Helen watched her brother slowly and carefully slip on the visor. As it sealed around his neck, she watched his oxygen tubes carefully for any signs of pinching. She didn’t think they would pinch, but she couldn’t help but worry anyway.

She’d always worried about him. She’d always been Garrett’s protector. And now what had she done? She’d given him the thing that their parents had said to keep away from him.

Something that could very well kill him.

She stared at her own visor and spun it around and around in her hands. The red lights flickered like hungry tongues across the hospital room. Garrett’s visor, meanwhile, had faded to a faint white glow, signaling he’d entered the beginning stages of Elementia Online. She forced herself to breathe slowly.

Helen knew why she’d given her little brother his visor. She was still protecting him, protecting him the only way she could now. She knew what it was like to escape into Elementia, to leave behind all her problems and take on a new identity and life. She’d only played for a week, but already she breathed and dreamed of the game. Sometimes, she wished she could stay there forever.

She forced the thought out of her mind. Right now, this wasn’t about her. Helen watched her brother’s chest slowly rise and fall for a minute, then raised her own visor. He was in, and he hadn’t had an attack yet. He wouldn’t be anymore at risk now than he usually was. Probably.

And she was itching to get in herself.

“Good luck, Garre,” she whispered to him. Then, lying down next to him on the narrow hospital bed, she slipped on the visor.