Glitch

Chapter Eighteen

Realization hit me like a bullet and I gasped. This is my room. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing, that my eyes weren't betraying me. But each time I blinked and rubbed them, I ended up with seeing my room once more. I cried out as I realized that I was really home.

Cooper shoots up, panting. Causing me to realize that I'm not in my pilot suit and neither is Cooper. I'm in my normal clothes while he's in what a average guy his age would be wearing. He looks around wide eyed. "What just happen? Where are we? Did y-"

I put up a hand. "Whoa, chill tiger." He gives me a look. "So yeah, I just got us to my world and we're in my home. That what happen when I came to your world." I explained.

"That was not my world. That was a war zone." He snapped.

I flinch at his tone, but don't back down. "What should I call it then?" He shrugs, relaxing slightly. "Dimensions?" I suggest.

He nods. "Yeah, I guess." A silence fell over us, but Cooper broke it. "Sorry, I just hate to think of my home as a war zone."

I wave him off. "No, you were right." I pause. "What should we do next?" I ask, changing the subject.

He tilts his head. "Why don't you go see your family and be with them for awhile. Later we'll figure out everything with your government and all that." He suggested.

I nodded, but frowned. "Don't you want to go back?" I ask curiously.

He shakes his head. "I want to help you. You've helped me, I should help you." He stated.

I gave him a look. "If anything, I owe my life to you. You've saved my life so many times." I told him.

He shook his head and waved me off. "Come on, go see your family." He says and pushed me to my bedroom door.

I open the door and look back at him. He smiles and motions for me to go on. I smirk and grab him, pulling him with me.

The house is empty. "Should I make up a story?" I ask as walk through the house looking for someone, realizing that we didn't really think this through.

He shrugs and opens his mouth to say something, but I scream sounds behind me. I turn around to see Emily, my older sister, running at me with her arms extended out. I smile and embrace her hug. I feel something wet drip on my shoulder as I hug her and I know she's crying.

My eyes start to water. I pull back slightly to look at her. She's grinning and crying, her face is red. I want to speak, but I'm ripped from her. I yelped, however I realize it's my older brother Nate. He pulls me close, like he doesn't want to lose me. Which I can understand.

I feel a tug at my waist. I pull away from Nate and bend down to hug one of my younger brothers. "Hey I wasn't finished with her!" I heard my sister yell at my older brother.

He glared at her. "You can't keep her to yourself!" He shoots back. They quickly start bickering and getting into a argument.

I laugh and stand up. "You guys are unbelievable." I remarked. They smile at me and continue to argue. I laugh again.

"Who's that?" Will asked, pointing at Cooper.

I freeze. I totally forgot about Cooper and he was doing a wonderful job looking awkward. "That's...Jack." I say. I don't know if they would recognize his last name Cooper. "He helped me get out of where I was." I explain.

The mood in the room tenses. I don't know if that was the best thing to say, but it was the best thing I could think of. My brother sighs and motions me to sit down on the living room. I frown before pulling Cooper onto a couch and I sit next to him.

My siblings pulled over a few chairs across from Cooper and I. Then I realize something and I knew I have to ask, but I do not want to. "Where's Will and Mom?" I ask quietly, my voice shakes. No one answers. "Nate." I press my older brother.

He looks away and I can see his eyes watering. I bite my lip, hoping for the best. "Will disappeared like you. Mom went to her parents, she's trying to deal with dad, you, and Will being gone. She thinks it's her fault for some reason." He said and I could hear a small bit of anger in his voice near the end. I guess he thinks it's his fault too.

I gasp. "Not Will." I whisper. My breaths become shaky and I don't realize I'm shaking until Nate lays a hand on me. "We need to get him back." I say, looking at the ground.

My brother raises a eyebrow. "And you know where he is?" I nod slowly. "How?" He asks curiously, like he knows something I don't.

I take a shaky breath before looking my siblings square in the eyes. "Because it's where I went." I answer. "I was playing on the Xbox and he power goes out. The Xbox then showed a glitched skull..." My voice catches, I understand what the skull means now. "...and then I passed out or something like that. When I woke up, I was in the video game." This earn a few confused looks.

But I continue. "I'm telling you the truth." I pause. "Dad came through with me and we went off the map through a forest. We stopped at a stream. And enemy soldiers came out of the bushes. They didn't give us time to talk before they started to shoot. We took them down, but dad..." a tear rolled down my face "...he was shot and couldn't survive the wound."

My siblings gasp and everyone, but Nate, starts to cry. "I continued through the forest and accidentally met up with Jack." I look at at Cooper, he nods, answers a unspoken question. I look back at Nate before continuing. "Turns out he's Jack Cooper the main character from Titanfall 2. Without him I would not be here, he got me home. And gave me hope when I had lost all of it." I say, ending my little summary.

I wipe my face from my tears and looked at my smaller family. Emily was frowning at me. "Are you sure that happened?" She asked. "Not that I don't believe you, but that's insane." She quickly adds.

Nate seems completely unsurprised and looks like he believes me fine. But I can see worry in his eyes. Will seems fascinated by my story, but has tears in his eyes. I shake my head. "I don't know how to prove it to you, but it's true. Besides how could I even make up a story like this." I try to make her believe what I tell.

She shrugs and shakes her head, not knowing how to respond. "So what's happened around here?" I ask and force a smile.

Nate looks into my eyes and I do the same. I expect sadness in his eyes and there was, but I feel I could see guilt too. But for what? I could not understand. He probably thought he had to take care of everyone.

"Well there's no school. Barely anyone is working. The world is starting to collapse upon itself. The government keeps saying they have a plan. People are becoming too scared. Many are stealing. Others are stacking up on food." My sister told me the basics.

The government. "What government?" I growl. "The one that suppose to protect us?" I snarl, my hands shaking with clenched fingers.

Cooper looks at me. He placed a hand on my shoulder. "Maybe he lied?" He suggested, trying to ease the situation.

I relaxed, but my blood still boiled with anger. "You know that's not true. I doubt one of them would be able to make that up. They're too stupid to do anything smart. All they do is kill and destroy." I snap.

Cooper doesn't flinch. "Yeah, I know that." He replied.

My breath caught. He was right. I've been at his place not for a long time, but I act like I've been there forever. How selfish have I been? "Sorry." I whisper.

He smiles. "It's fine." I feel so graceful for him to be here.

Nate frowns at me. "What?" He asks, his voice rising slightly. Does he want to defend the government? He doesn't understand. I need to be careful about what I say, I don't know how much he knows.

"Nothing, I am just mad because it feels like they haven't done anything. But I know they've probably been working around the clock to figure all this out." I lie.

He nods slowly, not knowing how to answer. "Ok." Is all he says, but I know that he doesn't believe me.