we’re playing games together. It’s impossible to ignore the fact that she’s the gamer girl from the library I fell in love with, once upon a time.”

“As long as you’re okay, I guess. I think I’ve actually heard about that game from some of my friends. Casey texted me and said it’s supposed to be pretty cool,” Sarah said, switching the conversation onto a different track.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Supposedly it’s virtual reality, but my old gear is going to work fine without a full dive capsule. And it’ll have a bunch of classes. Apparently, we’re going to be Elves.”

“It’s a lot more than that! I heard there are five different nations of different races of people. There’s a bunch of politics in the game, and players fill most of the important roles in society. Of course, it’s easiest for people with full dive capsules, since they can play for about a month without even leaving to stretch. There’s some kind of nutrient drip. I wish I understood it better; We’re going to be studying those devices in medical school. No doubt about it.”

Jay almost laughed at how excited she seemed by the whole prospect of the game and its gear, but Sarah forged on.

“But there’s a lot: politics, economics, crafting, dungeons and raid content. Oh, and there are dynamic world events created by a team of a developers using internal tools to make live adjustments to the game.”

“It sounds like you want to play the game for yourself.”

“Maybe, if I ever get the time. Just promise me you’ll try it out tonight with Taylor Lynn, it’s a rare opportunity and I want to hear all of the details!”

“Of course,” he said. “No one could refuse a request from the mighty Taylor Lynn,” he added, rolling his eyes for effect. Jay could see Sarah’s interest piqued in the topic once again, so he quickly shifted the conversation away from his forlorn affections.

He spent the next hour entertaining Sarah with stories about his customers at the bar and their wild antics. She was the perfect listener, laughing at all the right times. He hoped the stories helped give her a window to the outside world.

Finally, she interrupted a story about a newly minted twenty-one-year-old who ordered whiskey neat without knowing what the neat part meant. “I love you, but it’s time to study again. I’ll drown under this paperwork if I don’t get back to work soon. Go get your girl.”

He could see her mind working as her attention shifted gears, ebbing away from him and their conversation back towards cellular whatever. She was already thinking about the next question on her laptop. Jay quietly crept out, but she called after him when she heard the knob turn.

“You’re a good guy.”

He stopped, backtracking into the room to protest: “You have to say that.”

“No, I mean it. I think if you were faced with any tough choice, you’d do the right thing.” She looked down at her laptop as she typed an answer into her online school portal. Her voice sounded distant as she concluded: “The only thing I have left is faith. Faith in mom, in myself, and in you.”