“Today we celebrate the one hundred and seventy-ninth birthday of our national hero professor Alexander Bates. It was him who understood the dangers we faced and made the virtual reality world so that our proud race could live on. But even today there are rebels who try to destroy the world we have worked so hard to build. Please notify the system if you have information. Any usable information will be rewarded with one hundred thousand credits.”

George was sitting annoyed in a corner listening to the broadcast. Every night they would play the same clip over and over. Even though George was only fifteen, he knew that the pictures were fake and that the government didn’t know the identity of the rebels. George looked at the camera’s and quickly looked away.

‘If they knew the faces of the rebels, they could have found them in seconds with the face recognition software.’ George knew that every house had cameras and the government was watching and listening to everything they said.

Even though George was fifteen years old, he was really short and thin because of the malnourishment from birth. But even thought he was weak he still had a spark of hope.

‘Only one more day and I can get out of this hellhole.’

Right as he was thinking that, one of the four capsules opened and a tall and handsome boy stepped out and started to stretch his body and doing the daily exercises. George tried to stay out of his sight hoping that he would forget about him like he sometimes did. But he was not so fortunate tonight.

“How are you doing little brother.” Said Vincent with a bright smile. If George didn’t know better, he would think his brother was a saint. But Vincent had tormented him from the moment he could walk. If you looked at them, you would think that Vincent was many years older than George but in reality, they were twins. From what the government had told them Vincent was only nine minutes older than George.

‘Would our position be reversed if I was born first?’ George could not let go of the thought of how his life would have been if he was born first and if he would be different from his brother. Because even though his brother tormented him, his biggest fear was that deep inside he was just like his brother and the only difference was the situation they lived in.

He had given up talking to his brother a long time ago. He knew that it wouldn’t make a difference. He had studied human history for fifteen years and knew that his brother was not the type that could be reasoned with and what his true nature was.

He also tried to avoid looking at Vincent because it would lessen the chance he would get a beating. And besides, looking at Vincent would only make him angrier anyways. Vincent had the ability to hide his dark side, and because of his handsome face, he looked like a kind and gentle young man. Every teacher they ever had would complement him for the great brother he was and Vincent was smart enough not to hit him where it would be visible. In the beginning, he would complain to his parents and the teachers but nobody believed him. They even went so far to accuse him of self-inflicting the wounds.

“Lighten up George, let's wash up, mom and dad will be back soon.”

After he said that he turned around and went to the small bathroom that was separated by a curtain.

‘He has not beaten me in days now, the f*cker is trying to make me stay!’

Just as Vincent was done washing up and changing in his night cloths the two remaining capsules opened and two adults stepped out. Just like Vincent they did their exercises and went to wash up for dinner.

George’s relationship with his parents had worsened over the years. His parents were average players who got their dreams of riches and fame beaten out of them by the hard condition on Nash. So like most parents, they tried to pass their dreams onto their son and did whatever it took to make him ready. So from the start, they would give everything they had to Vincent and expected George to do the same because it was his duty as a member of the family. Because the time that one player can stay in the game is related to how healthy the body is and how much your mind can handle, it was not long before Vincent would get most of George’s portions.

At first, his father would apologize to him and say that he never intended him so suffer like this. Because of the overpopulation, every family could only have two children. Most families that had the same income as George’s parents would only have one child until the first one was old enough to support himself. But because they were twins the family had to feed two children instead of one, and because his mother had to stay in the real world and take care of them until they were old enough their income was cut in half.

The time in the virtual reality world worked differently from the time in the real world. Every day the capsule could be used for twelve hours what was equal to five days in the virtual reality world. But because of the malnourishment, George could only stay for two days before he was automatically released because of his bodies stress levels.

But George didn’t care, the training world was a white room where the students could study about everything known to human kind. There were also programs where they learned different martial arts. The more parents paid the more children could learn to prepare them for Nash. All the extra money his parents made went to teach Vincent and he could only use the standard free library. His parents didn’t really care what he did so most of the time he would read books that interested him. Vincent, on the other hand, was spending most of his time studying martial arts and weapon training.

Parents are not allowed to talk to the children or each other about the game itself because that would give them an advantage. They could only tell them what they needed to learn to prepare for the day they turned sixteen. Every home is planted with camera’s and word recognition software so if the rules where broken the player would most likely be executed, at least that’s what everyone thought because nobody came back to tell the tale.

But George still loved his family and even though he didn’t agree, he understood that his parents were trying to make them have a comfortable live in the future. It was not until they were twelve and Vincent started to beat him that he started to hate his family. In the beginning, he would tell his mother that Vincent had done, but that never worked and only made Vincent angrier. So he started to retreat into his own world and the only time he felt comfortable was the time he was alone. He started to fantasize about another life and how it would be if he never had a brother and was free to see the world.

It was not until he was fourteen that his mother caught Vincent beating George for the first time. George was waiting for this day, now his mother would know what kind of a monster Vincent was and how he had made his live a living hell for the past two years. But that was the night he found out that nothing would change even if they knew. She had made her choice and said that it was Vincent’s right as the older brother to educate George.

He now understood that the only reason he was even left alive was because he was a backup for if Vincent were to die, and felt the burden he was in the eyes of his parents. It was not long after that, that Vincent started to ridicule him in front of his parents and there were even occasions where they would join him.

Like usual Vincent and his parents were eating and chatting about exited they were about tomorrow. This was the day they had been waiting for and wanted Vincent to be ready. George’s portion was even smaller than usual because tomorrow was the big day and Vincent even got part of his parent's food.

“You look hungry George, here eat some of mine.” Vincent gave a bright smile and put a small piece of meat on George’s plate.

George gave a smile back and took a bite of the meat. He knew what Vincent was trying to do and played his part. Because of the constant harassment, George had learned to be on constant alert and had learned to read people and play his part.

‘Eaten your scraps makes me want to puke, but I will endure. One more day… just one more day’ George kept reminding himself that this was the last night, and he knew that this was the first decision in his live Vincent had no say over.

-----------------------

The next morning was like every other day. The chip planted in his head woke him up at seven and like always he could not go back to sleep.

‘The government has taken over our lives to the extent that I can’t even decide when I want to wake up’ This was a regular complaint he had, but over the years George had learned to hide his taught because if the cameras could even read your face and any complaints against the government was treason. Nobody knew the punishment for treason because you would never come back to tell it. George had this train of thought every morning and for a second forgot what day it was.

His parents woke up with excitement in their eyes. Even Vincent who always had a cold look had an existing look on his face. Most adults were used to a standard routine that they did every day. The chip in their head was planted on birth and has basic health functions like checking if you're alive. Because the outside world was still toxic and everybody stayed inside, the government needed a system to see who is alive and who needs to be burned. The other thing it does is control your sleep, every night at eleven the body would go to sleep automatically and would wake up at seven in the morning. Most people have two hours to prepare before entering the virtual world and two hours after they exit. But because George couldn’t stay the full five days he would exit the machine after only six hours. And had to wait for another six for everyone else to exit.

Their house was really small and only had two rooms, a small bathroom, and a living room. After they woke up his parents went to order the standard breakfast but today they got a little extra because it was Vincent’s first day. Meals can be bought with money and would be teleported every morning and evening prepared. The more money you have the higher quality food you can buy.

After eating they started with their morning exercises. The sound that could not be shut off guided them every morning and by now felt like a part of their life. George couldn’t understand why the first day was so important. He had seen his parents enter the virtual world a thousand times and they never were as excited as they were today.

Just as he was thinking what could make today so important he heard the alarm that told everyone to enter the virtual reality world.