Double release! BTW, there is quite a lot of past events for context, etc (They are in chronological order though, DW), I didn’t want to separate the timeline further and I also didn’t want sole chapters with Charlie and Charlotte. You can completely skip the parts which you have already read a few chapters back as I only corrected minor mistakes from the original and reworded some bits - feel free to read it if you’d like a refresher though(recommended). No harm! C:

After you finish this I can guarantee that everything will be completely new from Chapter 15 and on wards.

***Start of Chapter***

I’m not going to make the same mistake twice. Today I am going to be a remade man. To prevent my dream from becoming some sad reality which I won’t be able to wake up from, I immediately find a nearby computer cafe to look up information online. I needed options for work that aren’t going to involve me doing something I have little to no interest or idea behind. I open up the help menu and request the basic information that I know it can provide.

My mental mini-map refreshes and I know the exact direction to head in, instinctively. Kind of creepy if I was to be truthful. As I wander through the streets towards my destination I finally put to rest what has been bugging me.

Friends Online:

Alysia Palestine

Crystal Valentina

Elizabeth Hawk

Leaf Wreston

Contacts Online:

Charlotte 3314

Surprising... I guess Alysia is still online, working probably. I tap on Charlotte and call her. To my surprise she doesn’t answer. This little shit thinks she can pretend that she doesn’t instantly monitor everything that happens to her, doesn’t she? To my surprise I saw flashes of light appear around my waist. Moments later a short little girl was clinging onto me with crazy hair that more or less reminded me of a sheepdog.

“I missed you!” I saw little tears form at the corner of her eyes. Someone had taught this goddamn A.I how to act. It was almost convincing.

“Drop it, you know that I was offline.” At my words she shakes or head violently side-to-side.

“Not that! You left me alone in bed!” I started getting odd looks from people passing by us in the street. This wasn’t good, if I didn’t do something soon my reputation might even drop. She was really getting more daring as time went on. I don’t think I’ve even spent 24 hours with her.

I take hold of her hand I take her with me towards the internet cafe a street away. She tried to resist at first, obviously confused but gave up the pointless struggle in the end. Although I didn’t want to admit it, when I had first woken up and noticed that I had dreamed the last few days, I was scared that I hadn’t known her. I hope I never feel the feeling of losing someone when you’ve never had them to begin with again.

***Leaf, Elizabeth, Crystal***

“This isn’t actually as bad as I thought it would be.” Crystal had suddenly said. Elizabeth looked at her and appeared to have also agreed.

“You’re right. All we’ve had to do is vacuum and organise offices, also a little bit of window wiping on the side.” Those two weren’t even aware of how much they were taking a jab at me. It was easy for them to talk about cleaning like it was nothing when they didn’t even have to clean toilets and bathrooms.

The girls must have noticed my annoyed aura and began staring at me then back at each other as if asking themselves if they had caused it. I turned away from them to indicate that it was them. I’d have to get over it eventually but it felt good being annoyed every once in awhile.

******

Currently we were all in the middle of cleaning a few more offices. I had since gotten over my annoyance and it was as if the girls had never noticed.

"Just how many offices do you think this place has?" I had suddenly asked a question that had been on my mind for a little while.

"Millions, obviously." Elizabeth had jokingly responded, I laughed slightly but it wasn't as funny as she thought it would be.

"At least a few thousand. I'm guessing 10." Crystal had answered, she must have done math because she seemed to be pretty sure with herself.

At thirst point I went back to vacuuming the floor, my mind going blank from the repeating of such a basic action involving no thought process. I had zoned out.

***Charlie, Charlotte***

The first thing I noticed when I entered the internet cafe was an attractive man managing the sales at the internet cafe. He was giving out tickets that showed your right to a computer booth while also conducting sales of food and drink. He had an angular jaw that was reminiscent of a certain star that had played a wolverine in a popular movie from times past.

The first thing I did was obviously plan to give him Leaf’s contact information. I’d do anything to make a friend happy. I mean, this guy was the kind of attractive that you would recognise as someone that knew more about attractive men than women, it was simple to make the connection.

“Hey, would I be able to get a booth?” The man looks up at me and smiles slightly and then looks down towards Charlotte obviously making a terrible assumption, I could feel it coming.

“Absolutely,” he paused for a second, “Cash or card?” I don’t hesitate for even a second before saying “Card.”

