The security at Sarah’s healthcare facility was more impressive than Jay expected. He saw lots of security cameras, but beyond that, there were armed guards at the front desk. That surprised him. He couldn’t recall ever seeing a hospital with guards. He wondered if he had taken a wrong turn and ended up at a bank.

In fact, there was enough security to make him a little nervous as he and Claire walked up to reception together. The place was perfectly sanitary but, likely due to that, featured the blinding white construction one saw in hospitals on television. Jay cleared his throat as his eyes wandered around.

“I’m here to see my sister, Sarah Miller,” Jay offered to the young man sitting at the front desk. Unable to help himself, he added, “Are armed guards normal for this place? It’s kinda…”

He trailed off, losing track of the right word to describe how much it set him on edge without spooking the employee.

The employee smiled kindly, which did little to ease Jay’s discomfort. Mr. Georges had worn a considerate smile—to a point. “Hello, sir. My name is Dan. I’m here and happy to help and serve. The guards are normal for this facility, yes. I can’t be too detailed, but as you know, research is expensive and heavily sought. These guards are not meant to frighten you. We welcome you and want you to feel safe as visitors. Instead, the guards are to protect the research investment from hostile competitors.”

Jay understood the sentiment. It wouldn’t even have bothered him since it was understandable if the corporation in question had been one other than Tumult Corp. His levels of trust in Tumult were six feet under.

Glancing at Claire beside him, he realized she was a former employee. This did not set him at ease but deepened his worries. Something might bar her entry. Jay had moved so fast out the door that she offered to support him since he would see his sister for the first time in over a week. She smiled encouragingly at him, and his eyes returned to Dan.

“I guess that makes sense,” Jay agreed. “Do we need to sign in or something to visit? I know she recently came out of a diagnostic phase of her treatment, so I’m very anxious to see her and see how she’s feeling.”

Dan shook his head. “No need to sign in. If you wait over there, I’ll page the staff. When Sarah and the nurses are ready for you, I’ll buzz you through that door, and one of the nurses will escort you.”

He indicated, first, a small table filled with traditional magazines waiting in the waiting area. There were a half dozen chairs, so there would be plenty of room for him and Claire to sit since it was empty. Second, he indicated a large door a few feet away from one of the armed guards. That’s where the nurses would be.

Jay and Claire sat in the waiting area. She took his hand, rubbing the back of his hand with her fingertips. It was comforting. His distaste for the circumstances of Sarah’s facility melted away, at least for a moment.

As the minutes ticked by, Jay’s frustration started to rise again. Every time the annoyance passed over his face, Claire would find some way to ease his suffering. She drifted closer and closer as they waited, shuffling her chair to be close to him.

Finally, a nurse popped through the expected door. “Jay Miller? Your sister is ready for you.” The nurse spoke as she popped through the expected door. Jay glanced around the waiting room, where no one else was waiting. She was just doing her job, but it was weird that she didn’t address them directly.

“Yeah, that’s me,” Jay said. Claire took his hand, and they followed the nurse together. They passed through the facility, through a hallway with frosted glass windows and closed doors. There was no evidence that the doors were locked, but Jay expected they were. The whole place was a little bit of a maze, but the nurse led them to a room without issue.

A sign on the door described it as Sarah’s room, likely for the benefit of the rotating staff of nurses. The nurse who accompanied them to the door, who never offered her name, wordlessly let the couple into the room.

Unexpectedly, Sarah wasn’t the only occupant in the room, but the other person wasn’t a nurse. It shouldn’t have surprised Jay since the other person was their mother. Sarah was recently released from the game, so of course, their mother would want to see her, too.

“Sup, dorko,” Sarah smiled excitedly. “Kinda weird to bring your girlfriend to meet the mom already, but hey. Whatever works for you, big bro.”

Claire flushed red with embarrassment as Sarah continued to have a great time with the circumstances. Jay pat Claire on the hand, letting go of it to ease the embarrassment. Their mom, however, deftly navigated the event without pause.

“Hello Claire!” she said excitedly. “I’ve heard so much about you. Come in, come in. I’m very pleased to meet you.”

Jay knew, of course, that his mother hadn’t heard much about Claire from him. Being confronted with that fact caused his heart to twinge a bit. If he had been distant from Claire the past few days, he had been in a different zip code from his mom. The lack of communication hadn’t been intentional but resulted from his tunnel vision focus on getting through the game content. On the other hand, he was no longer solely focused on reaching level 100. There were other matters to attend to.

Claire smiled politely, although she was much more formal than she had been around Jay in the reception area. “Thank you. I’m also very happy to meet you. I’m sorry to intrude on your family time.”

“Nonsense,” his mother insisted. “Perish the thought.”

Over the next few minutes, Sarah and Jay watched their mother exchange pleasantries with Claire. They covered where she had been to school, what she liked to do, and everything Jay already knew. Of course, Sarah hadn’t known that Claire had lost her job, so there was no way for her to pass it along. That led to an awkward moment about what she did for work. All the same, his mother’s deep insight allowed the subject to be smoothed over quickly.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“How are you doing, Jay?” his mother finally asked.

Jay shrugged. “A little bit stressed, but surviving. I’ve made some progress toward level a hundred, and apparently, I’ve been voluntold to take on a leadership role in the game. I gotta admit, I’m looking forward to how that goes.”

“We all are,” Sarah said. “Everyone in the game, that is. I keep trying to tell people that you’re totally going to mess it up. No one believes me. They all think you’re some kind of weird celebrity Monster Hunter.”

