Claire lay on her bed, bedsheets pulled tightly over her head, a soft blue light pierced through the fabric to illuminate the wall opposite her, and showed the silhouette of her body. It shook as she spoke, murmurs halfway between giggles and hushed exclamations of excitement. From time to time a male voice could be heard, deep and rugged almost, but as the hours past this voice would slowly grow more hoarse with sleep. They'd been online all day, playing their favorite online games and chatting about nothing in particular. She'd mentioned, at some point, that she had to do her chores before it got late, but she never got around to them. It was getting late and he muttered something about having to wake up early tomorrow for work, she could hear him rub a hand over his chin and nose as he sniffed. She smiled meekly and nodded, although he couldn't see her, and quickly rejoined with a hushed goodnight. As the call ended and the blue light of the screen faded, the girl lay there, suddenly aware of the hour and how sore her body was.
She pulled the sheets from over her head, her short hair a gnarled tangle, and swung her body off the bed. Landing quietly on her rug, she arched up like a cat, and gave a tired sigh. Her shoulder ached, pulsed even, as blood began to flow into it again. She walked about her room, bathed in the light of her now white computer screen, and looked at her desk idly, as she always did when she was in deep thought or organizing something in her head. It was a mess, but an organized one; on top of it was the dead monitor of her old computer and around it were pens, nail things, thread, half made dolls, a sharpener, a journal, gums and chewy candies, and her schoolbag. She paced over as quietly as she could, sensing that in the room below her her mother lay quietly, knowing that she too was probably awake, but would not give this knowledge away to her with careless movements.
Her hands clasped the now flat bag, which was usually thick with books and notebooks and her calculator. Today was a school day but she hadn't gone. Her mother didn't like that. But the doctor had said little physical activity until their next appointment, which would be tomorrow. Claire pursed her lips as she remembered how enraged her mother was and instead diverted her attention to her cell phone, dangling from its keychain a bear plush, which made her smile once she saw it. She clasped it in her hand and thumbed it as she thought of who gave it to her. Suddenly, as if he'd read her mind, her phoned buzzed with an alert of having a new text message. She flipped it open and read; "New Update. Check 2F."
Weird, she thought, what about work? She scuttled back over and climbed into bed, quickly clicking the Second Frontier shortcut only to be greeted by a loading screen giving her the option update. Excitedly she double clicked download and watched as it began to process; hugged a pillow under her chin, she watched for a bit. After a minute she pulled out her phone once more and tried texting him back, but her texts were failing to send. Barely alarmed she assumed he had just turned off his phone or something, always one for full immersion with first plays of any kind. And so she turned her head back to the load screen: 10% it said. She smiled, the update was probably going to be the best, she imagined cool implements for better immersion; she prayed for knew races and new monsters and new armor. By now, though, her head felt heavy and she began to lull to sleep. The last thing she remembered was a screen reading 11%.
~~~~~
She woke up what felt like moments later, her whole right side felt as if it were being pierced by a thousand tiny needles, she cried out and sat up. Her first thought was that she'd fallen on her rug or something. Eyes still closed and skin alive with how raw it was on her right side, she quickly brushed whatever it was that clung to her skin- she soon found out that it was dirt. Blinking she looked down at her hands, now lightly dusted with chalky brown, and then quickly to her aching side. She gasped as she touched her ribcage, knowing now that she had fallen for sure. It was so dark, was her first thought as she looked about, and could barely make out the trees a yard around her. She could clearly feel the ground below her, which was obviously not her bedroom floor, and the chill of open space air affirmed her assumption that she was outdoors. She could hear what she believed were forest sounds; trees rustling and branches raking against one another, grass swaying with the gentle push of the wind. The dewy smell about her entailed that it had just recently rained, yet the ground about her was dust dry. Once her composure was regained, Claire stood, her legs wobbling a bit as she braced herself against a thick tree trunk to her right.
With growing concern she wondered how she had gotten there; she'd watched strange cases of sleep walking on the news a few weeks ago, but since she never showed the signs she ruled herself out as being plagued with something so annoying. Could someone have taken her there? This deeply disturbed her and her lower lip began to tremble, because if this were true that meant that they could possibly still be here. She stepped back against the tree, heart pounding, and braced herself. As she tensed she tried to listen closely to her surroundings; she stood there for what felt like minutes when she heard a soft rustling somewhere in front of her. It was approaching with periodic pause and this unnerved her to a point where she could not control her shaking. Suddenly, whatever it was let out an ear piercing squeal, and burst from the grass, only to take off past her. It sounded like a boar; but the mass of whatever it was seemed much too large to be one.
Thoroughly spooked she almost jumped out of her skin as she heard a familiar sound close by her; she swung and arm out, sensing that whoever or whatever had made the noise was by her, and her hand struck what felt like loose fabric, a cloak. She looked up and into the eyes of someone she had never seen before and yet felt a strange familiarity with them. It was laughter, she thought, and knew then who she was facing. She reached up, confidence now pouring into her, and pulled back his hood,
"Its only you."