“I’ll be just a second. Also, what a beautiful daughter.” I knew it. It was better than some other stuff but I still didn’t like being called a father. I was barely an adult and I definitely didn’t feel like one, “Thank you.” I just go along with it because it would be too much hassle to correct a misunderstanding.

The man walked away for a few seconds and came back with a scanner, why didn’t he just keep it with him? It didn’t matter.

“That will be $15 for two hours. Please swipe here.” I pull out my credit card and make sure my thumb is over the indicated area before swiping. This was the fingerprint scanner that was used to prevent theft but like everything it was still obviously not theft proof. There was always a way, a path if you will. It was just how much effort someone wanted to spend to get to the ‘end’. I might consider putting my earnings in an alternate account while putting spending money on the card. It would be far more secure and guaranteed nothing short of the bank's demise would have me lose my money. The bank would definitely protect money it was currently holding if something happened to it.

After swiping the card a menu appeared.

Notice!

You have purchased two hours of private computer browsing time. You earned it. ;)

The total cost was $15.

You have $1319 remaining.

The goddamn comments that this system generates can be mildly entertaining. It just saddens me that they aren’t actually generated but rather written by a low-paid virgin employee that works for a large company. Poor guy…

Notice!

Hey!

I heard that!

This only confirmed my suspicion. I walk towards the indicated computer booth and notice Charlotte finally notice I had left without her as she quickly ran after me.

******

I had learned a great deal over the last hour and a half. I had discovered that I really, really wanted to work with a leading team of scientists to discover new ways to utilise old and new technology, however, looking at my stats had made me die a little bit on the inside.

User ID - ResumeStatsName:Charlie HughesLevel:14Balance:$1319Intelligence:93Strength:53Agility:62Stamina:45Endurance:68Courage:86Strategic Sense:94SkillsUnderstanding of RoboticsBasicEnglishAdvancedMathematicsAdvancedScienceIntermediateHumanitiesSatisfactoryPhysical EducationGeneralPsychologyBeginnerPhysicsAdeptAttributes/Traits:Sweet Talker(Hidden Attribute)Hard WorkerUnsociableBrutally HonestEfficientLogical Thinker

My intelligence was too low. The few recommended levels I had found where in the ranges of 97-98% the difference between someone with 93 intelligence was like the difference between breakfast and dessert.

I sighed and had Charlotte keep the information just in case it ever proved to be useful one day. I wasn’t entirely sure that I could see myself getting such a high intelligence though. It just seemed impossible.

I continued through more pages until I found a job that was requesting an employee with the hard worker and efficient attributes. This made me giddy until I realised that the position wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do. The job basically entailed some repair-work and some basic technological engineering. It didn’t involve robotics but it definitely had a similar vibe to it.

After looking through a few more pages and finding out the general range of stats these businesses request I was pretty confident that I’d be able to find something now that I was looking for a job that actually would benefit from my stats.

I decide that it’d be best to contact the company that had advertised the moderately interesting position with technological engineering and repairing of electrical devices.

I add the contact details and call the number. A few rings later someone picks up.

“Hey, I’m here about the electronic engineering position.” I decide to take the initiative and not let the homo sapien speak first. I wanted to show that I could have some backbone.

“Ahh, I’ve had a few of you call in the last few hours since I posted the position online.” It was the voice of a man that was calm and full of vigor at the same time. I could tell that he was not someone to take lightly.

“I can only imagine,” I begin, “how are we going to go about this?” I come on directly. I need to see if he’s actually intending on hiring or if he already has someone.

“Straight to the point, I like it.” The man stopped to gather his thoughts, I believe, “Would you be able to send me a copy of your User Information?” It wasn’t too much of a stretch to assume that it would probably come to this. He needs to know who I am and what I can do.

“Sure,” I then start the sending process and wait for it to finish, “sent.”

I don’t hear a reply for a few seconds. I can hear his breathing softly in the background, indicating he was still there. A few more tense moments pass before he begins speaking again.

“I’d like to conduct a job interview if that is okay with you.” I feel the man warm up to me slightly, indicating that he must have favoured my stats over others he had seen,

“Sure, I’d well and truly like that.” A few moments pass,

“Alright, I’ve sent you the details,” he takes a pause, “ I hope to see you soon.”

“Thank you, goodbye.”

Checking the information informed me the meeting was at 3:00 PM tomorrow at a developing company called Xerial. Odd name, doesn’t really matter though.

I was feeling giddy. Are things finally going my way? Charlotte had been sitting beside me the whole time and had obviously heard everything. She was smiling innocently and it seemed even she was happy about these developments.