“Be nice to your brother,” his mother chastised.

“She’s right, though,” Jay argued. “They shouldn’t assume a special class, and some skill means I’ll make a good leader. I don’t know what’s happening with this game’s guild system. I’m going to have some catching up to do whenever I can log back on. But I don’t think Claire wants to go on and on about the game.”

“Why not?” Claire asked. “I play.”

“You play?” Jay asked, his mouth falling open slightly. Given her former employment, he hadn’t realized she had an account for the game, though it certainly made sense. “Since when is that a thing? I’d think you would have mentioned it by now.”

“Of course I do,” Claire said, sitting in one of the extra chairs. “I didn’t see the point in telling you since we couldn’t play together. At least, not while I still worked with Mr. Georges. That wouldn’t just be a potential contract breach, but it would make him, in particular, look suspect. That’s not the sort of thing he takes a chance on.”

His mother left her chair and came around to kiss Sarah and then Jay on the forehead. “I’m going to go ahead and take off. I’ve been here a while, and you need to catch up with your sister. Call me sometime, Jay.”

Jay was pleasantly surprised she avoided any embarrassing nicknames in front of Claire. He also knew that his mother was headed off to work somewhere. She’d probably asked for time away from one of her jobs to stop in and see Sarah, given the news of her testing phase ending.

When his mother left, and the door clicked closed, Jay made himself comfortable next to Claire on one of the chairs. “So, what did they learn through their extensive round of testing? I’m guessing they found a root cause, and you’re basically all better now, right?”

That was obviously not the case, but it didn’t hurt to tease Sarah a little. She was surely happy to fire round after round of barbs his way.

“You are so not cute,” Sarah said, rolling her eyes. Jay thought he heard Claire whisper something about begging to differ. Sarah continued, “Anyway, they don’t know a whole lot. Despite a long time in the pod, my vital signs haven’t displayed anything different than usual. All tests were in range for the expected values from the previous testing.”

“Bummer,” Jay sighed. “But I guess it’s not unexpected. Did they say anything about the next phase?”

“We’re going to be cycling in and out of the game every few hours for a while,” Sarah explained. “It’s going to mess with my sleep schedule since they want me to be awake whenever I’m in-game. I think they’re trying to get my waking body to be more accustomed to the virtual world. I’m not entirely sure what they think it will accomplish, but I’m up for anything now.”

“What’s that on your nightstand?” Claire asked, pointing to a small package.

“Oh yeah,” Sarah said, pulling the small package from her bedside. She handed it over to Jay. “It’s a book I got for you. Bunch of dragons, some wizards—I don’t know. It seemed like your kind of thing.”

“It sure does,” Claire agreed, elbowing him in the ribs.

Jay took the package, unsuccessfully dodging the elbow, and started opening the item. It was sealed with tape in a regular cardboard box, but Sarah immediately protested.

“We’re in the middle of catching up, you dork,” Sarah complained. “Besides, you’ve got your girlfriend here. You can open it up when you get home.”

There was that word again: girlfriend. Jay decided that Claire probably was his girlfriend after everything they’d been through, although the reality was still sinking in. He remained surprised that he had the wherewithal to refuse Taylor Lynn. In another life, Jay might be sitting in the room with her.

“Anyway, since you’re kind of my boss now, too,” Sarah whined, “I guess I should explain I might be in and out of the game for a bit. What with the new phase of testing and all. On the upside, cameras are everywhere except the bathroom, so I’m continuously monitored. The nurses will get me medicine or whatever I need; they’ll know if I’m in trouble.”

Jay caught a vibe since he knew his sister so well. She wasn’t talking about the continuous monitoring to note how happy she was with it. She was ensuring he knew the truth—just like in the game—they were being watched here.

“I’m pretty sure we don’t have any specific rules about playtime,” Jay countered. “But thanks for the heads up. I kind of put that one together. Anyway, do you like it here?”

Sarah flinched, which was strange. Jay had seldom seen his sister react in instinctual fear to anything or anyone. She’d stood up to bullies, even the boys. She didn’t blink at horror movies and described cliff jumping and sky diving as the most fun she’d ever had. Something felt distinctively off, but there wasn’t an opportunity to discuss it in front of the cameras.

So, Jay just enjoyed the time with his sister and girlfriend. They chatted about everything under the sun, including whether or not Claire would end up joining the guild. He indicated that he wasn’t sure, but they’d discuss it. Claire shrugged, not seeming confident herself. Sarah seemed much more interested in the question than either Jay or Claire. It slowly dawned on Jay throughout the conversation that she didn’t want Claire to join, although he couldn’t figure out why.

Finally, they landed on topics that were likely interesting to some people but bored Jay to tears. As proud as he was of his little sister, he couldn’t stand it when she started talking about her extensive medical knowledge. After that conversation ended, Claire and Jay took their leave.

Jay drove Claire home and decided that he wanted to get back online and start dealing with the guild leader problem. Besides, the small package she was holding onto for him was a source of intrigue. When they arrived at Claire’s apartment, he kissed her goodbye without stepping out.

“I’ll call you soon,” he promised. She smiled, waved, and blew him another kiss.

Jay didn’t wait to drive himself home to open up the package. Sarah had been so weird about the package—not wanting him to open it there. There had to be something about the book. Inside the box was a book, just as Sarah had promised. However, when Jay opened the front cover, there was also a note scrawled inside the front cover.