Systematic Survival

14 - Family

A shadow entered past the doorway of Matt's apartment. Then another followed. Two shadows made their way into the main living area, and then towards the hall leading to his bedroom. The smallest shadow sprinted towards his bedroom door and pushed it open with intense force.

The door swung open and slammed into the wall of the room, waking Matt. He quickly looked around for the source of the noise and saw a figure standing in the doorway. Then she yelled with joy as she leaped towards him.

"Big Brother!"

A girl leaped into Matt's arms giving him a big hug.

"Ashley? What are you doing here?"

He looked surprised, but also happy that his sister was there and hugged her back.

"We came here to check on you! And we wanted to see you too!"

After she said this, he noticed another figure standing in the doorway. He was tall and well-built. It was his older brother Jay.

"Yo," he said with a wave and then smiled.

"Sorry for coming here so late, the traffic was insane," Jay explained.

"No, it's fine, I'm really happy to see you guys! I see you used that spare key I gave you."

Ashley looked excited and spoke up.

"Yeah Jay wanted to knock but I wanted to surprise you!"

Matt sighed, she almost gave him a heart attack earlier but she isn't good at thinking things through. He gave her a pat on the head and then Jay spoke up.

"So, have you talked to Mom and Dad recently?"

Matt looked a little sheepish at the mention of them and replied.

"I haven't since the fight, but I will soon. Actually, there's something I need to talk to you all about when the time comes."

Jay narrowed his eyes and wore a grin.

"Oh? Did you finally get a girlfriend?"

"No! Nothing like that, you'll find out when I tell you."

Matt decided that he would help them with their systems when it went public. But if he tried to explain it now, they would just think he was crazy and worry about him.

He realized that there really was no way to prove the system was real. Hell, he didn't even know if it was real and he was just insane.

The system was mainly internal, so he doubted they could even see the portal for [Storage], but an item disappearing could be slightly convincing. But for now, he would just avoid telling them.

"Hey wait for a second," Jay looked surprised and then continued.

"Have you been working out? You don't look like a sick old man anymore. You actually look fit?"

Ashley also looked surprised and realized he looked much healthier than before.

Matt hesitated for a second, he forgot completely about the fact that his body changed so much. Before, if his hair was gray, he probably could've infiltrated a retirement home.

"Uh, yeah I wanted to focus on my health recently. I couldn't keep living like that y'know?"

Jay walked up and patted him on the back.

"Well good for you! Are you still obsessed with those games too? You kinda played those things way too much."

Matt laughed in his mind. If only they knew he was actually "playing a game" more than ever.