Post by NecroBOBlous 2:35 PM April 10th, 20XX

I hate reality. I despise it. After living that perfect body, the one I have in the PPVS, how can you all expect me to come back here? So, this is goodbye. Officially. Not that anyone cares.

Logging out was like swimming in a sparkling clean million dollar pool that had tiles in a vibrant mosaic and then having someone pick me up and toss me into a dirty mop bucket.

Blue morning light pierced through my blinds. The sound of traffic echoed a little too loudly. The air smelled... not pleasant. Mop bucket unpleasant.

When I attempted to lift my arm, it moved slow and lethargic, so I gave up and laid still, my futon’s bars digging into my back through the thin mattress.

Like a phantom limb, I could still feel the fire that had once roared in my chest. How the hell did I survive that? Like mentally?

Ten minutes inched by, and in that time my apartment was eerily silent. No TV blaring at top volume. No cooking or soft snores. And no feet pounding across dirty linoleum. Where the fuck was Greg?

I sat up, my muscles ached with the effort.

When I trudged into the living room/ kitchen area, I froze. The TV wasn’t sitting on its too small stand. All of Greg’s clothes had disappeared from their piles around the living room. On the kitchen bar, a single piece of paper called to me like a dirge. With trembling fingers, I picked it up.

“My dearest niece,

Happy birthday! I noticed you had your suitcase packed and assumed you’d be moving out today. Well, I have good news! I closed the deal.”

Cold fingers of dread crawled up my scalp.

“I couldn’t find you to tell you the good news. Figured you’d be out with your friends, partying. Since I can’t really stick around and since you’re a put together adult now, I’ll be taking my leave. Don’t look for me. Oh, and you can have the apartment. That way you don’t have to move!

Love,

Your Uncle Greg”

He fucking abandoned me?! I mean, sure, I was planning to leave him first, but this hit me where it hurt. First my mom so she could go work in a foreign country, then my dad from the fire, and now my uncle because of his fucking cons and stupidity. I mean, did he really think I’d want the apartment? The one where he holed up while conning a drug lord?

Someone pounded on the door. “Mr. Hennessy! Open up! Ms. Linda wants some words with you.”

Fuuuuuuck! Of course, they were here now. It probably took them all of ten minutes to figure out Greg’s dumbass con and another eight hours to track him here.

I couldn’t let them see me. If they did and tried to get to him through me... well, rich people had ways to hurt people without using violence. It wouldn’t work, but they didn’t know what I was taught. I also couldn’t let them get ahold of my stuff. It was all I had in the world now. Fortunately, the apartment was on the first floor. Greg always insisted on that for these types of situations.

“Come on, Mr. Hennessy! You know what you did was wrong. Open up and let’s talk about it.”

Bam! The door rattled. Fuck! They were probably kicking it now, trying to break in. Just what was the Passivity Precept doing letting these thugs do this?! What if they could still do other things?

“Ms. Linda’s waiting.”

Freaked out, I briefly considered going back into the game but if they had someone in the apartment when I returned while I was in that lethargic state, nearly unable to move? I shuddered. No. I needed to get out now, while I was sure I could run.

I slipped my feet into some flip flops, scrambled back into my room, grabbed my suitcase and pulled the shitty blinds up that bunched in weird places. No one waited for me outside, a mistake on their part but I would take what I could get. Between the window and the sidewalk was a row of thick obfuscating bushes. Between the bushes and the wall was a thin area of empty space that was required to help prevent fires. It was also perfect for escaping.

I quietly opened the window and popped out the screen, dropping it to the ground on the other side. Using my adrenaline enhanced strength; I hefted my heavy suitcase onto my window ledge and shoved it. It caught on bush’s manicured top, so I just pushed it the rest of the way. It leaned precariously on top of thick leaves and branches, but it was good enough.

A loud crack echoed through the apartment, likely from the door frame. If I didn’t hurry, I wouldn’t have enough time to escape before they got their hands on me.

I jumped my ass up onto the sill and slung my leg over, straddling the ledge. Using a technique I was way too familiar with, I brought my other leg over to the other side and dropped down.

Just as I finished closing my window, a muffled crash vibrated the glass. They’d broken the door down!

I needed to get away from this apartment before they spotted me. I wouldn’t even have enough time to put the screen back in.

With a grunt, I grabbed my suitcase off the bushes and began rolling it down the cement walkway leading to the parking lot. That was when I noticed our empty covered spot.

Uncle took the car. Of course he did, he always took the car. Stupid Greg.

After reaching the curb, I dug into the pocket of my suitcase where I’d stashed the prepaid smartphone I purchased for because Greg would often leave me stranded. I pulled up my favorite rideshare app and quickly entered the address for a shopping center close to my bank. Lucky! The driver was only two minutes away.