“I’m proud!” It was Charlotte. It felt incredibly wrong to have a child act like the superior. I’d let it go this time though, I obviously was in too good of a mood.

We left the cafe and I decided to relax for the rest of the day after setting up a new bank account not linked to a credit card and then transferring the majority of my wealth to it.

***Perspective Change April, Marcus***

Finally, after making it home and relaying the news to everyone, they were delighted. Even more so because Matthew, Justin, April and Haylee had also managed to get jobs. I only overheard a little bit, but it seemed that Matthew and Justin had got jobs at a company that manufactured technological devices, while April, along with Haylee, had managed to obtain jobs as waitresses. With so many of us getting jobs, it had inspired the others to keep looking for work.

Only a few of us still didn't have Jobs, those being, Annalise, Victoria, Scott, Michael, John, Hayden, Jade, although I didn't think it would be long before they managed to get one.

At the moment it was pretty late in the day, almost 6:00. Everyone was having a friendly chat about their day.

Rex and Max had started talking about some of the stuff they had done at the construction site today. Apparently - because they were still new recruits - they couldn't work on advanced projects so they were put to work on the foundation for a new large building that was being built.

I wasn't too interested in the conversation so I zoned out. Eventually I felt a tug on my shoulder. Looking to my side, I saw April.

"Can we talk for a moment?" She had resolute expression on her face.

"Sure?" She shook her head slightly.

"Not here." She grabbed my hand and lead me out of the lounge room into her personal room.

"Okay, what is it?"

"I've... I've ran into a bit of trouble...again..." Her eyes indicated that it wasn't the good kind of trouble.

"In real life, right?" I ask, just to make sure that I wasn't misunderstanding the situation.

"Yeah..."

"Alright, I'll be over soon. See-you then?" I made my words quick. It was urgent after all.

"Yeah... Thanks Marcus..."

'Force Logout'

I felt my body move into a dark void and then shortly afterwards, back into the real world. What the hell was I going to do to fix it this time?

I hope out of my bed and notice that it's only just lunchtime. It really was disorientating, kind of like instant jet lag. Imagine being at school doing school work and then all of the sudden the sky darkens to pitch black and stays like that for hours. It was confusing and gave me a headache.

I suppose I should log off and get over to her house quickly…

******

Knocking on the door a few times, I wait patiently. At first, there was no response. I hear the floorboards on the inside shift slightly as someone approached the door before I heard the satisfying click of the handle being turned to open the door.

I see April standing in the doorway. Her eyes are red and she seems really upset.

“What happened?” I decide to take the lead because she wasn’t in the best of moods.

“They came back…” I could feel the underlying implications of what she had said.

“What did you say?” I needed to confirm she was putting up a fight.

“That they couldn’t take it, I’d get them the money.” I could see tears forming at the edges of her eyes, this was taking a turn for the worst.

A few months back April had been involved in a lawsuit because of an abusive relationship. She had taken him to court but he had managed to spin the story and shift the blame to her. Soon her whole life had been ruined and she was riddled with debt. She had run out of money and could no longer pay a lawyer to defend herself. Having lost money and many possessions in an attempt to pay back her debt, she was still doing no better. Economicalopoly was an escape from real life and a way to redeem herself.

“They obviously can’t take your house, don’t worry,” at my words she nods her head slightly and leans in towards me. I hug her in an attempt to placate her.

“What am I going to do?” Her voice trailed off at the end of the sentence. At this point she broke, as she started sobbing into my shoulder. I took her inside and put a movie on while I held her to keep her comfort.

“Even if everyone else abandons you, I won’t leave your side April. Don’t worry.”

Marcus wasn’t sure just what would come out of this but he was not the kind of person to ever give up on a friend in a hard place.

***Perspective Change Leaf, Elizabeth, Crystal***

"Leaf, are you alright?" Suddenly I felt myself being snapped back into reality. What had happened? Where am I?

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine." Elizabeth seemed to be unsure of my answer but then dismissed it and went back to talking with Crystal.

Suddenly I noticed my surroundings, some time must have passed because we were actually walking home from work. How long did I zone out for?!? Even my clothes have changed! It was quite a scary thought, being a prisoner to your own body, just like a coma patient. However, they weren't my biggest questions, why the fuck are we walking home?

In the morning we had went to a bus stop and simply caught the bus to work. The bus stop was only seven or so minutes minutes walk from our apartment. If you were to walk the distance between home and work it would a good hour and a bit.

