Chapter 0004

Leviene liked to think she possess the better qualities of an adult: kind, dignified, mature and reasonable. She thought she had the patience of a saint and a temperament benefitting of her chosen profession, an angel of mercy, helping the sick get better, a nurse. Those thoughts were ripped apart and shattered when she met the Burkett, her mother’s paternal family.

The little Perrian Let always wondered why her mother never wanted to associate with the American side of her family until she actually met them. Then she understood all too well her mother’s sentiments, and it was one of the few rare occasion she agreed with her mother. She wanted to stay the hell away from them as much as possible.

Leviene had never met a group of people more arrogant and flashy than the Burkett. During one family get together that Leviene was forced to attend at the ripe old age of ten, Erica, then 13 and her family arrived in style, a 1999 Ford Super Stretch Limo.

The vehicle scream money, money, money.

It would have been fine if the family gathering was in Beverly HIlls or a high class neighborhood. Coming to suburban America in a limo, now that’s just plain tacky. Arriving in a super stretch limo, that’s flaunting their wealth and asking to be robbed.

If only it ended there. Erica’s father, William Burkett, came out of the limo with traditional rapper style accessories: heavy gold chain, flashy diamond rings, and expensive watches. Yes plural on the watches. What idiot wears more than one watch? Uncle William!

Janet Taylor Burkett, Erica’s mother was an example of what not to do. Black one piece mini skirt, three size too small adorn the slightly plump body, trying to encase giant plastic surgery enhanced breast. Leviene swore she saw her aunt’s underwear flashing every time she walked. Everytime Janet took a step, the young and naive Leviene wondered when the skirt will roll up to her waist exposing her panties or the top will burst open showcasing her bra. Although Leviene didn’t mind a woman trying to look younger, the woman is in her 40’s. In the 21st century, humans age gracefully so that 40 isn’t too old, but 40 year old woman dressed like a slutty 18 year old just isn’t right in Leviene’s young mind.

Erica followed behind the pair of American gold digger cliche, uncomfortable with the display of wealth, or so Leviene thought. In her childish mind, Leviene wanted to help her cousin out of an embarrassing situation.

To this day, Leviene lamented on the stupidity of youth, and hers in particular.

The young Leviene pulled her cousin towards a small nook in the house and tried to get acquainted with her unknown relative. The stupid child got an hour long lecture from her cousin about fashion faux pas her parents committed. Leviene tried to get away. She seriously did, but Erica wouldn’t let up on her lecture.

Finally at wits end, Leviene said she needed a drink of water and fled to the soda cooler. She grabbed the fruit punch and tried to find a somewhere to hide. Erica, the vengeful ghost from hell, was unwilling to let go of her captive audience, followed Leviene. Two children, one running, one chasing. It was inevitable. They bumped into each other. Leviene spilled her drink on Erica’s dress, the same dress Erica spent four weeks feverishly anticipating when she first saw it on the runway, the same dress she was touting to Leviene earlier.

Suffice to say, the world ended for Erica and Leviene was subjected to a set of money hungry parents demanding compensation for the dress she ruined.

Leviene cried her heart out when she heard how much the dress cost. It was all of her allowance for the next four years.

Sylphie’s father, Eric Deveraux, stepped in and offer to pay for the dry cleaning. The Burket wanted compensation for the one of kind something something dress. Leviene didn’t know at the time who design the dress or what it was made of, all she knew was the next four years of her allowances was being confiscated for a minor blunder anyone, let alone a child, could have made. Furthermore, the other half of the incident was not blamed for her actions in the whole fiasco.

The childish Leviene cried to the high heavens and made a big ruckus. Deprived for FOUR WHOLE YEARS! She was unwilling! Completely unwilling.

The Burkett were also unwilling. They claim they paid $3499 on the dress and now it was ruined. They wanted their money’s worth.

Eric Deveraux had no desire to escalate a children quarrel nor embarrass Leviene’s mother, however the belligerent and downright threatening manners of the Burketts left him no other alternative.

He immediately called upon his extensive information network, exposing the scam the Burkett were trying to enact.

They bought the dress for $20 at the local thrift shop. Their jewelry were all fake.

From the evidences Eric presented at the family party, the initial plan of the Burkett was to accuse Leviene’s mother for stealing their jewelry and then demand compensation for it, however the details were sketchy and they weren’t sure if they could pull it off, so when they saw the ruined dress, the jumped at the chance of the sure thing for less money rather than their original plan which is easier to expose.

Leviene’s mother was suitably outrage, yet completely resigned, as she threw out the scheming family. She then warned Leviene to never get near those bastards again. Leviene followed her mother’s advice wholeheartedly afterwards. However, she could not completely avoid the Burkett. They were, sadly, family.

