"Dinner!" Mom called. I set my virtual reality headset down on my bed and skipped downstairs happily, my mid-length dirty blonde hair bouncing about my neck.
I plopped down on the cushy barstool underneath the kitchen island. A plate of fettuccini alfredo rested in front of me. My mother always liked to cook unique and different meals, and they were usually pretty good.
"So," she said to me. "Are you having fun with your VRM?" The VRM is the headset, standing for Virtual Reality Mask. I nodded my head up and down as I shoved the pasta into my mouth. My parents had gotten the VRM for me on my birthday, which was about a week before. I used it almost every night when I didn't have too much school work.
I was addicted to it. Just the thought of being able to be someone that you create, where you can be who you want to be, is just fascinating. The VMR was controlling my life, it was all I thought about all day, but I loved it.
I slurped down the last of the noodles on my plate. "Thanks for dinner, mom," I said as I placed the dish into the sink for washing later. I rushed back up to my room. I still had to do my homework for that night.
I huffed out a sigh as I saw the algebra in the textbook. "When will I ever use this in life?" I reluctantly sat in my plastic office chair to start on the work. The instructions on page 185 read 'Solve the equations.' Great. The first problem was '(y 4x 2 + 2xy - y)(x - 1) = 12.' I stared in horror at the math book. How the heck was I supposed to do this? I pushed some led out of my mechanical pencil. My hand uncomfortably wrapped around the pencil, I began to try to simplify the equation. No luck. I grabbed my phone from my bed and asked Siri. What? It's not cheating, Mr. Garrett didn't say we couldn't use our phones.
Siri pulled up the search results. I clicked on the first one I saw. The site, easymath.com, showed how to do the problem. I copied down the work and continued to do so with the rest of the homework. After about fifteen minutes, I reached question forty-five. "Done!" I shouted with joy. I slid the paper into my red math folder and stuffed it into my backpack.
I leaped onto my bed where my VRM rested. After laying down, I placed the mask onto my face. The screen lit up in front of my blue-green eyes. "Close eyes to start." Read the words on the screen, followed by a female computerized voice reading it out. I clenched my eyes shut and cleared my mind.
I got up off of my mossy mat. It was dark inside the cave, the only lighting was created by small glow-worms and the fire that always burned by the kitchen. I changed out of my silk night-gown and dressed into my usual clothing. I pulled my hood over my head and grabbed my bow, arrows, and dagger. I was going to go to town today.
I had never been to town before, I had started in the middle of a forest. There are shops to buy supplies, tools, and weapons, merchants who you could trade with, and of course bakeries. The streets are filled with people, and everyone is friendly. It is a place of peace. Best of all, you could join clans. I had always wanted to join a clan.
Here goes nothing.