“Hey, you! Girl with the suitcase!” An angry masculine voice said with a hint of a Spanish accent.

I froze. Did he see me escape? Impossible, I looked. Maybe if I ignored him, he’d go away?

That didn’t happen. The man, tall compared to me and bodybuilder muscular, wore jeans and a leather jacket. His thick tan hands were covered in pale scars. He marched over to me, face grim.

“Have you seen this man?”

I looked down at my phone first, still two minutes away. My heart pounded but I managed to face the dude with a straight face.

He held up a tablet with my uncle’s picture on it. My eyes widened. Shit! I had too many tells, so I had to stick to the truth. “Yeah. He lives in that apartment. Now excuse me, I just ended a shitty relationship and my driver’s almost here.”

His eyes narrowed at me. My pulse beat a staccato in my head. A drop of sweat dripped down my temple. I peered at my phone to check the time. My driver was 1 minute away.

“What’s your name?”

My game name popped out. “Mia.”

When I didn’t continue, he said, “That come with a last name?”

“Depends. That question come with a badge?”

He flashed me something official looking. That meant either a corrupt cop or a good forger. Considering how these assholes had been operating with the whole breaking into my apartment thing, I guessed the latter. Either way, I had to give him a last name, or I would look too suspicious. For some reason, Lorevinel’s family name popped into my head, which was ridiculous since that was tote’s a fantasy name. “Silvers. But if you’re checking with the apartment complex, you should know that my name isn’t on the lease.”

I got lucky again, and my driver rolled up right next to me. It helped that I had my phone out. I pulled the trunk open and shoved my suitcase in.

“That’s fine. I’d just like to ask you some questions about that man.”

“Sorry, but unless you’re arresting me, you can’t keep me here, and my driver will leave if I don’t get in right away. I can’t afford the cancelation fee.”

“Then give me your contact number so I can get ahold of you.”

I scowled at him and rambled off a random phone number that was a few digits off from my home phone when I lived with my dad. While he was still typing it down, I jumped into the vehicle, closed the door and locked it. “Go!” I told the driver.

***

After getting a new debit account, a shiny temporary card and moving seven grand into the bank, I took a train south to Carlsbad. After another short rideshare to a reasonably priced hotel I booked ground floor suite with direct pool access so, worst case scenario, I had at least two exits.

I lugged my suitcase into the room and sat on the hotel mattress. My muscles ached, and my skin had a layer of travel dust. I missed the body I had in the game.

Briefly, I mourned the apartment I wouldn’t be able to rent. With this whole debacle with Ms. Linda, I needed to move out of LA, fast.

I peered at the clock. Shit! I was late! Crimea was going to kill me.

But first I needed to check how much ten marks was worth IRL.

Unsure if it would respond I opened the menu and said, “I’d like to remove my passive marks and convert them to US dollars.”

A pop up appeared.

[Are you sure you’d like to take out 10 PMk and convert it to $1.52?]

I did the math. When I completed my quest, I would earn five-thousand PMk which would be about seven hundred sixty US dollars. About two weeks of work!

“No. I’m good,” I said, and the pop up disappeared.

Since the window remained open, I selected the Return to Game option.

[Warning: Entering and leaving the game is tied to your location. Since you are only staying at this hotel for 3 days, you will be kicked out of the PPVS when your stay is up. This is to prevent illegal trespassing.]

That was the only prompt I received before darkness overwhelmed my senses.

When I came to, I was sitting on the borrowed sleeping bag, the same place I’d logged out. The afternoon light colored the walls orange. The burning in my chest returned, but it was nowhere near as painful as when I’d first entered. My body felt relaxed, warm and stretchy.

“What took you?” Crimea said, a hint of anger tinting her ordinarily chipper tone.

“Oh, just some bad guys trying to get my uncle to return their money. No big deal. Happens all the time.”

“They can’t hurt you. You know that right?”

“Yeah, you say that, but I still don’t know what, exactly, the Passivity Precept considers violence. I wasn’t taking any chances.”

She sighed and shook her head. “Fine. We don’t have much time. We’ve already left your party member waiting for forty-five minutes.”

I stood up and stretched. “And who is my partner?”

She grabbed my shoulder, and we appeared right outside the store.

Lorevinel leaned against the building’s wall, the light framing his face so beautifully my fingers itched to take a screenshot.

He held a foreign stringed instrument and strummed a few hauntingly beautiful notes. His eyes lifted to mine. My heart sped, and a burst of happiness seeded itself within me. The music stopped as he froze. I had no idea what was going through his head, but he scowled. It looked cute on him.

Oh! My! God! I had a crush on this asshole, and I didn’t even know him!