Leviene didn’t remember how Erica looked. Once she heard Erica’s vicious tongues, she ran to the other side of the house and kept a ten foot buffer zone.

So, of all the relatives Leviene had to find sticking to Sylphie, it had to be none other than Erica.

Damn it.

“Really Jessica, is this brat really Laurie? How can you tell from a glance. I didn’t know it was you when you called out to me. If you didn’t reveal some embarrassing secrets only you would know, I would not believe it was you. You changed so much. Your skin is still as pale as before, but that horrible hairstyle doesn’t suit you. I like it better when you had your hair in a pixie cut than this waist length monstrosity. Green too. Are you trying to make a statement with the color of your hair? If you are, what statement would that be? Dark and broody? And those eyes. Of all the choices we had, did you have to choose blood red? Individually, the style might be fine, but when you put it together on your face, it screams wanna be vampire, and a failed vampire at that.

“Seriously, choosing red as your eye color might affect your vision, causing you to see everything in infrared Jessica. I know iris color doesn’t affect human vision, but blood red is an unnatural eye color. What if your friends saw you right now, what would they think? Worst, what if the media saw you? How could you explain to the world how the heiress of the Deveraux Corporation went from a refined lady to a goth wanna be?

“Also, are you sure you can see right with all the changes you experience Sylphie? See, the color has already affect your judgement. The bird brain stick you point to can’t be Laurie.

“Seriously, how can this shrimp be Laurie? You know Laurie, she’d always wanted to be tall. If she was to create a character, she’d chose to be a giant, not a midget baby. I swear she just want to be tall so she can look down on us poor plebeian with her higher than thou attitude. Look at those black and white wings. Did someone paint her wings black? If it was Laurie, you know she’d choose a different color. She always complain about her monochrome coloring. Black hair, black eyes, ghostly pale skin. If Laurie hated black and white so much, she could have gone to the salon to dye her hair or wear color contacts lens. I get so tired of hearing her moan and groan about her looks. Being pretty takes effort.

“This face and skin didn’t come cheap you know. Anagram 7 step facial cost $6000 for a 3 month supply, but I still found a way to purchase it. My skin tone, hair color and eye match completely. TresBelleSoliel means very beautiful sun in French. My light blue hair reflect the color the sky on a clear day. It took me forever to get the correct color of blue. My eyes looks just like the sun. Well not exactly like the sun. I can’t get the color to glow like the sun, but I got a color close enough to represent suns. See. The whole package complements each other. Oh I know I could have gone with blond hair and blue eyes in invert way. My blond hair would have been the brilliance of the sun and you could get lost in my sky eyes, but that is so plain. I’d rather like my coloring. The perfect day….”

Someone kill me, thought Leviene as she tried really hard to tune out an annoying fly. She hadn’t seen Erica for the last three years. She forgot about this teeth grating, enraging, suicidal inducing trait of her cousin.

After moving out to college, Leviene avoided family gathering like a world ending zombie plague. Then the car accident happen. It killed Sylphie’s parent and paralyze Sylphie from the waist down. Leviene and her family had to deal with the aftermath. The accident changed Sylphie. Her nice, sweet, innocent cousin became a demonic drug addict. The scheming, lying, deceitful Sylphie nearly tore their family apart. Somehow they pulled through and got her into rehab.

To comfort Sylphie and give her life meaning, Leviene and her brothers tried to engage Sylphie in a variety of activities. Sylphie like MMO games. Those were the good times. Good times. Yes, the good times. It must be said three times wash away the awful events.

There was no way Erica would care about someone other than herself to sincerely express sympathy after a car accident. In fact, Leviene didn’t see the Burkett at the funeral, though it make sense since the Deveraux belongs to her father’s side of the family while the Burkett is connected to her through her mother’s side.

Erica coming to Sylphie’s aid is another joke. The Devereaux have money. The Burkett are money hungry wolves searching for prey. When the two sides of the family met, the Burkett were always trying to convince the Deveraux to join in one of their money making scheme. Leviene never saw hide nor hair of them during the family crisis. Good riddance too. Leviene didn’t think her family could deal with those bastards on top of handling Sylphie.

Then the gaming years started. Good times. Good times. Good times.

Erica had her priorities. Fashion and art was the diva main point of interest. The start up company Erica created was probably a distant second. Leviene did not know how Erica could afford a trip to New York every year for Fashion Week. Note the capital. Fashion Week must be capitalized or else. Three week long drama hell.

Whimper.

Whimper.

Must not reopen door to hell.