Guessing that I should have known the reason if I didn't pass out, I decide to just assume we missed the return bus and had started walking back, rather than asking them why.

We were an hour away from being home when suddenly Elizabeth spoke up.

"Should we get something to eat before going the rest of the way home?"

Now that she mentioned it, it was 6:12 PM. I was also incredibly hungry and couldn't wait. Crystal and I made eye contact and both nodded at each other.

"Yeah, I'm starving."

"Me too!"

Elizabeth seemed to have noticed that we were hungry before we even knew it ourselves. She was kinder than she let on.

"Alright, let's go."

Elizabeth had directed us towards a small diner that was opened up onto the street. It was on the bottom floor of a massive building coming slightly out of the building. It had an outside and inside eating area which both complimented each other beautifully.

The girls had decided on the inside as it was a particularly cold day. I had internally decided upon the same thing.

"What would you like to order?" A waitress had come up to us and asked as we had taken a seat. At the same time she had also handed out menus.

Reading through the menu quickly, I had decided on ordering a hamburger. Nothing really stood out about the burger but I still liked burgers regardless. Relaying my order to the waitress, she then turned and had almost asked the girls what they would be ordering only to stop herself, realising that they had hardly even read any of the menu. She turned towards me for a brief moment, smiling. She seemed to agree with me that women would have trouble making up their minds when it came to food or accessories.

The waitress had moved onto the next table and I had stopped noticing her. My mind wandered through many things like what Charlie was doing and when I was finally going to log out. I was probably going to stay in until tonight in the real world, besides, I had no plans.

Before I knew it, Crystal and Elizabeth had finally decided on what they wanted and had called the waitress over yet again. Crystal had gotten an American steak at the influence of Elizabeth while she had gotten a bowl of fried rice. Surprisingly Crystal hadn't suggested it to Elizabeth, but I think that Elizabeth wanted to have something in common with Crystal, hence the Asian food.

Knowing it wasn't my place, I kept silent.

******

Before I had even noticed, the sky had gotten completely dark and we had finished our meal long ago. Elizabeth, Crystal and I had simply just been talking about things and what we'd do after we had finished the tutorial.

I had personally gotten excited at the topic and talked about my plans to do something with technology seeing as the game had technology far above our own.

Humans had even landed on mars hundreds of times compared to our measly nine people, one time. In real life it was all the talk for weeks, just like the original moon landings. But the astonishment at what had been done faded into obscurity quickly.

I remembered watching the news the night before and hearing plans about a lunar city being built for the rich and wealthy. Trips to the Moon were very common these day apparently, several launches a day in fact. It was still out of public reach but it was close to being some people's reality. If you couldn't tell, I'm a sci-fi freak.

Eventually we knew it was time to leave. Checking with the help menu, I had confirmed that it was slightly passed 8:00. We really need to get home.

"Alright, we'll be going now, thanks for the meal!" I had said goodbye to the waitress that had served us much earlier on. She waved as we walked out the door.

"That place was good, wasn't it?" Crystal had spoke up.

"So you liked steak?" Elizabeth had a smile on her face as she slowly corrupted Crystal with Americanism. She was really quite sly.

"Leave her alone, Elizabeth." I laughed after trying to say the sentence with a straight face. It just couldn't be done.

We continued bickering back and forth as we slowly made our way home. The stars were dimly shining from above but were mostly ignored and completely faded because of the city lights. It was a depressing thought. I wonder what the planet looks like from space?

Eventually we finally made our way to the apartment. It was 9:44 PM and we had gotten home much later then we had expected because we kept getting distracted. We really weren't a good combination, or, you could look at it the other way around and say that we were a great combination.

Shuttling into the elevator like huddling penguins, we dialed in 114. The elevator began quickly rising, throwing Crystal off-balance, almost tumbling into the wall of the elevator.

*psshhh*

The doors to the elevator slowly opened with the same futuristic sound we've all come to love. We headed off in the same direction before coming to our rooms that were side-by-side.

"Same time tomorrow?" I simply asked, for confirmation.

"Yeah, We'll see you then!" Crystal nodded and at the same time they both entered their apartment. I wonder if Charlie's back and sorted out his confusion from earlier.

Unlocking and opening up the door, I had noticed that all the lights were off and that Charlie - and perhaps Charlotte - showed no signs of being around. Odd...?