Perfect excuse for never going to an event hosted by the Burkett.

Suffice to say, Erica would not set foot in a virtual reality game.

Uh…. Leviene just realized something important.

“.... and look at how stunning these wings are. I’m sure, given time, I can accessorize so everything matches.”

Leviene slapped a hand over Erica’s mouth. It is the only way to get her to shut up. “Sylphie?”

Sylphie stopped her internal planning to address her cousin. “Yes?”

“This isn’t a game right?”

“No it isn’t.”

“We can’t log out right?”

“We can’t log out.”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.” It can be said Leviene’s heart rending cry can pierce the heavens. Pain and misery so complete it can not be describe with mere words. The agony grips the hearts mercilessly. Even the most cold hearted psychotic killer will soften their bloody hearts to such torment displayed by a small Perrian Let in the third convening area. Until the next sentences was uttered. Then anyone would just want to slap her. “I will be short forever!”

“After all that, your height is what you are worried about?” Erica ranted. “Can you not think of our plight. We are in virtual reality game with no way to go home. I’m going to miss Fashion Week and all you can think about is your GOD DAMN HEIGHT! Have a little sympathy for the plight of those less fortunate than you.”

“Who cares about Fashion Week,” Leviene retorted. “My height in this game in an unchangeable fact. Unlike clothes.”

“Clothes are the statement a person make about her status. I bet you can’t even afford one pair of decent shoes with your future salary. Oh wait, you will be in the debtors hell after you graduate from college.”

Leviene realize something important from Erica’s rant.

“Sylphie.”

“Yes?” Sylphie replied from the sidelines. It seems the interaction between Erica and Leviene amuse the Tajin Nost greatly.

“We’re poor aren’t we?” Leviene asked in a soft voice. She did not want to confirm her monetary status right now. Although she did take out student loans to finance her education, Leviene has always considered those loans to be an investment in herself. With the better job she can get with a college degree, she can pay back the loans easily.

“Really! You money grubbing beggar! Don’t you care about anything else but yourself? Can’t you put your stupid mind into something constructive, like finding a way out of this game.” Erica’s snide comment had no effect on the determined Perrian Let. Leviene had to have confirmation.

Sylphie shot Erica a glance before answering Leviene. “We are not rich nor are we poor. Everyone in the game is starting off with the same amount of money. I’m sure with your ability, gold in this game won’t be in issue.”

Leviene immediately perk up. “Your right. I was the fifth richest person on our server.”

“Who cares if you’re rich in a game. Nobody wants your virtual gold. The fifth richest person the server, HA! I’d be more impressed if you said you were the fifth richest person in the world.”

“Actually,” Leviene interjected with a mixture of pride and sadness, “if we can’t leave this game and I had all my assets from the my account, I would be the fifth richest person in the world.”

“What are you talking about?” Erica didn’t understand her stupid relatives. How can they be so calm when they were suddenly transported to this world. They have done nothing but quibble over trivial matters, as if they didn’t want to go back to Earth.

“This virtual reality game is our world now. It’s an overlap of the virtual world and the real world. If the assets I had in my account was transferred into this world, which now happens to be our new reality, then I would be very rich.”

“F*** this.” Erica denied. She did not want to be stuck in a virtual game world. She had her priorities, the company she created from scratch and Fashion Week. “That’s bulls*** Laurie. You’re acting like we can’t leave this place, and even if we could, you wouldn’t want to go back!”

“Why would I want to go back? What is there for me back on Earth?” Leviene respond pragmatically. The calmer she was, the angrier Erica became. The angrier she was, the happier Erica became. Leviene rather piss off Erica than become an angry mob of one.

“What about your mother? Your family?” Erica screeched, getting more hysterical. She had to convince Laurie to find a way out of this world. Erica knew she couldn’t do it by herself.

“Mom… well mom is mom. I love her, but I’m not going to spend the rest of my life trying to please her. I am my own person. As for the rest of my family, they’d actually want to come here.”

“I forgot I’m talking to a family of gamers,” Erica sneered then stared at Leviene to emphasize her point, “You might not want to go back but I do. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life stuck with you!”

A dreadful realization ashen the Perrian Let already pale face. “Sylphie?”

“Yes?” Sylphie stifled her amusement as she answered her cousin. Leviene might not appreciate Sylphie’s amusement at the expense of the little Perrian Let. Erica’s squawking was annoying but it cause Leviene to express a myriad of emotions. The thunderstruck look Leviene has during each of her realization is so cute. It’s been awhile since Sylphie saw Leviene’s adorable side.

“We’re going to be stuck with Erica for the unforeseeable future?”

“Yes.”

“NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.”