I open the door to his room just in case and there, to my astonishment, was Charlie and Charlotte sleeping. The little girl had a tangled mess of blonde hair spreading out in all directions, I went to laugh before catching myself. I didn’t want to wake them up after I can only guess was a hard day, right?

Charlotte was clinging onto Charlie and seemed to be in deep sleep, while Charlie was the complete opposite. He looked uncomfortable and was showing a pained expression, even in his sleep.

They reminded me of father and daughter and it made many different emotions well up inside me. Seeing as it was so late, I didn't wake them up because I had assumed that they had already eaten.

Closing his bedroom door once again I slowly make my wake back into the lounge room to watch some more TV like last night before eventually heading to my own bed.

***Perspective Change Crystal, Elizabeth***

It had been a hard day at work and I didn’t feel like sticking around any longer, leaf had disappeared earlier having apparently finished everything assigned to him with relative ease.

“Want to do anything tonight?” I had directed the question towards Crystal. We hadn’t really spoke too much today because we didn’t want to get caught slacking off on the job.

“I’m too tired to bother, working is such a pain.” She had sounded quite frustrated, just yesterday she had been perfectly fine, maybe something happened?

“Ahh, yeah. Let’s head home then.”

“Mmm.”

We had plenty of time tonight to get to the bus stop, making it home much quicker than usual. The bus ride wasn’t overly eventful but there was an elderly couple sitting in the back still showing love and dedication towards each other after what can only be described as an impossibly long time that they’ve been together. It was the small things like this that kept me going in life, knowing that one day that could be me. A loving relationship, family, not a care in the world. What more could any person instinctively want?

“Crystal, want to cook tonight or should we cook together?” I waited for a response but a reply never came. I head into the living room only to notice that she had went into the shower some time ago. I suppose I can surprise her with something tonight. I laugh a bit to myself at the thought of what I could cook.

******

Climbing out of the showing I dry my hair and body with a towel and then proceeded to properly dry my hair with a hair dryer after putting my clothes on. The hot air tickled as it went over my neck every now and then. It felt nice but not enough to notice it every time.

When my hair was done I put it into a ponytail so it wasn’t in the way and went out into the kitchen. I see Elizabeth sitting at the table, a wicked smile on her face while her blonde hair taunts me to come sit down.

What does she have planned…

Waffles. Who has waffles for dinner!?!?

“Thank you very much.” I pretend to be neutral on the outside, slightly thankful. I was really just covering up my confusion. Only Americans would be able to think up a dinner like this. Waffles with Cookies and Cream Ice Cream and a few other sweet things. I was going to need to do lots of exercise after this. I could literally see the calories this meal contained.

***End of Chapter***

FINALLYYYY!!!! Everything from this point on will be completely new material. It took a little while but I stayed dedicated and made sure to do it all in one go! Time to start on the chapter for my other story. rip

Advertisement Previous

Chapter Fiction

Index Next

Chapter RSS About the author 3 Fictions 1 Posts 0 Threads EL-S Follow Author Monday, February 8, 2016 2:12:38 PM Australia Unmotivated Sloth http://www.freethepenguins.cum

Bio: I like reading and all that good shit.

Achievements Comments(9) Set Compact Log in to comment

Log In Load Comments Please enable JavaScript to load the comments! Log in to comment

Log In Settings Theme (Entire Website) Dark Light Dim background 0% 20% 40% 50% 60% 80% 100% Font Size 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20 22 24 28 32 Reader Width Max 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% Font Family Default ————— Open Dyslexic Atkinson Hyperlegible ————— Arial Roboto Open Sans OS Default Comic Sans Lucida Verdana Ubuntu Ubuntu Condensed Franklin Gothic Garamond Caslon Minion Font Color Indent Color Scheme Theme Default OLED Black Royal Road Dark Dark Gray Gray Light Gray Sepia White Paragraph Spacing Close × Give Reputation to User: Points You can specify how many points you want to give (minimum: 0, maximum: 0). Comment (optional) Why are you giving this user reputation? Give Reputation Close About

Royal Road® is the home of web novels and fan fictions! In our amazing community, you can find various talented individuals who write as a hobby or even professionally, artists who create art for them, and many, many readers who provide valuable feedback and encouragement.

Amazon Affiliate Royal Road® is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Theme Select Dark Light

Follow Us On Need some help? Create a support ticket

Contact Contact Us by Email

Advertising Ads for Authors

Programmatic Advertising Royal Road® © 2013-2022 Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | Blog | Status Tap again to scroll to the top!